I don't know much, but I know I love you...

When you adopt internationally from a country ravaged by war and poverty, it is likely that you will not know much about your child's history. When we received our first picture of Oliver in August, it came with no information about him at all. Later we received a few lines about his beginnings in the world. Knowing that I spent the 9 months of each of my pregnancies eating good food, taking vitamins, and going to regular doctor appointments, it was difficult to know that this precious child received little or no prenatal care. It was sad to accept that we will never know what kind of pregnancy his birth mother had, what the labor was like, what his first cries sounded like, or what his family's medical history predicts for him. We will not be able to tell him whose eyes he has or who he most resembles, or where the small scar on his chin came from.
With all that we don't know, we will tell him what little we do know about his entrance into the world and we will help him to integrate this part of his story into his story with us.*
And we will tell him all the things are  discovering about him now that he is home with us.

So (on a lighter note) here is a list of what we do know about our Oliver.

1. He is not a fan of sleeping all night long. Or even half the night. Sometimes, he would prefer not to sleep more than 30 minutes straight.

2. He is a fan of eating. This kid can chug an 8 ounce bottle in record time and then finish off 2 jars of baby food a short time later.

3. He is comfortable enough with his manliness to use a pink pacifier (Kevin got this for him when he was so tired he didn't realize he was buying a pink one).

4. He is just over six months old, but...

5. His official birthday is about one month earlier than what we have been told his actual birthday is. So he will officially be one year on June 30th, but we think he was actually born on the 24th of July. 

7.  He doesn't mind being strapped to my back in the evenings while I get some work done. 

8. He is sweet. 

9. And really cute. 

10. We love him, and he is home. 

*We have decided that we will not share his story with others until he is old enough to decide who he wants to tell. We feel like that is his story to tell and out of respect for him, we will hold it for him until he can use his own words to share it.