Here is Joshua, I can't believe he is 6! My baby boy!
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Birthday Picture
Here is one of the pictures from our recent birthday photo shoot for the kiddos. (Cambria had one done in September for her 1st birthday.) Our schedules are so crazy busy that I do one group birthday session for the boys (and do group pictures of all 4 kids too).
Here is Joshua, I can't believe he is 6! My baby boy!
Here is Joshua, I can't believe he is 6! My baby boy!
Friday, May 23, 2014
Worst Blogger
I am officially turning into the worst blogger. This is only my 2nd post this month, and I only blogged twice in April. I used to get so bummed out when my favorite bloggers started blogging less and less. And now, I'm becoming like them. Although, I doubt I'm anyone's favorite blogger (maybe besides my mom's! Haha!)
What have I been up to? Baseball! Helping my kids with their homework and projects. Driving my oldest two sons to guitar lessons. Driving Jacob to his catechism class every week. He made his First Holy Communion and Confirmation last week. And oh did I mention baseball? We are at the baseball fields 5 days a week (and sometimes 6 if they have a Saturday game or practice.) It is so exhausting. But fun and amazing to watch them play and see their progress this year. My oldest two love to play catcher. My oldest played an amazing game last night. He smacked that ball out to the outfield like a champ and was a wall behind that plate. They were winning for a while, which was exciting because they haven't won very many games this season.
And then the game was tied, which is when I took this fun picture.
The game was tied 7-7 in the 7th inning! That is my son Zack in the catcher's equipment. See that runner on base? That may or may not be his friend (sorry the picture is blurry, I took it thru the fence!) anyways, as I was saying.....see that runner on 1st? Yeah, he scored. And so did a bunch more people after we got short on pitchers. Zack couldn't go in to pitch because he caught for more than 4 innings, which is the rule, they can't pitch if they've caught for more than 4 innings. And they can only throw 85 pitches in a game, and then they need a 5 day rest period. Needless to say, our really good pitcher was still on his 5-day rest period.
But I digress....
I guess what I'm saying is I haven't been blogging much because I've been busy spending time with my kids, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. Cambria and I went and had a playdate with her little 1 year old friends this week, and we go to mommy-and-me gymnastics, etc. etc. And now my kids are on summer vacation- day 1 of that going on here today! 2 birthday parties yesterday and 1 today for my boys. Plus a birthday party for Cami's little friend last weekend.
Plus I know I say this a lot, but this school year was so challenging. The worst one yet. Don't get me wrong, my oldest two boys got straight A's and are in the honors program (my kindergartener doesn't get A's and B's, instead they get E's and S's, etc.) But getting them to that point of year-long straight A's was tough. So much stupid homework and projects that required parental assistance plus a lot of cash. My 3rd grader's teacher sent home so much nightly homework and they had to answer questions on a class blog every week, and none of it counted towards his grade! All that work for nothing! Only a few big assignments and tests counted for his grade. What a waste of time to try and get all the problems right, when we never even got them back to see if he got them right and he got no credit for it. And some people might say that it was good practice to do all that homework and reinforcement of the concepts. Well, was it? Really? He doesn't even know if he did the homework problems correctly, because they were never returned or a score entered on the Power School. At least my 6th grader got credit for all of the nightly homework he did.
My oldest son decided he wanted to go to a new school for 7th grade. Shocking. He wants to go to this new school that is coming to my town in August. It is called Ba.sis School. You should google them. They are absolutely amazing schools that started in Tucson, AZ (interestingly, that is where Dave and I met!). Highly academic schools. Challenging, and hardly ever any stupid projects!! Lots of focus on math, which is what this country needs. 2 of my college roommates send their kids there, and they love it. US News & World Report consistenly ranks Ba.sis in the top 10 (and lately in the top 5) of US high schools! So my nerdy smart boy should do just fine there. The problem is what to do for high school. He loves baseball and wants to play on the public high school baseball team. So if he makes the team for high school, we will send him to the public high school. Ba.sis has some sports, but it is on a small-scale. I guess we have a couple years to decide on that.
