happy birthday frankie valentine

You know the opening part of the movie Superman when the special space pod with baby Superman inside comes crashing down to Earth and scares the hell out of his adoptive parents?

That's how Henry arrived in our lives.  Not in a space pod, per say. But he did come crashing into our family like a bullet.

One year ago, I went to bed on March 18th the mother of two children and woke up on March 19th as the mother of three.  I had learned of Henry's birth at around one in the morning.  To say I was scared is a huge understatement.  Amelie was only ten months old.  I was beside myself.

And the Sugar Daddy was in Taipei.  

Holy smokes.  When I think back to that time all the emotion comes back to me. Even now, as I write, I feel the tightening in my chest.

I wish I had known what I know now.  I wish I could have foreseen the enormous joy that a four pound baby boy was capable of bringing into my life.

If Birdie is the cayenne pepper in our family, Frankie is the vanilla sugar.  He is the sweetest child I have ever met.  That sounds a little dramatic, but its completely true.  He was born with the kind of personality that makes you happy to just be around him.  I think he got the charisma that I always wanted to have myself.

God has never let us have any say in when our children joined our family. He likes to surprise us. Big  time.  We thought our third child would be coming from China. 

I never would have been able to imagine that a super baby would come barreling into our life from out of nowhere and inject our family with sweetness. 

Today, Henry turned one. We had a mini birthday with cupcakes. The big birthday party is planned for next Saturday when the Sugar Daddy is back in town.  When I put Henry in his crib to go to bed tonight he smiled at me and kicked his feet.  I stroked his hair and cried.

How did I get so lucky?