Five

Gabe, you are five! That's one full hand!  

Four was an amazing year for you!  

And for us! 

Watching your grow, learn and change is enchanting. 

Your joy over the big things in life is only overshadowed by your joy for every day delights.

From airplanes to ants, iPad time to watching trains, reading books to playing baseball...

you, sweet boy, find joy in everything.

That joy is contagious and spreads to everyone you meet. 

I pray that joy follows you where ever you go! 

Joy and perseverance, Gabriel, would be my words to describe you. 

Your joy is unending and your perseverance... well it amazes us all.

Mommy, Daddy, your family, your therapists.... all of us! 

In your fourth year you went from taking wobbly first steps to walking, running and jumping!  

We should probably add climbing and riding a scooter and a bicycle as well!  

Your language skills are exploding and I love all of the conversations we have now.  

You have your daddy's sense of humor, your mama's need for knowledge and every young child's ability to ask a million different questions in any 24 hour time period. 

We love you, Gabriel Matthew and feel so blessed to be called your Mommy and Daddy! 

For your birthday we celebrated Super Hero style with Batman and Spiderman as the stars!  The tradition of a balloon filled bedroom continued and for the second year in a row we celebrated with family and a bounce house.  You and Nonnie were the first two to try the bounce house out!  You had so much fun bouncing with Grama, Eli, Ethan, Liam, Daddy, Uncle Bucko and Uncle Matt!  

Gabriel Matthew, you constantly amaze us and we can't wait to see what this fifth year brings to your life; more baseball and bike riding, more learning and exploring and two brothers to finally call your own.

We love you sweet boy.