HAPPY 1 YEAR "GOTCHA DAY"

Wow.....1 year ago today we received the court decree and Matthew was ours for forever!! No more looking over our shoulders for something to "go wrong"!!! We had 2 more nights in Vlad and then off to Moscow to finish up and be on our way home to our new lives together. Lucky for us, we had the opportunity the following day to meet "The Porters" http://porteradoption.blogspot.com/ at the Vlad Inn. It was so much fun to finally meet up with a family that we had blogged with but had never met! We had such a nice visit with them and they were the 1st to meet our Sweet Matthew!!

Here are a few pictures from our 1st days together as a family of 3.

Today is the day......

That we can finally celebrate that our sweet angel, Matthew, has been in our family longer than he was in Baby Home #1 in Vladivostok, Russia!!!! How exciting!!!!! We also had our 2.5 year check up with our Pediatrician today and the doctor is thrilled with his progress! Matthew is currently in the 50% for height and just under the 50% for weight so he is just perfect! Dr. Patz could not believe how much he was talking and putting more than 2+ words together! We were thrilled! Here is a picture of his last day in the baby home in Vlad and a picture today!!! 4 more days and we are at our 1 Year Gotcha Day!!!

Reminiscing

Today marks 1 year since we were reunited with our sweet angel. We remember it like it was yesterday and we can't even imagine our lives without our Matthew. After we got to the Baby Home that morning, we waited and waited and waited in a tiny little room waiting for them to bring our baby to us....felt like forever! Our hearts were racing wondering if he would remember us! It was the best day ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to hear of court dates being scheduled and others are getting prepared to being reunited with their little ones! We are so hoping to hear good news soon from Chad and Sarah that they too will be reunited with their little boy very very soon!

Here are a couple of pics from our 1st day back with Matthew and then a picture of Matthew today. What a change......his eyes were so empty back then now they are just full of joy and laughter!