Saturday, March 26, 2011

3rd Visit Coming Up

So one of my blog friends from my other blog about books and movies e-mailed me and talked to me about this blog...well that reminded me that I hadn't come by here in a LONG time and updated with anything!

Well on April 9th we are going to be doing another get together to just visit and see how everything is going.  It will be nice to catch up with them since we have all been so busy that it's been hard to keep updated on everything.  His mom, T, told me the other day that he is starting to give kisses!  How adorable is that?!  I can't wait to see how big he has gotten.  :-)

I've been very busy with school and both of my jobs and reading and trying to have some sort of social life.  I haven't updated on here or kept up with any of the adoption blogs that I used to keep up with all the time.  I'm not sure what is up with my absence to tell you the complete truth.  I am just a huge mixture of emotions and I've been keeping myself so busy...I don't know.  We'll see how the visit goes in the next couple weeks and I'm sure I'll have more to update you all on.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Adoption Videos...have tissue ready!

I've been on a YouTube video kick and found a few awesome Adoption videos I thought I would share with you all...I hope you enjoy!


Mark Schultz, christian singer, talks about the story behind his wonderful song Everything to Me

From Birthmom Buds

Have tissues ready...Dear Son video...letter from birthmom

Dear daughter video...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Second Visit

Hello All,

This past weekend we had our second visit and it was wonderful.  We met at an Italian resturant where we were able to have their private reservation room so that we could be able to hang out and Ashden was able to get down and play without anyone else around.  It was wonderful to see Ashden and his parents again and be able to catch up in person!  I love seeing how they interact with him and just how happy he is.  He is such a good kid and he is not very shy either.  That fact really surprised me since I know so many kids who are very shy and don't like to see new people but he was all smiles and wanted to play a lot.  We had brought gifts along and he wanted to play with the tissue paper that the gifts were wrapped in.  Oh man, that made me laugh so hard because I remember how kids always loved to play with the box the gift came in more than the gift itself!  :-)  Every time that we see B and T I am reminded that I made the right choice for my son.  I have never had any doubts about adoption and I do not regret my choice at all, but it is still nice to have that reinforced! 

Special moment: When I looked at Ashden right after they entered the room and smiled at him and he smiled right back!  It really warmed my heart.  :-D

Open adoption is something that you never really understand until you are in or around it, it does have it's struggles but you just have to push through them!  You don't know what the parents are thinking or feeling, you don't want to step on toes and the last thing you want to do is make them uncomfortable...but in the end as long as everyone is happy with the situation and you do have open communication and an open mind it will work out wonderful for everyone!

I will leave you with some pictures from our little visit and also with the wonderful thought that B and T have already suggested maybe another visit around Spring break!  I couldn't believe that they had already thought about the next visit and that made me even more happy.  :-)

Hope you enjoy the photos! (BTW, I'll have to post a few more later since I don't have them all on this computer...)



On the way home after our visit B and T sent me this picture, he was so tired after our visit:

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Welcoming my Nephew

So this is off subject from the adoption blog but I am very excited and happy to introduce my Nephew Cooper Douglass who was born at 7:48 pm on November 17th, he weighs 7 lb 7 oz and is 19 3/4" long!
Cooper's First Picture:

 First picture of Cooper with his Daddy (My Brother):

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A Year With Ashden...

Hello All,

So I wanted to do this around his birthday on October 21st but didn't get a chance...I'm going to share a year of Ashden with you because he grew up so much!  I am missing a few months, August & September, and I'm putting these for the order I got them in so they might have been taken in a different month...
The day he was born 10-21-2009:

Thanksgiving 2009:

Christmas 2009:

January 2010:

February 2010:

March 2010:

April 2010:

May 2010 (Mothers Day):

June 2010 (First Visit):

July 2010:

(Missing August & September)
October 2010 ONE YEAR!!:

And just for fun...his 2010 Halloween Costume!  He's standing on his own!

I hope you all enjoyed!
~Deanna~

Monday, November 15, 2010

Update from Visit...Sorry it's been so long!

Hello All,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you on how the June visit went, especially with our next visit coming up at the beginning of December.  The visit went very well and we all had a great time getting to see each other again!  I was very nervous but my nervousness went away as soon as I saw them again.  I wish I would have played with him more but there is always next time.  We hung out at a park for about an hour just talking and getting to see Ashden laugh and play for awhile.  Then it started getting hot so we headed to Red Robin, one of my favorite resturants, and had a great meal!  Then it was time to say goodbye which was hard but not as bad as I thought because I know that he is with such a great family who loves him very much.  Below are some pictures...

Ashden and I


Then last month on October 21st he turned a year!  I still can't believe it!  I'm just in shock.  The time has flown by so fast and he is already walking now.  B & T told me that he is talking about 10 steps all on his own and every day he is working up to taking more and more.  Before you know it he'll be running around like crazy!

We have our next visit on December 4th and I'm a little nervous for it but not too bad since we had our visit in June.  So we'll see how that goes and since the semester is almost over that means I'll be able to update you all a LOT sooner on that visit with better detail than this post.  (Don't feel too bad, I still haven't uploaded or posted my pictures from my New Mexico vacation in August...oops!)

Well I hope you are all doing well and I will upload a picture of Ashden that his Mom, T, sent me on his birthday tomorrow...for some reason this photo uploader thing won't let me add another photo!  I don't know what's going on.  :-(

Take care and Good Night!

~Deanna~

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

First Visit...

Hello All,

Our first visit is coming up this Friday. I'm nervous yet so excited at the same time. My parents and Sister will be joining B, T and little Ashden. I'm nervous and I know things will go smoothly but you can't help but worry about that.

My biggest question is, what if he won't come to me and he doesn't want me to hold him?! Very nerve wracking.

I'll update more on Friday night after the visit and let you know how it went and what's been going on. I don't understand how people can update every day. I think it's awesome that you all can update your blogs daily but man my schedule just gets soooooo busy that if I do have an extra 10 minutes I want to use it to breath. LOL.

Take care!