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...

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:

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):

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~

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~

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!

Mark Schultz's Beautiful Song...

Hello All,

Just wanted to share this wonderful song with you. The song is called "Everything to Me" and it is written by the Christian singer Mark Schultz. He wrote this song about his Birthmom and it makes me tear up every time I hear it, even before I became pregnant and the adoption happened, but now it touches at even more places in my heart! Grab a tissue and enjoy...

http://markschultzmusic.com/media/

Click on the above link and then is is the third video posted!

I hope you all enjoy it and have a wonderful weekend! :-)

Always,
Deanna

Mothers Day Gift...

Hello All,

So I wanted to do a quick update. My Mother's Day gift to T is on it's way, so hopefully she will get that before Sunday. I got home today to see a package on my door step! T, B, Ashden and Pet Crew sent me a wonderful Mothers day gift. It contained a wonderful home made card with Ashden's foot and hand print, another home made craft sheet with some scribbles on them (I'm sure from little Ashden) and some other fun bath items and chocolates! It made my day to receive such a wonderful thing and the home made card was just amazing! :-)

I also sent out an Easter basket to Ashden. My Mother has always had a tradition of making Easter baskets for us since we were little. I decided that I would start the tradition with Ashden. It contained some things for bath time (since Ashden loves bath time), some teething toys, a taggie blanket and book, one of my favorite books as a kid "Are you my Mother", and a few other odds and ends. T informed me that Ashden loved the basket and has been playing with a lot of thing items. :-) It just makes me so happy to know that I can send them all things and know that they will enjoy them all.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Deanna

My Review of Sunshine...

Hello All,

So I really enjoyed that movie last night...well it was a film really. 1 hour long. I'm not the artistic type, so I don't really look into the meaning of different objects they decide to focus on. I did really enjoy it though. It was nice to hear how much Adoption has changed in about 30 years.

The film hit on many issues such as unexpected pregnancy between two individuals, single parents, adopted families, where birthfamilies fit into a childs life from their birthparents to their birthgrandparents, as well as the reason different people go different directions.

It was nice to see the film maker capture different aspects in her life and it was wonderful to hear that even though she didn't stay with her daughters father, he was (and still is) a huge part of their daughters life. They are both single parents but they are not single parents in the same way I had viewed single parents. For some reason, whenever I thought of single parent I also thought of someone who wasn't with their child's father/mother and was raising the kid all by themselves with no help from the father/mother. How weird is that?! I guess the fact that they had such a wonderful relationship with each other even with a child involved and not being together just threw me off. It is a weird concept to me since most individuals I know that have kids and are single do not have a good relationship at all with their children's mother/father. I mean none of them! They either don't say two words to each other when they have to pass the kids over for visitation and if they do they argue. It was refreshing to see a child be raised by a mother and a father even with them not being together.

It was also nice to see how fortunate I am to have had an unexpected pregnancy now and go through adoption. I like the fact that they have open adoptions now and that it is ok to share your experiences with others and not have to hide away somewhere and never let your feelings out. I think it's great that now we are able to choose what would be best for ourselves and our babies...if you want a closed adoption that is fine but it is also become normal to have an open one. :-)

Well now that I babbled a lot and probably didn't hit on much, I will repeat that this was a wonderful film from Independent Lens...I hope that it is available to more people to watch so others can check it out!

Have a great night!
~Deanna~

Documentary Film: Sunshine...

Hello All,

I saw on Production Not Reproduction's blog post "Airing Tuesday: Sunshine" about this film and checked it out myself. I think I will be watching it tonight to see what it is all about. If you go to the website http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sunshine/index.html you can check the local listings to see what channel and what times it is on in your area. There is also a preview for it on the site so you can kind of see what how the film is going to be.

From what I gather, the film is about the film director who is an adopted kid and unexpectedly gets pregnant at 23. She decides to raise her child in a non-traditional way with her ex-boyfriend. She also decides to reunite with her birthmother and you see how times have changed an how women have more options now when it comes to unexpected pregnancies. I think this will probably also show the struggles she faces being a single mother so you see both the joys and hardships on both sides.

Now this is all what I am guessing and I'll write a blog on what I think about the film when I see it. So we'll see if what I think the film is going to be about will be what the film is actually about. Haha.

That's all I have for today! Talk to you all tomorrow.

Love,
Deanna

Visitation in June...Almost done with the semester!

