Professional Pictures...

We got the professional pictures yesterday! There are 150 of them so this is a small sampling, there are a lot of good ones in the CD but I choose some of my favorites!

I have more pictures to post, this weekend we had a good weekend. Friday we went to dinner with Grandma which was very nice, and Saturday I had my last wedding of the year. Sunday we went to see Chris and Julie and had a really great time. Darrian loved Ju-Ju and her Mom Linda.. and Chris even got a hold in. Ivy was very cute with her new kitty and everything we did with the baby she did with the kitty...like wrap the kitty in a blanket. :) Too cute.

Today was my due date... although they said I would not have gone past Oct. 4th even if I had made it past the 14th... but for most of the year this was the due date!

You can click on the pictures below to make them bigger..

This was at the end... starts bottom up..

This is his stop Mommy enough pictures...

Please take note of the rapid arm movement in the above picture, he doesn't love to sit still.. :)
thats better and a smile..

One Month Old....

Baby D is one month old... well a little more than one month. He turned one month old on Sunday. It is odd looking back and thinking I wasn't even expecting him to be here yet, and he is already a month old! We have adjusted pretty well if I do say so myself to having baby home (knock on wood)..I do notice the closer we get to his "due" date the more like the baby stories I have heard he becomes. One thing is for sure he loves to eat! He has grown into the newborn diapers now, no longer needing the preemie ones. I have also noticed a couple outfits are too small of him now, mainly for length reasons. He is awake more, alert more and such a joy to watch grow. I remember before he came I worried about adjusting to life with baby since Keith and I have been on our own for 1o years... but it is as if he was here the whole time, this was meant to be... it was meant to be.

Here are some pictures we took at his one month mark.. he is smiling now and after much practice we FINALLY got it on film! You can click on them to make them bigger, we tried not to use flash so some are a little blurry..

In honor of breast cancer awareness month and Donna who just passed from breast cancer I am posting the above post. One of my favorite designers Coach has come up with the above line in honor of breast cancer awareness month. They have keyrings and phone landyards and 20% of the proceeds go to finding a cure for breast cancer. I have my eye on the key ring in the middle or the heart one.. :).

Donna Thornton

Febuary 4, 1953- October 5, 2007

California, Concord - DONNA KAREN THORNTON, 54, lost her battle with breast cancer on October 5, 2007. A native Memphian, she resided in Concord, CA prior to her passing and was an educator for the Pittsburgh Unified School District in northern California. She is survived by her parents, Laurine and JD Thornton of Memphis; one brother, Michael Thornton; two sisters, Stephanie Coleman of Henderson, NV, and Carmelitha Gibson of Memphis; three children, Cynthia, Daryl and Lauren Ashlei; three grandchildren, Jason, Devan and Darrian; as well as a host of other relatives and long-time, beloved friends. She will be greatly, greatly missed.

An Update....

So far this has been a big week at the Thornton house. Monday Darrian had his first doctors appointment and is doing great, he now weighs 5 lbs 7 oz. although that was a few days ago and I bet his has packed on more weight since then. He is measuring about 19/20 inches long. He is a good baby (knock on wood), and so very cute. Keith is a wonderful father getting up at all hours to help with feedings and change diapers. After the drs. appt. we took Darrian in to meet Keith's mom for the first time. It was very sweet but also sad because she can't hold him or anything, but she got to see him. The doctors told us Sunday that she only has two to three months to live, although Monday it seems that Donna has choosen that she would prefer to not continue the extra efforts the drs. are making, and they will start the process of stopping those things in two to three days. We are being told after that it is just a matter of time before her battle is done. It is hard, and we are trying to find comfort in the fact that this is her choice no matter how hard it is for those left behind. We know that we will tell Darrian about her when he is old enough to hear stories, and Keith and I can find some comfort in the fact that she did make it to meet him if only for a brief moment.

