A special day in our household....

Well, today is a very special day for us in our household. Aidan is a year old today!It is already well after midnight in China, so officially for him his birthday is over. We celebrated a little last night when we received pictures from the orphanage. The nannies work in rotating shifts from 8 am to 8 am the following morning. The only time they are all there together is at shift change, so they made arrangements to have Aidan's party at 8 am so they could all be there. I am not sure what happens at other SWI's. But, I know they went above and beyond for Aidan and had a party with presents and a cake for him. So, that was 9 pm our time. By before 10 they had sent us 21 pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aidan was pretty tired after all that excitement, but who wouldn't be having an 8 am birthday party, and he put his foot into the cake. He apparently wasn't really a cake kinda kid, but really liked his hat and book.

So, today on this bittersweet day of having our child, but not having him with us, we will celebrate a year of milestones, and as one friend put to us in an email this morning (Thanks Tracey, you made our day so much more special!) "Just
take comfort in the knowledge that you have a lifetime of parties and birthday cuddles & kisses ahead of you!" and that is exactly what we plan to do..... It is also bittersweet, because we think of his birth parents and wonder if they are thinking of him today and are loving him and missing him too. We have a connection with people we don't know, but share a special bond of a son.

I made Aidan a panda cake (it just came out of the oven) in Cherry chip flavor to make Dan happy, as cherry chip is his favorite, and he is hoping Aidan will carry on that tradition. We are going to have Chinese food, and open some presents we got him. (And of course watch the Raptors game)Even though he is not here with us at the moment, he is in our every thought, wish and in our hearts. Happy 1st birthday Peanut!