And lastly, the topic of our open adoption. And how it's going. Hmmmm.... it's going ok. I think we are in a transition period. Sometimes her birth mother & I talk a lot, then we go periods of weeks to a couple months without a lot of contact. I posted a picture of her and Cami on my Insta.gram taken in the hospital on birth mother's day. I sent her some pictures and gift cards for her and her 2 kids she is parenting. And I haven't talked to her since, except for a quick text she sent saying she got the stuff I mailed her. I did talk to her birth mom's mom and Cambria's birth father's mother thru FB messages) around Mother's Day too and I sent them Mother's Day cards & pictures of Cambria. I talked to her birth mom's mom about meeting her when we go back East towards the end of the year. We are thinking of maybe going to Florida over Christmas break and will stop in NC. She said she would love to meet us. That was nice! I am also hoping to meet up with her new sister and new adoptive parents while we are out there. I told her if she knew someone with an iPhone, that we could face time and she could see Cambria that way, and so far she hasn't done that. Oh well, I tried.
Oh! One more fun thing I did which has kept me from blogging was I hosted a lunch Bunco at my house a couple weeks ago, which was so fun. There were 16 of us!! Lots of laughs.
And I can't write this long blog post without mentioning a snippet about D's SIL! She actually texted my husband happy birthday wishes on his birthday which was 2 days ago. Shocker! I wonder if D's brother hacked her phone & sent Dave the happy birthday wishes? Haha! LOL! And I heard from another family member that D's SIL was still talking smack about D and me to my in-laws last month when they were out here visiting. And my MIL who is usually very mousy and meek and timid told her knock it off and she didn't come here to hear that stuff! Bahahahaha!! Anyways, I could go on & on, but I won't.
Have a fun summer everyone. I have no idea when I will get the chance to blog again. I did recently have my kids' pictures taken for their birthdays.....I'll have to post a few of them. They turned out so cute.
What have I been up to? Baseball! Helping my kids with their homework and projects. Driving my oldest two sons to guitar lessons. Driving Jacob to his catechism class every week. He made his First Holy Communion and Confirmation last week. And oh did I mention baseball? We are at the baseball fields 5 days a week (and sometimes 6 if they have a Saturday game or practice.) It is so exhausting. But fun and amazing to watch them play and see their progress this year. My oldest two love to play catcher. My oldest played an amazing game last night. He smacked that ball out to the outfield like a champ and was a wall behind that plate. They were winning for a while, which was exciting because they haven't won very many games this season.
And then the game was tied, which is when I took this fun picture.
The game was tied 7-7 in the 7th inning! That is my son Zack in the catcher's equipment. See that runner on base? That may or may not be his friend (sorry the picture is blurry, I took it thru the fence!) anyways, as I was saying.....see that runner on 1st? Yeah, he scored. And so did a bunch more people after we got short on pitchers. Zack couldn't go in to pitch because he caught for more than 4 innings, which is the rule, they can't pitch if they've caught for more than 4 innings. And they can only throw 85 pitches in a game, and then they need a 5 day rest period. Needless to say, our really good pitcher was still on his 5-day rest period.
But I digress....
I guess what I'm saying is I haven't been blogging much because I've been busy spending time with my kids, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. Cambria and I went and had a playdate with her little 1 year old friends this week, and we go to mommy-and-me gymnastics, etc. etc. And now my kids are on summer vacation- day 1 of that going on here today! 2 birthday parties yesterday and 1 today for my boys. Plus a birthday party for Cami's little friend last weekend.
