Pictures!!

My girl is addicted to corn on the cob. She had 2 pieces this night and wanted more. If you even mention corn on the cob she runs around the house yelling "corn on cob" "corn on cob"!!

This is Asha enjoying the fact that we took the railing off of her bed and that she got new blanket and pillow case. She LOVES it. The only problem is that she sleeps pretty rough so we tuck the blanket into the side of the bed so she doesn't roll out. Well she didn't roll out but I found her at midnight with half her body hanging over the side almost touching the floor and the other half still tucked nicely in bed.

Here she is in the new leotard I bought for her off of ebay. She is going to be starting gymnastics next month and I found some really great deals on ebay. This is the day it came in the mail. She HAD to wear it.

I just love her sparkly mischevious face in this picture. She just sparkles. I can't get enough of her.

Another Question Answered

Question 3:

Do you think her faith impacts how she has handled her grief and her relationship with you all? Does she ever talk about that...the correlation between her faith and how she has processed and handled everything over the past couple of years?

I can't recall for sure if and when she mentioned her faith helping with her grief but I'm pretty sure she had mentioned something along those lines in one of her e-mails that first year. She is very active in her church and has even written and directed Easter and Christmas plays. She leans on God heavily in hard times and like I said always comes through with a smile. Her faith amazes me and I'm pretty positive that's what helped her through it all.

The thing about Mamma D is that she is a VERY busy woman. Her e-mails aren't as frequent or long as they used to be so I only get tid bits of information from her at a time. I used to get more lengthy e-mails but she now has a full time job and a 5 and 6 year old to take care of. Seriously there are times she doesn't check her mail or e-mail for weeks. If I send her something in the mail I e-mail to tell her to check her mail. I miss her and her e-mails but I do understand that she has her own life down in Florida and she may be trying to move on. I know we will never loose touch but she has a life and she's going to live it. She has big plans for her future and she is working towards those plans. I hope she gets everything out of life that she deserves and she deserves ALOT!!

Questions Answered

Thanks for asking questions ladies and they are good ones at that!! Here are some answers.


Question 1:

Do you and Mamma D ever disagree about anything? Just out of curiosity. If so, how do you handle it?

Now you may not believe this but we have never disagreed about anything. I don't know how to say this so it doesn't come across the wrong way but she knows that we are Asha's parents and she doesn't step over that boundary. I don't know if boundary is a good word but that's what popped into my head. When she was here visiting people naturally thought Asha was hers so when people would ask her questions she would look at me and ask me to answer. We got some funny looks but she never stepped in and acted like the mom. She let me do that. She would let us take care of discipline and taking care of Asha the whole time she was here. She has had nothing but praise for us and what we do for Asha and for her and her children.

Question 2:

Does Mamma D ever share some of those harder emotions with you? Do you see them affecting your friendship, or her relationship with Asha at all?

We were really worried when she went home after her visit here that it would be too hard leaving Asha again but when she got home she sent me the most wonderful e-mail about how much she lovs us all and how blessed she feels to have us in her life. I know the first year was hard for her and we even sent her a video of Asha's first year and she did tell me that she couldn't watch it because it was too hard. After her visit and she got to see up close the kind of life Asha has she told me she would probably be fine to watch it now. In the beginning I asked her how much information she wanted and if it would help her or hurt her and she said the more information the better. She wanted to know everything and I think that helps her to know how well cared for and loved Asha is. I send her a TON of pictures and she just gushes over them and appreciates them sooo much. She has not expressed since our visit last year that there has been any sadness and I do my best to try and help in any way I can.

I hope I answered your questions and if not ask again and I will try to elaborate some more. Keep the questions coming ladies and I will be happy to answer them.

Our Open Adoption Story

Someone on another blog I read mentioned that she is trying to find common threads in adoption and has not been able to find any and has encouraged adoptive families to share their open adoption stories.

I have briefly shared about our open adoption but not in great detail. Actually I am very happy with our open adoption and I think Asha's birthmom is too. She has stated more than once that she never thought she could love us as much as she does.

Some people think we are out of the ordinary for open adoptions because we are willing to go all the way. If we lived closer there would be frequent visits and many many memories to be made. Unfortunately we are in Wisconsin and Asha's birthmom and 2 children are in Florida. We try to have atleast one visit a year but did not get to our visit yet this year. We are hoping to go down and visit them in January if all works out. We send regular pictures sometimes monthly sometimes less and we receive pictures of them a few times a year. We have pictures of Asha's birthfamily all over her room and the house. She loves to look at them and can point them out when you ask where her Mamma D is and brother and sister are. We do call her birthmom Mamma D and that is something we all agreed on. We e-mail back and forth frequently and truly Mamma D is like a sister I never had.

I feel so blessed to have her in our lives and especially since she had no idea how open she wanted to be when we all started out. In our first conversation we told her we were as open as she wanted us to be. From there she took the reins and we have a wonderful relationship and great love for eachother. She thinks I am the funniest worry wart out there. Since she lives in Florida I am always worried about hurricanes so she always e-mails me letting me know that they are ok and that I can stop worrying because she knows without me even e-mailing her to check on them that I am worrying.

The best thing for me is seeing Mamma D with Asha. I have the best memories of last summer when she came to visit. She would put Asha up on her shoulders and dance around with Asha squealing and laughing. She would even call Asha the pet names we call her without even knowing those were our pet names for her. Asha was fascinated by Mamma D's hands. She would hold them and turn them over and then look at her own hands. It was so sweet to watch. I will always cherish their time together.