Wednesday we took Darrian to look for an outfit for pictures he had Thursday. It is hard to find something for someone so small.. all the cloths we have he will grow into but do not fit now. Socks are too big, and all he really has is onsies.. so we went on a hunt. Three stores later we found a couple of cute things at Macys. We didn't get much because he is growing so fast. He attracts a lot of attention of everyone making a comment, I have a fear of them touching him without washed hands... but so far that hasn't happened.

Thursday was Darrian's big photoshoot in San Ramon at the home of Monica Wharton a photographer I had enlisted many months ago. I wrote her from the hospital to tell her that Darrian had come early and could she squeeze us in. She likes to shoot newborns in the first two weeks of life, so they are sleepy and work well. Darrian was a trooper. We were there for over two hours and Monica thought he was so cute, she said she wants to put him on her website. It was fun, and Keith was the perfect assistant making sure Darrian was posed just right, his hair was combed and he was comfortable. Monica got over 100 pictures and they won't be ready for a few weeks... she left the room at one point to go find angel wings so Keith took a few pictures with his iphone which I have posted as a sneak peak below.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THESE TO MAKE THEM LARGER...

One minute he is holding my hand the next he is eating it :)

ahh how could I not be totally in love..

Hanging out at home...

Since we got home Sunday we have done nothing but hang out. It has been nice to relax but at the same time seems like we should be doing something. Darrian is doing really good, he had a wellness check and gained weight on Tuesday since he has been home on Sunday. I can tell he is already getting bigger, and longer. We tried to measure him with the measuring tape the nurse left, he squirms a lot but seems to be about 20 inches long we think...

Here are some pictures we took today..

We are home!!!


Finally we are home after a long week, what felt to me like the longest week of my life, we are finally settling down into our life as a family. I have posted some pics from yesterday for you guys to look at..

We will be in touch soon!

Darrian Keith Thornton

As most of you know Darrian came into the world as a surprise on 9/14 at 3:37 pm. We can not begin to describe the joy that he has already brought into our lives, we are so in love. I could not have made it through the whole thing without Keith's support. He is a proud father, and is constantly saying "that's his boy!". We are doing fine, Darrian is still in the hospital his lungs and all look great (Thank GOD), he scored a 9 on his apagar. He is growing and just has to get his food eatings down before he can come home.

I just wanted to post some pictures here... on my way to the hospital to see him!

Hi everyone,
So this weekend I was watching Bill Maher on HBO and he told the story of the "Jena Six" in Louisiana. I had not heard of this story because I guess main stream media has yet to tell the public about it. I personally was saddened by the story, and that in a time in 2007 we are still seeing issues like this going on. Mos Def a guest on the show said it best "Why should we have to live in two separate America's". Here in CA we live in our bubble that all is well in the world, mean while in the south all white juries are still convicting young black Americans as if we are living in 1950's.

One of the 6 students has already been tried and convicted and could face up to 22 years in jail, when the white students who beat up black students at a party just got probation.

I am putting the story here, I am also going to put a link to sign a petition to help free the Jena 6, if you are incline to do so after reading the story..

THE JENA SIX>>
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree.
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen." Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story. To send a letter to Governor Blanco, please visit Color of Change.

HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN SIGN A PETITION.. http://civilliberty.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=civilliberty&cdn=newsissues&tm=2714&gps=145_1266_923_252&f=10&tt=11&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.naacp.org/get-involved/activism/petitions/jena-6/index.php



HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE STORY IN ORDER OF WHAT HAPPEN>>
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/raceequalopportunity/p/jena_six.htm

I have heard Oprah may do a show on this, which I hope happens so it can get national headlines... seems like this is something that should not be put under the rug..

Best wishes,
Michelle

Baby D's Room..

The crib finally came, mattress was picked up and everything came together so far in baby D's room. We are pretty much all set there, we want to order a rocking chair/glider and a changing table and we are done.. here are some pictures of everything.

from the ground up.

close up of bedding.

bedding and crib

from the top..

one side..

And because he is so cute.. here is baby d's bear we built at build a bear when Chris and Julie came to see us a couple sunday's ago! He has sunglasses like daddy!