Isaiah's 1st Birthday

I can hardly believe Isaiah will be 1 year old tomorrow! It seems like only yesterday I was booking a flight to South Carolina and sitting for 2 weeks in a hospital room, followed by another week at some strangers' house (who became like family) until we were able to go home. Oh, how life has changed! But I really wanted to blog about the amazing weekend we had celebrating Isaiah's birthday with Heather, his birthmom.

We drove to Kansas City on Saturday to get things ready for the party, and then Heather flew in on Sunday around noon. We hadn't seen her since Isaiah's finalization in October, so we were pretty excited, but a little nervous too, since she had never met our families, let alone our entire extended family who were coming to the party (around 30 people in all). Our biggest fear is that someone might say something unintentionally that would make her feel awkward or uncomfortable, and we prayed for days that things would go smoothly. Our other fear is that Isaiah, who tends to be a bit clingy and somewhat of a mama's boy, especially around large groups of people, would be fussy and unsocial. Praise the Lord, however -- everything went awesome.

Isaiah was all smiles for Heather and everyone else (though he still preferred to be held by me, he was willing to walk around and play and go to other people for short periods of time). He was in a great mood, devoured his cake, and generally stole the show. And my family was amazing. They made Heather feel welcome and comfortable, talked to her and treated her like one of the family. She told us later that everyone was really nice and didn't make her feel weird at all (THANK YOU FAMILY!). And she had to stay with my mom for about 18 hours after we'd left to go home because her flight wasn't until the next day, and when she left she told my mom that she was like a second mother to her. I love my mom. And I'm so glad Heather felt comfortable. We're even hoping that next time Heather and her parents can all come and visit!

I know it seems unconventional to have such an open adoption, but I absolutely love it. I'm not threatened by Heather and I'm not scared that Isaiah will be confused about our roles or why she's there. He'll always know he has a birthmom and an adoptive mom. Heather always calls herself "Heather" and signs her cards to Isaiah that way, and she calls me his mom. We both know our roles, and I know how important Heather is in Isaiah's life. I don't ever want to deprive him (or us!) of a relationship with her. She's part of our family, which only enriches our lives and his.

Anyway, here's a list of highlights from the weekend:

* Isaiah smiling at Heather when he woke up and saw her for the first time
* Watching Isaiah annihilate his birthday cake and love it
* Malachi freaking out because Isaiah was "dirty" while he ate his cake
* Malachi jumping in Heather's lap and basically treating her as his best friend
* Playing Balderdash after the party and laughing so hard it hurt
* Heather getting to come experience Isaiah's first haircut
* The confused looks on people's faces when Heather, Aaron and I brought Isaiah to get his haircut -- no one can figure out who is who and it's hilarious
* Taking Heather to get BBQ in Kansas City and having both boys be absolute angels
* When the waiter at the BBQ restaurant introduced himself and Aaron, Heather and I all knew immediately what the name of Boy #3 will be (and no, we're not telling)

Okay, just a few highlights from the weekend, but as you can tell -- it was fabulous. Happy 1st Birthday, Isaiah! We love you!!!!