Mamma D is such an amazing woman. She just finished Grad. School and has gotten herself an amazing job. She is a single mother and goes above and beyond for her children while dealing with hardships and trying to get her life on track. She takes so much joy in hearing about Asha and everything she is doing and learning. Mamma D also has an amazing faith in God. Even when her life isn't looking so good she can look to him for strength and she always makes it through with a smile on her face. She amazes me and I am truly truly blessed to have her in our lives and Asha could not have been blessed with a better birthmom.

If there is anything anyone would like to know about our adoption feel free to ask me. I love to talk about adoption!!

Front Pictures Of Asha's New Hair Style

Tonight was a good picture night. It seemed that every picture I took of Asha turned out sooo cute so I am going to post a few of them and then you can also see how cute her hair is from the front. I think this is my new favorite hair style for her. I think for Halloween I will put orange in her hair. That will be sooo cute!!
This is my favorite one of the night. I think it was also the first one of the night too. I take alot of pictures.

Asha playing with her new toy box.

Just one I got of her walking into her bedroom.

I love to take pictures of her. Tonight was a wonderful night and she cooperated so well for me.

I Love This Picture!!

I just love this picture so much!! We were heading out the door to take Dakota to his mom's house and they were having a nice little family moment so I snapped a picture. It turned out so nice. I think I might need to get it framed.

New Hair Style

I tried a new hairstyle today on Asha and I really think I like it. It takes less time than the beads but it still puts color in her hair. Let me know what you think!!

I will try to get a good one from the front and post it later. She wasn't cooperating after sitting for so long. She just wanted to play.

At The Park!!

Our town got a grant for new play equipment at the local park and it's finally done so we had to venture down to see it this week. We went twice and Asha loves it more every time we go. She particularly likes going to the park because it's next to a river and she loves to watch the river as we walk over it. As soon as she gets in her stroller she says "see river, see river".

It was so cute at the park there was this little girl who was 4 and she was just drawn to Asha. She followed Asha around and Asha followed her around. The little girls older brother was more than willing to help Asha get around the tunnels and places I couldn't get to. She seems to draw people and kids where ever she goes. When we went to the beach last week this little girl kept coming up to Asha and saying "Your sooo cute!!" People are always coming over and talking to her at the stores and even men go gaga over her. It's so funny to see men stop and talk all cutsey to her.

Any ways here are some pictures from our outings this week.

This is Asha sitting on the steps going up to the tunnel that she played in most of the time we were there. She couldn't get all the way through by herself but she kept trying.

Here she is in the tunnel. It was steep and some of the kids used it for a slide as well. She had fun just trying to get through.

This picture was taken the first day we went to the park. She was more interested in the swings the first time but today she liked the actual new play ground stuff.

Here is Asha and her brother having fun on the new equipment. Asha really tries to do everything that he does.

This one is just for fun because she looks so cute and just so darn old in this picture. This was taken today and so were the first 2.

We will definately be going back to the park as much as we can before summer is over. She didn't want to leave.

Just Pictures

This was Asha's outfit on Thursday with her pink boots. We were going to the beach that day so her top is just her bikini top.

Daddy dressed her today since I had a migraine. He did a pretty good job but she did talk him back into the boots. She actually went a few days without them.

I took this at the beach on Thursday. I just thought it was a cute picture so I included it. She really had lots of fun and actually went into the water up to her waist. I guess she doesn't mind water if it's warm enough because the last time we went to the beach she barely went deep enough for the water to touch her butt. I wish she was more of a water bug but we have fun in the sand too.

Here she is in her new bikini. She loves it and wants to wear it all the time. I love her in it too so we'll just have to go to the beach more I guess.

Still All About The Boots!!

She's still wearing them and getting compliments where ever we go. She is sooo obsessed with her boots that when I put her down for her nap she must have gotten out of her bed and put them back on because when she woke up they were on and on the wrong feet. When I took those boots off tonight she had some pretty ripe feet. I thought she had a poopy diaper her little feet smelled so bad.

Hopefully tomorrow she will keep them off since we are going to the beach. I don't think boots and sand will mix very well.

I just love being a mommy to my little girl and take joy in all the cute little quirks she has. I will always remember these fun days and I can't wait for many more.

I would post a picture of her in her boots today but I left the camera in her diaper bag again so it will have to wait!!

It's All About The Boots!!

I think my husband is as much of a shoe horse as Asha is. We went looking for new sandals for Asha on Saturday and came out of Target with new sandals and a pink pair of cow girl boots. The boots were compliments of daddy and his little girl had to wear them all through the store and the rest of the day. It was all about those pink boots for her and she loves them. She has been wearing them ever since Saturday afternoon. She wakes up in the morning and her first words are no longer "Good Morning mom" oh no not when there are pink boots to be worn. I now get greated with "Pink Boots mom". She wears them with every outfit including her pajamas. It is the sweetest thing and the one thing I love about having a little girl. Her ability to be girly and loving to dress up. Here are some picture of her outfits since the boots have arrived.
This is what she was wearing Saturday when we bought the boots. The outfit actually does match because there are little pink flowers on her dress.

This is her Sunday morning wearing her boots with her jammies. Luckily she did take them off when it was bath time. We thought we might have a battle of wills over that but it all went smoothly.

This is her outfit from Monday. I tried to make her match since we had to be out and about that day. Here is today's outfit. We did have a little time this morning without the boots but she did finally remember and had to have them on again.

No boots in this picture but this was her fashion statement for last Wednesday when we went to pick up brothers football gear at the school. She HAD to wear her wings. She got lots of compliments on them.

I wonder if tomorrow will be a bootless day?? LOL