When Ayden was born

Now that I can post pictures of our sweet little guy, I decided I'd do several blog post going back to the beginning. I still won't give terribly much detail... protect Ayden and his bio. family. But I'll show the pics., talk a bit about them. So... these are most of the pictures we got at the hospital. Please keep in mind they were taken with my phone camera... which sucks! Ayden was in the NICU for about 3 and a half weeks.

Jared being silly while Ayden sleeps

Awake baby Ayden, but not waking to be awake

"Just leave me alone please!"

First time meeting Aunt Shannon~ who lovingly gave him the nickname "monkey eyes"

Bath time!

Sleepind on dad

One of the few times Jared fed Ayden. Ayden, for some reason, wouldn't eat if Jared was feeding him. I had to be the one to feed him... or the nurse.

READY TO GO HOME!!!!!

So these last two I tried to turn them and couldn't so... pretend :o)

Me helping bath Ayden

My turn for cuddles

The hospital stay was hard... for two reasons. Firstly, it was hard seeing Ayden struggle. Secondly, the hospital is 30 mins. south of us, we were going 2 or 3 times a day. The staff was great! But we were glad to go home.

That about sums up the hospital part. Pretty boring, but fun to look at these pics. again.

Love to all!!!!

Ayden's bio. family

This post is more for journal, remember than it is exciting. Anyway~ the other night we had the honor of going over to Ayden's bio family's house, visiting, and getting a few pictures.

Ayden with his bio. grandma

Ayden with bio. great-grandma

Ayden with great-great grandma

I was hoping we'd see Ayden's bio. parents while we were there, but they were off doing something. That's okay though. Like I've mentioned, we get to see and talk to them often. Love to all!!!

Our big day

It's official!!! "Thor" can officially be know to the public!! His real name is now...

Ayden John Payne

We had an amazing day yesterday. I won't lie, a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. Here are a couple of pictures from after the hearing

Ayden making his adoption official

Ayden with his amazing judge, Judge Bazzelle

Judge Bazzelle presenting Ayden with a cute stuffed animal

First pic. as a legal family!!!

We celebrated that evening with LOTS of friends coming over for snowcones. It was a long day, but couldn't be more perfect. If you want to see more pics, and an awesome video... be sure we're facebook friends :o) We will be taking Ayden to the temple in about 4 1/2 weeks. Until then, we're just going to relax and enjoy our time together. Huge thank you to all those who came to celebrate with us (at the court house and for snowcones). Also... yes, going to get sappy here. Words can't express how grateful for all the prayers in our behalf since starting out on our adoption journey. They have definitely been felt! We are just so blessed to have so many family and friends who love us and have helped both physically, emotionally, and spiritually through all this. Love you all!!!

4 days

Warning: This may be a boring post to you!! Please feel free to skip if you want too :o) Holy Moly! We only have to wait four more days until "Thor" is legally our son. I will admit, still seems kind of far. I know it's just right around the corner though. Obviously with finalization so close, it's been on my mind even more. It's so surreal to me. That one of my... yeah, I'd say life long dreams of becoming a mom is about to happen. A lot of people say I became a mom a while ago, and my thoughts are this. Yes and no. Yes, because I have been helping numerous friends with their kids, we fostered "Little Man" for two months, I have been a leader of many young ones at church, etc. But that is all different. I say no, because... on Monday, I will get full rights and responsiblities of another human being! He will be ours to care for and teach. No waiting for another set of parents to come home/get them, no getting permission from the state for something, wondering how long he'll stay. "Thor" is OURS! and forever!! This gets me thinking of "Thor"'s bio. parents. They have their faults, but who doesn't? To me, it says A LOT that they unselfishly signed over their parental rights, so that "Thor" could have a better life than they thought they could provide at this time for him. There is no question in my mind that they love him so incredibly much. Now, a lot of people question our open adoption with them. We love it! I loved sending that facebook message to her, letting her know "Thor" cut his very first tooth!! So fun having them at his check-ups, meeting them for ice cream, etc. It has been great for everyone involved. I think it's so cool "Thor" has 2 moms and 2 dads that love him more than anything in this world!! My heart breaks for them though. The pain they must be going through. Placing a child for adoption is not for whimps! It was all I could do to not cry watching them sign relinquishment papers. They are definitely strong people, and I admire them for that. I'll stop my ramblings now. I just wanted to get my thoughts out in the open... to be honest, help me collect them more than anything. Thanks for getting through it. Love to all!!!

Just because

Yes, this is a just because post :o) I don't think I have too much to say. OH! "Thor" cut his first tooth on Sun.! I was feeding him breakfast, and there it was. It's small, kind of hard to see, but it's there. Kind of looks like this:

He's still kind of cranky though, so I wouldn't be surprised if more are coming, or trying to come.

This last weekend we had the honor of going up north to spend time with Jared's sis and her adorable family!! It was such a blast. We watched general conference, ate, talked, and played.

 That about sums it up for us!! Hope all is well!! And lets not forget... 13 DAYS until we finalize!! Love to all!!