Hello All,

So my family and I are coordinating with T and B right now to have our first meeting in June. We have a date set right now so hopefully that will work with both of our adoption workers. :-) We are thinking about going to the park and then out to eat for dinner afterwards. It will be so nice to see them all again and also catch up on life.

Classes are almost over with! Next week is "dead week" and then the 10-14th will be finals week. I'm so ready for a summer break!

Birthmom's day is this weekend and Mother's Day is the weekend after that! I am looking for a nice gift to send to T and I already have a card picked out since this will be her first Mother's day as a new Mommy! :-) Then Father's day is in June so I'll be thinking about something to get for B!

I am going to leave you all with a picture of little Ashden that was sent to me this past Sunday! He is now 19 lbs 3 oz and 28 inches long! He still loves bath time and he has been enjoying some oatmeal for a few of his meals!

Love,

Deanna

Life Has Been Busy...

Hello All,

Sorry it's been awhile since I've been able to update my blog. I've been just so busy between two jobs, classes and studying. I have taken on a second job at the University Police Department as a dispatcher. I've really enjoyed it so far, but my weekends are completely shot (besides being able to study). Blah. It has made me realize that I would really like to become a cop so that is what I will continue to work for.

So I am going to share a few pictures I received from T and B of little Ashden. He is smiling and laughing, they are adorable. I also wanted to share a quick bit of happy news. They mentioned that they would like to get a time together in June for us all to see each other! I'm very excited about this...so is my family and I hope T and B are just as excited!

I have to get to studying for my test but I wanted to share this and give you all some updated pictures that I hope makes everyone smile as much as they made me. :-)

Figuring out my Future...

Hello All,

I got to talk with T yesterday on the phone. Poor Ashden has a cold but she said that he is getting better. I hope he gets better soon! We had a nice hour long conversation just talking and catching up! Every time I talk or hear from them it just reminds me of why I picked them and how I'm so glad that we are developing a friendship!

So onto the title of my blog...I'm just at a frustrated stage in my life. I have been thinking pretty hard about being a K-9 Cop. Just recently my friend has told me about this camp, Philmont, which is a Boy Scout camp. Well there is a whole section for ranching and basically you work with about 350 head of horses and you ride them, brand them, herd them, and so on and so forth. Part of your job is taking boy scouts who are there on trail rides when they want to go. So the more we talk about it, which I'm applying to get a summer position there, it reminds me of just how excited I get when it comes to horses and ranching. So would a K-9 Cop be the right job for me? Or should I look into working for a horse ranch or something in that area? I don't know. I guess it's a good thing that I have another 3 semesters left (if I do get hired on at Philmont it will postpone my graduation on more semester). Maybe if they do hire me on this summer and I go out there I can see just how much I would enjoy it or not and then go from there...

Well that's all I really had to say, I've been busy busy busy with school and I just had so many thoughts going on in my head so I wanted to get them out really quick.

Thanks for listening! (or should I say reading?!?!)

A Few Updates...

Hello All,

Well I got my package from T and B last Thursday with the first round of pictures and a wonderful letter updating me on how everyone is doing. Ashden has his 4 month check up on Friday so I can't wait to hear how that goes and figure out how much he has grown! He has been a happy baby. His parents said that he really enjoys laughing and making a lot of noises. I'm sure his laugh is adorable! It just feels like more than 4 months has passed...maybe it is just the fact that I want the time to go by faster so that the time I get to see T, B and little Ashden gets here faster! I wanted to share a few pictures with you all from the packet they sent...

The first picture was taken in December at T's family Christmas. I love it because he looks like a marshmello! T said that Ashden loves bath time and this picture was just sooooo cute I had to share it with you! The last picture was the sweetest...they put all of the things that I had gotten for Ashden around him and took a picture, they called me Tummy Mom! It's funny because my Mom and I had been talking about it and we both thought that would be a good way for him to know me, just so sweet. There are so many other pictures but I just wanted to share a few since I know a lot of pictures do sometimes make things slower to load.

I also had a package sent to them for Valentine's Day. I wanted to give them all a little something so I bought these Tea Light candle holders with some yummy smelling candles, some chocolate Kisses in a little bag that says "puppy love", I bought Ashden and outfit that says "Tough Like Daddy" and a little card.

I hope you all enjoyed the update. I'll be sure to update in a few days on my cross stitching prject since I did have a chance to work on it a little bit!

Love Deanna

Still waiting for the pictures! I'm so excited!

