Gotcha Day

That was then...


Today is a big day for the Rooney family. It was one year ago today – Aug. 19, 2003 – that Thomas came to our family. In fact, as I type this, it was almost one year ago to the minute that we laid eyes on him for the very first time.

We picked him up at JFK in New York City that day. My sister Annie drove Kris, Nolan and I down along with my mom and Annie’s son Louis. I remember we got the airport about 20-30 minutes before his flight from South Korea was due to land (2:50 p.m. if memory serves). Of course, in this day and age we weren’t allowed to be waiting there for him at the gate. After passing through customs he finally came out around 4 p.m. We didn’t spend too much time at the airport after that. We rushed out of there, hoping to avoid rush hour traffic out of the city.

And just like that, all of a sudden, we had a new baby!

He was about four-months-old then. And look at him now! He just recently started walking. He loves his big brother and his dog. He has his cranky moments, but it is also very easy to get a laugh out of him. The weird, spiky baby hair he had at first is gone, and he’s already been to the barber twice. He’s currently working on teeth #9 and 10 and he’ll eat just about anything you put in front of him.

He loves to laugh. He loves to dance and play. He’s a great little boy well on his way to toddlerhood. And we’re all the better for having him in our family. I can’t wait to see how many more changes the coming year brings.

Happy Gotcha Day, Thomas!


This is now!

Incidentally...we're celebrating tonight with dinner at Garcia's. MMmmm...Mexican food...