Not an Oopsy Baby

What do you get for the baby who seemingly has everything his little heart could ever desire?  I mean, he already has two passports, a globetrotting lifestyle, and all the fresh mango he could ever want to eat.

Maybe something from the PX because the rocking horse that Mommy ordered three weeks ago didn't arrive on time?  I hate you, target.com.  And you, too, USPS.com.  Both of you are cramping my online-shopping style.  Of course, when packages DO finally arrive to us in Egypt, we do a *happy dance*.

Anyway, Kellen turned one year old on October 20th.  It's hard to believe that just a year ago, the fab hubby was home on his first leave from Baghdad, I was popping out a baby, and we were trying to adjust as quickly as possible to a third kid with the not-quite-in-the-back-of-my-mind-Jason-has-to-return-to-Iraq thoughts hovering a black cloud over my head.

Day One.

Looking back, the new little man in our life sorta made the time away from Jason a little easier.  Well, at least for me.  All the midnight feedings, the diapers, and adjustments forced me to focus on the baby (and the big kids, too!), while taking my mind off of the separate living arrangements.  Can't say that it was easy, but then nothing worth doing is ever easy.

My favorite men.
Kellen is 2 weeks here.

Many people look at our older munchkins (Owen is 8 and Abby is 6) and then see Kellen and think "obviously an oops baby" because of the big age difference. Some even outright ask if he was an oopsy baby.  That's always a fun one.  Nope, he's wasn't an oopsy.  Previously, we had thought two kids completed our family.  But later, we decided three was the number of kiddos for us.  Wondering if we might like to add a fourth one?  Wonder away.

Six years difference.
Makes people wonder...

And so here we are.  How quickly the time passes.  The midnight feedings, the thousands of diapers, baby puke, the diaper blow-outs, the first smile, learning to crawl, the first word (MaMa), the favorite word (DaDa), learning to walk.  The wonder, the fascination with simple things, and discovering all the stuff he shouldn't get into.  It all happens too fast and in such a blur.  I love every moment of it, even when I don't think I do.  How very lucky we are to be a part of something so beautiful.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kellen. We love you so much and love watching you learn and grow.  You might be little and new to the world but you've completely stolen our hearts.

Did we celebrate?  Of course!  Here are the photos from his birthday party.  Sure we're in Cairo, but smashing the cake still rules no matter where you are.  Thanks to all of our new friends who came to celebrate with us.  It was a truly special day!

One of the mom perks.
I get to taste the cake first.

Many of Kellen's adoring fans arrived to celebrate.
See the bouncer in the background? It was FREE. Sorta.
The party after ours paid for it, but it was set-up during
our party.  So all the kids in our party got to "test it out".
*Happy Dance*

The smashing of the cake.
A rite of passage for one-year-olds everywhere.

Messy.

One of the only occasions that it's ok to lick the plate.

This were from earlier in the morning.
Our wonderful nanny made him a special birthday surprise!