Hello All,

It's a lovely, cold Monday that I woke up late so I missed my first class this morning...but I am not going to let that bring me down...I will be getting my 3 month pictures of Ashden this week! I recieved a text message from T on Saturday night with the picture at the bottom of the post! I can't believe how big Ashden has gotten! He will be 4 months on Wednesday! I can't even believe it.

I did want to add something really quick about my Birthmother's Day vs. Mother's Day blog...I don't know if I made it clear but I do believe that Birthmom's should celebrate Birthmother's Day together, to support and share and help heal. But Mother's Day is still a day that I want to celebrate, even if it's by myself, because I am a Mother and not just partially a mother! I gave birth to my little boy and I had to make a difficult choice to give him a BIGGER and BETTER life then I EVER could give him right now! I wanted him to have a mother and a father...and even if there were huge parts of me that wanted to keep him and be selfish because it would be EASIER for me to keep him I gave HIM a better life. I am a Mother because I put my son BEFORE myself and I would never want him to have anything LESS! That is true love and that is one way to be an AWESOME MOTHER!

Enjoy the picture...

Birthmother's Day vs. Mother's Day...

Hello All,

So I have been doing some surfing on the Internet the past couple of days (yes I know I should be studying), but I have stumbled upon this concept of Birthmother's Day. I am still looking into it a bit more but I just wanted to get some of my thoughts out there to just try to keep them in order.

First some background...Birthmother's Day was created in 1990 by a group of Seattle Birthmoms. They created the day to be celebrated the Saturday before Mother's Day and it was a day they created to be able to honor each other, help with the healing process and also educate others about Birthmother's. They decided that they would do it the Saturday before Mother's Day because Mother's Day for some Birthmoms is a very hard day.

I guess I have very mixed feelings about these two days. I can completely understand how Birthmother's Day can be helpful for many Birthmother's but I also can see why people think Birthmother's should be honored on Mother's Day...after all they are a Mother. I believe that both the Birthmother and the Adoptive Mother are very important and are both Mother's whom love a child even though they both play different roles in that childs life.

Maybe Birthmother's Day should be celebrated by Birthmother's with Birthmother's...have a day to share, heal, help and educate EACH OTHER! Have a day to connect with others who have gone through what you have and get those connections that so many of us do need. I guess I do want to be considered a Mother, I might not be parenting, but I did make a very hard decision to make sure that my son has a better life. I gave him over to his parents, his Mother and Father, who will raise him and give him the things that I was unable to. I want to be thought of as more then a woman who carried a baby around for 9 months and gave birth to him and then gave him up, end of story. That's not how it goes because I will continue to care about him, and think about him and want what is best for him for the rest of his life (well really my life because I expect him to out-live me).

I guess after all the thinking, the last thought I have is if we are making a Birthmother's Day should there also be an Adoptive Mother's Day? Think about it...if Birthmother's are not thought to be a Mother to be celebrated on Mother's Day then should an Adoptive Mother be celebrated on Mother's Day? Now before you start getting mad let me finish my thought! I believe that Birthmother's and Adoptive Mother's alike should be celebrated on Mother's Day. We are both Mother's, we are both HUGE roles in our children's lives, and nothing makes us less a Mother than the other.

I know many people have different thoughts on this and I think everyone has a right to their own opinions, but that is my opinion and I'm sticking to it!

P.S. Birthmother's Day is not technically the Saturday before Mother's Day because it is scheduled for May 1, 2010 instead of May 8, 2010 and Mother's Day is May 9, 2010...Just an FYI.

Yes Amy (Amstel Life)...I will be quoting you... :-)

Hello All,

So I was reading another one of Amy's blogs (http://amstel-life.blogspot.com/) and it is so funny because I would be one of the people who reads her open adoption story and wants to keep learning more and more from their experiences. Here are a few things she posted that apply to my situation and some of my thoughts to them...

1) If you are a prospective birthmother, choose an adoptive couple/family who you could see yourself having a strong relationship with many years down the road. Choose people with similar interests, values, and morals as your own. You're going to have to do a ton of research, but get to know as much as humanly possible about each other before the actual adoption. The more couples you interview, the better chance you have of finding a perfect match for you. If you're not comfortable with an agency, ask family, friends, and co-workers if they know anyone who is looking to adopt. Sometimes, the best match can come from someone who knows someone who knows someone. In fact, that's how we met each other!

