Ty started soccer

Finally, at 2 1/2 Tyler is old enough to play soccer. Today, probably one of the coldest days in April (brrrrrrr) Tyler had his first soccer practice and he LOVED IT!! He didn't want to stretch before practice, and who could blame him, he'd been up since 6:30 and did quite a bit of "stretching" already.

Tyler got a bit off track playing with Brian and Aidan

Birthmother Panel

Last night I had the pleasure of having dinner with a birthmom and then having her come and speak to our adoption group. "M" is an amazing woman. She was open and honest with us and we, as adoptive parents, appreciate that so much. I truly believe that speaking with birthfamilies  makes us not only better adoptive parents but better people in general. I am still in awe of the strength some people have, M is no exception. It has been some time since she placed her child and she still is confident that she did the right thing and I am so happy for her for that.
I was a bit surprised when I had mentioned that what she did for her child's adoptive parents, allowing them to be a part of the process, go to sonograms and be at the birth etc..., was such a gift to them. Birth families have the right to have the adoptive family involved as little or as much as they want. But, the adoptive family would probably never have had a chance to experience that aspect of pregnancy had it not been for M. I know that this was a gift because our son's birthmom allowed us to be part of her pregnancy as well and that was priceless for us. She did not have to but she chose to and we were so honored to have such a big role in her pregnancy.

To all birth families: we will not pretend to know what you have to go through or how you feel. But, what we want you to know is that because of you, and you alone, we are parents, we are a family and we are forever grateful for the sacrifice and selfless decision you have made.

It's been a while

We just got back from Disney earlier this week and it was awesome. We have always loved going but it was a different experience taking the boys. We weren't sure how Ty was going to react to the characters since he was scared of Elmo outside of a store handing out fliers one day (maybe it had something to do with the fact that Elmo's head was on crooked!). We had nothing to worry about, both of the boys were so excited it was better than we could have even imagined.

We only told them we were going the night before we left. Thank God because Aidan couldn't fall asleep, he was too excited and was up half the night.

Our second day there we spent 12 hours at The Magical Kingdom and the boys did not stop for a second. We took an obscene amount of pictures that I have to go through - should only take about 3 days! I'll post some soon.

Tyler's speech kicked into full gear on this trip and he talked the entire time!!! Wow - talk about the flood gates opening up.

Now that we are back I hope to be able to post more often. Hopefully with some much needed improvements. Although, one of the most amazing people I know has a blog that is just unreal. I don't know how she does it. I always wonder how many hours are in her day - lol. I will probably not reach the level she is at but I sure will try.

here are a few pics..

Ty is just a bit excited for the magic carpet ride.

New link to our Adoption Profile

We just added a new link to our adoption profile. Although it is very similar to this one there is a bit more information in there (ie - our relationship with our son's birthmother etc..)
Also, you can print the profile.
The link is on the bottom right side of this page - Kristen & Brian's printable profile.

look who joined the family

On Friday we picked up Elvis, our new puppy.
He is so sweet and we are all having such a great time with him. He is a terrific addition to our family.
Kristen's dad had always said that a family should have a dog, now we don't have to worry that he's going to leave a puppy on hour front step :-)

Aidan's 5th Birthday

I can't believe it's been 5 year since Aidan was born. 

Why adoption?

We get a lot of questions/comments from people (family, friends and strangers) about adoption. Here are just a few:

Why are you adopting again?

Aren't you happy with the family you have?

It must be easier since you already adopted.

To Brian and me the answers are simple but not easy to explain. I can talk about it for hours but will do my best to keep it concise in this forum. 

Why are we adopting again?

From our first date Brian and I discussed what we wanted as far as a family was concerned. We knew that we wanted a big family (4-5 kids). We have always loved our big family get-togethers. Don't get me wrong, we have our ups and downs as all families do - we're not perfect but we all love each other & are there for one another. Anyway,  s I said Brian and I knew what we wanted and we had both said that we were open to adopting ~not knowing at that time what would happen a few years later when we had Aidan. 

Just because the path of your dream changes doesn't mean that the dream goes away. 

ok - so I went on to write a couple of more paragraphs then I realized that most people aren't going to read all my ramblings so I deleted it . Like I said, I could go on and on. 

Aren't you happy with the family you have?

Without a doubt! I was floored when I heard someone ask this question. My first reaction was shock and my next was anger. How dare they think we don't love our family. I'd bet that they didn't ask their child that when  they heard she was having another baby! What is the difference?!

My thought is that if people can get pregnant and have more children they have the right to have more, right?  More than likely they have the love and desire to have more children. It doesn't mean they aren't happy with the children they already have.  It's the same with Brian and I. We love our boys more than words can explain but we still have a strong desire to have more children to love and spoil and laugh with and cry with and .....go through all that life has to offer with.

It must be easier since you adopted again.

NO! The emotions are still very much the same - nervous, anxious, excited. We still wait by the phone hoping that it will ring. My heart still skips a neat when it does. 

I know that typing takes the emotion out of things but believe me, this is something we are both very emotional and passionate about. Like I said earlier I could go on and on about this but I won't.