He's officially Crawling!

Yesterday, Aedyn officially crawled across the living floor. We knew it would happen any day now.Before he had only been moving his legs but not his arms in coordination, actaully sorting of lunging himself forward then getting back up on his knees and trying again. Well, he actually moved his legs and arms in coordination across the floor. And he continued to groove and move this morning. We were enjoying this beautiful moment we didn't take the time to get the camera. I'll try to get pics later and post them. Maybe even a video. But, just had to share

Pee sticks!(No, this is not a new game played with bodily fluids)

It is my unconventional way of letting the world know that Shane and I are PREGNANT!

After trying to become pregnant for over 10 years, through natural and invasive IVF procedures we had finally released the hope that we were going to become parents by becoming pregnant. We accepted our circumstance and embraced the journey of becoming parents via open adoption. Well, of course all of you know what a hard, but blessed journey that has been, because we now have our beautiful son Aedyn who fills our every day with joy and laughter!

We found out that I was pregnant on March 9th and of course were shocked, elated and scared! Our biggest concern was miscarriage. This was not a planned pregnancy, we just figured if we hadn't become pregnant in the last 10 years, even using the very advanced technology of Invitro fertilization, it probably wasn't ever going to happen. Hooray for naptime! Ha Ha!

Of course along the way we have heard the comments you'll become pregnant after you adopt; we knew the odds were against us so we didn't even give it a second thought, we were just going to revel in the awesomeness of Aedyn, and hopefully in the future be blessed again with another open adoption.God had other plans.

I went directly to the doctors as soon as I found out,and everything was on track and by the second ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks along I could see the heartbeat. At our last doctor's appointment we had another ultrasound and everything waslooking great,Shane could see the heartbeat and we could see the baby waving its arm and moving. Our next appointment is next Friday and 2 weeks after that we have a regular ultrasound appointment where we will be able to tell the gender of the baby. Exciting stuff!

We are still cautious about the pregnancy, trying to become more excited as we get further along in gestation. As of today I am 15 weeks along. Also,we are cautious because I have gestational diabetes and am monitoring my blood sugar 4 times daily and controlling my diet. I actually have lost weight, go figure!

Wow! Aedyn is going to be a big brother. They will be be about 14 months apart! Wish us luck!

All that build up for nothing!

Yesterday, Thursday, we had our home visit from the social services department to complete our part for our post placement visit. I cleaned the house, made sure the smoke alarms had new batteries, made sure the prescription medicines were locked away,made sure all the open outlets had covers,etc. Our social worker was actually 3o minutes early, and he walked in, looked around, asked 4 questions in a casual manner, had no paperwork, and then went on his way. He was literally here less than 5 minutes. He asked how long have we lived in Simi, did we like living here, how are things going all together, and how was Aedyn? That was it! I told him that we had a court date for the trial, that we still have a good relationship with his birthparents, and that everything was going great! All that stress for nothing! Well, that's one down one more home visit to go for the bonding study with the psychologist!

We also went to visit Daddy at work yesterday and had lunch with him. then we sat outside enjoying the air(however hot it was), and Aedyn did what seemed to be his first byebye wave.
Oh, in just the last week alone,we have had at least 3-4 comments that Aedyn should be on TV.

Aedyn's almost crawling

If you look close you can see Aedyn's first tooth!

Up on his hands and knees!
Still tryin'!
Doing his push-ups!
Aedyn in his new quacky duck bathtub! It actually makes quack sounds.
Eating his toast all by himself. What a mess!

Aedyn is growing so much, even day to day. On Wednesday he cut a new tooth on the bottom next to his other tooth. His nose as been running like crazy so we knew another one was coming soon!Of course he rolls everywhere on the floor, but now he has discovered that he can get up on his knees. He mostly ends up pushing himself backward, but he's learning and getting stronger daily. He even gets so excited that he can lift his entire body by pushing up on his hands and just his toes, so it looks like he's doing a pushup. He is babbling and talking so often, it really sounds like he says Dada all the time. And just yesterday he started making waving motions with his hands as if to say byebye! He weighs at least 22 lbs now!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Mom and me enjoying our sugar-free Starbucks!
The lovely necklace Shane and Aedyn gave me. If you can tell the aquamarine and sapphire stones alternate and then there's the two intertwining circles on the bottom. The necklace is made of white gold. I feel so blessed! How am I going to top this for Father's Day?!
All of us (sans Jon, he took the picture) at the Huntington gardens!
Mommy and Aedyn posing on a hill at the Japanese garden near the Koi pond.
Aedyn and Grammy sharing a moment at the Chinese garden.

I know Mother's Day was 5 days ago, but better late than never! So Happy Mother's day to all!