I completely agree with this! Now I was fortunate enough to find a family in three profiles (even though theirs was the first one I looked at). I told the adoption agency what I wanted in a family; Family Oriented, Pet Lovers, Down to Earth and wait...Pet LOVERS! LOL. (Yeah I said that twice but it was a huge thing I wanted). I read through B & T's profile and it just hit me, they were perfect! They were so similar to me it was just crazy! I even had my parents and my sister read their profile and they all said "Do you think they could just adopt you too?" Haha, the whole point to that was how much in common I had with them. It has made things so comfortable for all of us.

3) As your relationship continues to develop, start asking more personal questions. Eventually, you should ask each other every question you can think of under the sun. Nothing should be off-limits to talk about. Some things we thought to ask each other included: -Are you ever going to try adopting again?-Do you anticipate having to move away? -How will you discipline you children?-What type of life insurance, college fund, etc. will you set up? -Should something happen to you both, who will take custody?-Will you both be working, or will De be a stay-at-home mom?-How often do you anticipate we will be able to visit Deanna?-How will you tell Deanna about her adoption?-Will we see Deanna less as she gets older?-May we speak to your family and friends to ask them some questions about you?-And the list goes on....

T and I have been very open with each other. We haven't really gotten around to this in particular but we are slowly but surely opening up about our lives and I hope that will continue and one day we will have all these questions asked and answered between all of us.

7) After the birth, learning the boundaries of open adoption will be difficult at first. You can talk about what to expect until you turn blue, but everything after the birth is a whole 'nother story! You'll learn as you go, but as long as you continue to communicate and be honest with each other, things should start to come together eventually. I can't stress enough how important communication is in open adoption. Since our open adoption was very open, sometimes I had a hard time saying no to visiting. After a long day of class, sometimes I felt guilty for saying no to stopping by to see De and Deanna. There were times I just needed to take a break and be alone. I learned to take care of myself first and to visit only when I felt emotionally ready. And that made our visits so much better.

I completely agree with this! I believe that communication is very important in this area and I also agree on the fact that after the baby is born it is hard to figure out where the boundaries are and if there are ways to have an even more open adoption without stepping on anyones toes. I mean for example, when I was first looking at families I wanted it to be pretty closed, just pictures every once in a while. The longer I was pregnant the more contact I kind of wanted. Then when I got to know B & T I wanted even more openness. Now we are at pictures ever 3 months for the first year, pictures every 6 months after that, we talk on the phone every once in awhile...about once a month, and we've now taken up e-mailing each other almost once a week. We also have a plan to do visitations once a year, we'll see if that increases sometime in the future or if we just keep it at once a year. Again, communication is key! :-)

Amy also went on to say to share your story if it is possible just to help others in their journey's...I've already been doing that and I'm so happy to be able to do that! I mean this is not only a way to get out my feelings, it's a way to show another open adoption story to the world as well as it will be something that Ashden can look back at and read and see what was going on, on my end during this whole experience. :-)

That's it for today...ready to watch Supernatural and then take a bath...

Structuring My Life After Adoption...

Catelynn and Tyler off of Teen Mom said it perfect on one of the episodes (this isn't a perfect quote) "It's crazy because we did an adoption plan for Carly and now we have to make plans for ourselves." It's very true. My life changed a lot after I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly, and all of it for the better. It's still hard to get my feet back on the ground after such a huge decision and such a big change in my life...

I'm back in school at KSU this semester and it's been very hard to adjust from my last semester. I was in a smaller community college taking classes that were a lot easier (the 100 level classes then, the 400 - 500 level classes now). The other huge thing that has changed was the fact that last semester I was pregnant for part of it and then was a woman who had just delivered a beautiful baby boy for the last part of it. You go through a numb period of "Did that really just happen" for a while after you have a baby and give it up for adoption. Now that numb period is over, I am fully aware of what all happened in October 2009. Now I'm trying to figure out my own life and make my own plan as a Birthmom who is a college student trying to keep making a path for my life.

School is so much harder this semester...I am constantly studying and I've been hitting these big walls where I have so many things running through my mind; I need to study for Repro, I should work on Ashden's project, oh wait I can arrange my photos and put captions with all of them, but no...I need to study for Horse science too and Beef science and Genetics. The more my mind goes through this juggle of what I SHOULD be doing NOTHING gets done. I need to get back in the habit of just doing and thinking about one thing at a time so I stop making myself feel so overwhelmed. It's always so much easier said than done!!

