Forever Family

It's official.

We went to court this morning to finalize our adoption.

Jayden is officially stuck with us forever. ;)

From the moment we got to court, Jayden was busy charming everyone. In the waiting area he was walking around and dancing. He loved the marble floors. He reached down and touched the floor a couple times. He seemed so happy to be there. Everyone that walked through commented on how cute he was.

My Aunt gave him a kitty stuffed animal, which he loved.

In the courtroom the judge said it was okay to let him walk around because he was not in the mood to sit. He ended up starting up a game of peek-a-boo with the judge. Then he was blowing him kisses! The judge even blew him a  kiss back. It was so funny. He was walking around the courtroom like he owned the place.

My parents and my Aunt came with us. It was so nice to have them there celebrating with us. Then right after we left court, I checked my phone and there were so many tweets and texts and love from all over. We are so grateful to have had so much love and support through our adoption journey. Jayden is so loved.

We went out to breakfast with my Mom and Aunt after we left court.

Then we went home so Jay could take a nap.

Later in the afternoon Jen from This Is More Personal and her wonderful husband came by for a visit while they were in town. It was so special to have one of Jayden's twitter Aunts be part of the big day. Jen, like so many of Jayden's twitter Aunts, has been a huge source of support throughout our adoption journey.

We then met family out at a restaurant for a celebratory dinner. I love times like this because it's such a big reminder of how loved Jayden is. And he did so well! Court and two meals in a restaurant...all in one day...and he did amazing! Especially since he only had one nap and dinner was close to bedtime. His favorite part of dinner was sitting next to Grandpa. He was copying everything Grandpa did.

I've known since the moment I met Jayden that he was my son, but I don't think I realized until today how much finalization meant to me. I thought I would be able to put those feelings into words in this blog post, but I really can't express the full range of emotions I felt. I spent a lot of today thinking about our journey that led us to today. Everything we went through before Jayden came into our lives. I mostly thought about how lucky we are. After 11.5 months of parenting Jayden, it still feels surreal sometimes. And I don't think I realized until today that I have been holding my breath this whole time. Kind of waiting for the floor to drop out from under us. But, it didn't. And it never will. This is forever.

Like our lawyer said to us today, now we just need to worry about living happily ever after. :)