3 years in the making...

While I know he doesn't realize it, Austin really missed having a dad in his life when he was younger.  I remember going to visit Lorrie and Rhom and he would call Rhom "dad."  Another time we went to watch a tball game and he was calling my friend's husband daddy.  I mean to him that was their name, just like his name was Austin.  Other children called those men dad and he didn't know what a dad was.  My greatest worry used to be how I would ever explain to Austin why he didn't have a daddy and other kiddos did.  Where his dad was and how it was not his fault his dad didn't wasn't around.  Then 3 years ago that all changed.  God sure knew what he was doing when he brought us Blake!  Austin was calling him dad very early on in our relationship.  At 2 I think he just "knew" :)  Then my biggest worry became how I would explain to Austin why his name was different.  Now that will no longer be a problem!  In the very near future he will be Austin John Miller Cannon!!  And we can't wait!

We got AMAZING news today! Our attorney called and Brandon finally returned the signed consent to adopt paperwork!!  Great news!  Laura emailed me the paperwork and we signed it immediately!  Luckily for us we have a notary in our office so she did her thing and a runner from the attorney's office came and picked up the adoption paperwork to file it.  Austin will be a Cannon in less than a month if all goes well!  How  will I ever beat this birthday present???

Yes, I'm a dork... I had the camera out taking pictures of each of us signing the paperwork.

And then Vicky jumped in to help us get one together.

All in all it turned out to be a pretty amazing day.  For me the hardest part has been waiting for Brandon to sign the paperwork.  I've never had a good relationship with him and he has never had any type of relationship with Austin.  Although I gave him one hell of a deal, sign away the rights to your child and you don't owe a dime in child support and you never have to deal with me again, he still stalled, lied and tried to fight about it.  Needless to say, I have deleted him from my phone contacts and hope I never have to deal with him again.  

The next step will be when we actually go to court.  I'm really excited about that!  Austin gets to go and we can make it a family affair.  Definitely this will be a hot topic in an upcoming blog post.  Our attorney, Laura, said it could happen as early as June.  That would be the best birthday present I could get!  A father, a real father for my son.  Not that Blake hasn't been a father already, but this will make it official!!  I'm actually wondering if the judge will talk to Austin.  I imagine a conversation like this... judge to Austin: do you want this man to be your dad?  Austin: WHAT?? He is my dad!  And as usual, Austin is right.  Blake is and has been his dad for 3 years and we couldn't be happier!