On top of all this I have finally decided what I really want to do for a career after college is out, I want to become a Police Officer. I've always been someone that likes to take care of other people, so what better job then to take care of my community and help keep things under control?! I'm excited about that but it still brings up so many other questions and thoughts...

It's just weird, you go from constantly thinking about another person (Ashden for me) to having to focus on yourself completely again. Sometimes it does feel like their is a void there...and not in a way that I feel like my decision was wrong, it's not that at all...but more like you do feel like there is something missing and you are trying to fill that space with something.

I don't even know if I'm making a bit of sense...LOL...just wanted to try to get some of my feelings out instead of always trying to hold them in. Sometimes it just helps put things into place...

16 and Pregnant ------> Teen Mom

Hello all,

So I know that I was 22 when I found out I was pregnant and 23 when I had little Ashden but these shows are so real! I didn't really get into the first round of 16 and pregnant. Actually the very first episode I saw was when Catelynn and Tyler were giving their baby girl up. I was about 6 months pregnant and had decided that I was giving my baby up already. I saw when Catelynn and Tyler were holding their daughter in the hospital and telling each other that this was for the best...I started crying and changed the channel, I didn't want to think about it.

Then give me a few months and after having Ashden and having such an awesome adoption experience and now I am constantly watching Teen Mom, the follow-up to the girls from 16 and Pregnant. Every episode makes me tear up especially when it comes to Catelynn and Tyler just because I do understand what they are feeling and going through...I understand how hard of a decision it is to make and also the feelings of knowing it's best even when it is hard.

These shows are great. I really hope girls watch this and take note! It really isn't easy to be a Mom, especially when you are young and the father doesn't always stay around or when he does it's not just smiles and laughter. It also gives insight to different types of Mom's; the single mom, mom's with a partner; Birthmothers...

Anyway I'm giving everyone a heads up...the new season of 16 and pregnant starts on Tuesday February 16th at 9:00 pm Central time! I really hope that they will also follow up with this group and do another Teen Mom....

I'm going to leave you with that thought and some awesome picture of Ashden's 2nd professional picture session on January 18th...

A New Year...

Hello All,

So it's the start of 2010...I can't believe a year ago this month I got pregnant (even though I had no idea). It's just so strange to think about the differences that have come about in over a year. Jan 2009 I was with someone I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, I was taking a semester off school, I was living on my own and I was going to the bars almost every night...turn that around a year later and I'm completely single and loving it, I'm a Mom, I am living back with my parents, back in school and I barely ever go out.

I am still enjoying the open relationship that I have with B and T. It's been such a relief to hear from them so often (we have been e-mailing each other a lot). It's nice to know that they are comfortable enough to share so much and that they care about me so much to keep up with what has been going on in my life as well. I still can't believe how lucky I was to have the adoption agency give me their profile when I was in the process of picking out a family, of course I know that God had a hand in that...probably even two hands...because they are such a perfect fit!

Ashden has been going to the babysitter this month and has been doing really good there. He is really growing up fast. T says that he is very alert and loves to make lots of noises...I'm sure that he is going to be a big talker, we'll if he takes after me he will be (and of course T and I seem to talk A LOT when we get together so I'm sure he'll get it mostly from her). T and B just had their second baby shower this past weekend with all of their friends and with B's family, I can't wait to see some pictures from it!

In the next couple of weeks I should be getting some updated pictures of him once his second set of professional pictures get developed and sent to B and T. I can't wait to see all the different pictures from the past few months!

I just have one quick thing I want to get off of my chest real quick...I know that some people were prepared for me to change my mind about giving Ashden up after I had him but I never waivered on my decision. I know that some people do and I DO NOT think anything less of them. I just had picked out such a wonderful family and I had my mind set on doing what was best for my baby from the beginning. Of course a few weeks after I gave him up I had a few moments of "What if's" but really those lasted a few minutes and then I'd laugh and say, "Not going there, he is with a Mother and a Father that will love him and take care of him." I guess the thing that bugs me is just having people who were there with me the whole time think I was ever going to change my mind...I don't even know if I'm making any sense...Haha...but it still bugs me. :-P

I will update you all soon, when I have a free minute from homework!

Love,
Deanna

BTW...I love the show Teen Mom! It's so great that they actually show people who go through adoption because it does show all the different aspects of Adoption I don't think a lot of people understand...