A year ago, Ben arrived to our lives. He has been the greatest and most precious gift I have ever got.

It has been a great experience, filled with joy, but it has also meant to face many different challenges. Not all is pretty… and many things are not easy: doctor’s visits, illnesses, diaper rashes… you name it.

But the joy only grows bigger and bigger.

To see him do things he didn’t do just days before is an impressive display of how quickly a human being develops, how fast we learn, and how much you can care about someone else.

2008 has been very challenging. He has already got a bad gastroenteritis, two ear infections, an endless runny nose, a loud cough… sigh… We just wish he could already tell us what he feels, where it hurts… but it is not that time yet.

And while all this feels terrible for us like parents, I am not complaining. We’ve got it easy, because even with all these problems we know he is a very healthy kid. We are lucky to see him enjoy every moment of his life… even when he has hit a few rough spots. We have also been very lucky for getting so much support from our families and our friends.

At this time, Ben has been walking more and more, and seems to be very eager to talk. He seems to be enjoying daycare quite a bit, and since the two other kids that are with him throughout the day are older, we believe they will be a good influence for him.

Now that he has turned one, we can’t wait to start feeding him more and more ‘real’ things. Surprisingly he’s not too fond of fruit juice… they say it’s a good thing, but it turned out to be a hassle when he had that nasty gastroenteritis… No pedialyte for Ben. =)

Anyway… it has been an awesome year. We’ve learned a lot, he’s learned much more, and this is just the beginning.

We love you very very much.