My first Mother's Day was blissful and perfect. I woke up in the morning to the beautiful smile of my son, and was able to cuddle with him while he ate his breakfast. Shane and Kathy, ran an errand to the grocery store, so we thought! They actually came back with bouquets of flowers for My mom and me, as well as Starbucks coffee. Perfecto! Then, we opened gifts. I have to say I enjoyed the cards,of course I cried at all of them. Boy, does my family know how tug at the heartstrings! I enjoyed a beautiful book and new clothes from my Mom,and a CD of Pictures(mostly of Aedyn) set to music from Kat and Jon. My husband took my breath away with the most beautiful necklace. He designed a necklace that combined both mine(aquamarine) and Aedyn's(sapphire) birthstones together along with two intertwined circles, representing mother and child's life intertwining. It is beautiful!!!

After lounging around a bit we all finally got dressed and made it to brunch at a local restaurant. After that we ventured to the Huntington Gardens in San Marino. The weather was just perfect,sunny and breezy, and the gardens were in full bloom. I think our favorite part of the gardens was the Japanese garden. They also have an art museum and library. It was just a perfect day!!!! I am so blessed to have my family, my husband, and my son to share my life with!

Birthmother's Day!

Today is officially Birthmother's Day! Today we celebrate and honor Amber Starr! She is an amazing person who selflessly and with unconditional love gave us the greatest gift of family. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives, and we know the relationship we share now will be nurtured for the rest of Aedyn's life.

Although it has been a difficult journey for us, open adoption is a beautiful way to create a family.

So thank you Amber, you are loved!

more pictures!

Eating a cookie for the first time!
See Ma,I can rollover!
That's amazing! Aunt Kat and Aedyn in Disney's Playhouse at California Adventure.
I love my bathtime!
Playtime on the Mark Twain!

Hopefully Pics

Better late than never!

Ok, so here is an update of our life during the last month. Ok,well this is mostly about Aedyn, but we are obviously involved. So thanks all of you for not giving me a hard time for falling behind in updates and pictures. Well, the bad news is we have to go court to fight the tribe. We had thought we might be able to fly under the radar and be able to finalize without any more complications,but during the time since my last post about this subject our lawyer has been in contact with the tribe's lawyer and they still want to assert what they believe is their right to intervene in the adoption. This last month has not been easy on us; Shane has handled all of the communication and has done a wonderful job of staying calm and levelheaded, although I know he is mad and scared like me,it's just that I show it and he keeps it in. Aedyn will be 11months when we go to court, and our lawyer sees this as a favorable aspect.he seems very confident about our chances of winning. But, in the meantime we are having to go through a bonding study with a clinical child psychologist so that she can write a report(or appear in court as an expert witness) testifying that Aedyn has bonded with us and it would be detrimental to his wellbeing if removed from our care. We start the study on April 28th,and it is an involved and of course expensive process. But,we will do anything to keep our son!

We have the regular home visit this thursday with the social worker, and then he will write his report and submit it to the courts for finalization. Our lawyer will also be calling on him as a witness at our trial.

So the good news, Aedyn is flourishing and is growing and learning so fast it's hard to keep up.It is so amazing how much Aedyn has accomplished this last month. He is so active, always trying to grab at things he wants. Aedyn has learned to roll over both front to back and back to front. He will roll himself across the entire floor and roll all the way back. He is also starting to creep by pulling his legs beneath him and pushing forward. He has discovered his toes and loves to hold them and stick them in his mouth when he can. He is constantly drooling because he’s teething; he actually got his first tooth on the bottom. He was really never fussy or ran a fever before his first tooth appeared. He loves to eat and anticipates eating time; it’s hard to keep up with him when he eats. He always wants to eat what I am eating and will try to grab it out of my hand. One of his new favorite things to eat is pickles. Aedyn loves to play peek-a-boo, and anticipates our actions and will laugh out loud even before we do anything. He is definitely more verbal about things he wants or toys he likes to play with. He will start to cry (really what I call complain) if we leave the room and he can’t see us. He loves story time and loves to look at the picture ,he gets so excited. He is now too big for his bathtub, we now bathe him in the big bathtub and he loves to splash us as much as he can while try to grab his slippery bath toys. He is now eating five times a day, and he sleeps all the way through the night, at least 10 hours. He can now make raspberry and zerbert sounds with his mouth. He weighs over 20 lbs and is about 27 inches long. Aedyn loves to see new people and he is really fascinated with children. He also is recognizes our extended family members.

So that's about it for now. Please continue to pray for our situation and peace of mind for our family.

oh and I am having trouble uploading pictures so stay tuned.

Stealing photos

I had to steal this photo off my sissy's website. It's so adorable.