Princess Michelle: Gotcha!

Today we celebrated our one year anniversary of being a family. I still find it hard to believe that we've had our precious Michelle for a year. The time is going way too quickly. I wish it would move at the pace it did while we were waiting. It has been the best year we've ever had. She fills our lives with so much love and laughter. We love seeing the world through her eyes.

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a half day off work and picked Michelle up from daycare to spend the afternoon together. We bought a cake and gave Michelle her first anniversary present. We bought several small gifts in China to save and give to her on gotcha day anniversaries for the next several years. This year's gift was a stuffed panda purse and a small ladybug bracelet. After cake and presents, we had dinner at our favorite Chinese buffet. Everyone knows Michelle there and just adores her. They were all happy to hear about our anniversary. Michelle gave everyone high-fives and blew kisses on the way out. She's such a charmer.

I'll always remember every detail of the day we met our precious Michelle. I remember so clearly standing in the room waiting for the nannies to bring in the babies. I was excited and also very nervous. I just didn't know what to expect. I figured Michelle would cry and scream at the top of her lungs. After what seemed like an eternity, the nannies walked into the room and Roman spotted Michelle right away. He said, "There she is!" It took every ounce of self control to keep from racing over there and taking Michelle out of her arms. I felt like a runner at the starting line of a race waiting for the gun to go off. They called Michelle's name first and I sprinted the few steps to the nanny, leaving Roman and my mom behind (sorry guys). I became completely deaf and blind to everything else around me. I honestly didn't notice anyone but Michelle. The first thought that went through my head was that she felt so light. She looked so tiny. After the nanny handed her to me, I waited for her to start screaming and crying but she didn't. She was incredibly brave. She was very wary but she was looking around and taking everything in. She looked at all the other babies crying and seemed like she wanted to cry a couple of times but didn't. I really can't imagine what must have been going through her mind. That day was so happy for us but must have been so scary for her. We must have looked and sounded so strange to her. As happy as I was to finally have my daughter, I felt a little sad for her knowing that she was leaving the only home she had ever known and the nannies who had taken care of her and obviously loved her. She finally cried when the nannies started saying goodbye and walking out of the room. I think she probably thought I was just another person to hold her up until that point. I held her all the way back to the hotel and she fell asleep in my arms on the bus. When we got back to the hotel, Roman couldn't wait another minute to hold his baby and scooped her up right after we changed her diaper. She bonded with him very quickly.

At the time we couldn't have guessed what her personality was going to be but she has turned into the most sweet, loving, gentle-natured, thoughtful, polite, funny, smart, beautiful little girl we've ever been privileged to meet. We're so grateful to be her parents.

I posted some pictures of today's anniversary as well as a couple of pictures from last year.