Plus I know I say this a lot, but this school year was so challenging. The worst one yet. Don't get me wrong, my oldest two boys got straight A's and are in the honors program (my kindergartener doesn't get A's and B's, instead they get E's and S's, etc.) But getting them to that point of year-long straight A's was tough. So much stupid homework and projects that required parental assistance plus a lot of cash. My 3rd grader's teacher sent home so much nightly homework and they had to answer questions on a class blog every week, and none of it counted towards his grade! All that work for nothing! Only a few big assignments and tests counted for his grade. What a waste of time to try and get all the problems right, when we never even got them back to see if he got them right and he got no credit for it. And some people might say that it was good practice to do all that homework and reinforcement of the concepts. Well, was it? Really? He doesn't even know if he did the homework problems correctly, because they were never returned or a score entered on the Power School. At least my 6th grader got credit for all of the nightly homework he did.
My oldest son decided he wanted to go to a new school for 7th grade. Shocking. He wants to go to this new school that is coming to my town in August. It is called Ba.sis School. You should google them. They are absolutely amazing schools that started in Tucson, AZ (interestingly, that is where Dave and I met!). Highly academic schools. Challenging, and hardly ever any stupid projects!! Lots of focus on math, which is what this country needs. 2 of my college roommates send their kids there, and they love it. US News & World Report consistenly ranks Ba.sis in the top 10 (and lately in the top 5) of US high schools! So my nerdy smart boy should do just fine there. The problem is what to do for high school. He loves baseball and wants to play on the public high school baseball team. So if he makes the team for high school, we will send him to the public high school. Ba.sis has some sports, but it is on a small-scale. I guess we have a couple years to decide on that.
And lastly, the topic of our open adoption. And how it's going. Hmmmm.... it's going ok. I think we are in a transition period. Sometimes her birth mother & I talk a lot, then we go periods of weeks to a couple months without a lot of contact. I posted a picture of her and Cami on my Insta.gram taken in the hospital on birth mother's day. I sent her some pictures and gift cards for her and her 2 kids she is parenting. And I haven't talked to her since, except for a quick text she sent saying she got the stuff I mailed her. I did talk to her birth mom's mom and Cambria's birth father's mother thru FB messages) around Mother's Day too and I sent them Mother's Day cards & pictures of Cambria. I talked to her birth mom's mom about meeting her when we go back East towards the end of the year. We are thinking of maybe going to Florida over Christmas break and will stop in NC. She said she would love to meet us. That was nice! I am also hoping to meet up with her new sister and new adoptive parents while we are out there. I told her if she knew someone with an iPhone, that we could face time and she could see Cambria that way, and so far she hasn't done that. Oh well, I tried.
Oh! One more fun thing I did which has kept me from blogging was I hosted a lunch Bunco at my house a couple weeks ago, which was so fun. There were 16 of us!! Lots of laughs.
And I can't write this long blog post without mentioning a snippet about D's SIL! She actually texted my husband happy birthday wishes on his birthday which was 2 days ago. Shocker! I wonder if D's brother hacked her phone & sent Dave the happy birthday wishes? Haha! LOL! And I heard from another family member that D's SIL was still talking smack about D and me to my in-laws last month when they were out here visiting. And my MIL who is usually very mousy and meek and timid told her knock it off and she didn't come here to hear that stuff! Bahahahaha!! Anyways, I could go on & on, but I won't.
Have a fun summer everyone. I have no idea when I will get the chance to blog again. I did recently have my kids' pictures taken for their birthdays.....I'll have to post a few of them. They turned out so cute.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Birth Mother's Day
Today is Birth Mother's Day. It is the day before Mother's Day. Which is perfectly fitting. Without birth mothers, there wouldn't be mothers. So they should be honored first.
I'm thinking about Cambria's birth mother J today. I am so, so thankful and grateful that she chose us to parent her child. I am so in love with my daughter and feel blessed every day for this gift that she gave us. J follows me on Insta.gram, so I posted a picture of her holding and looking at Cambria in the hospital on IG. I am usually fiercely private about her, but she said it was ok to post the picture.
Open adoption will have its bumps along the road, but I'm glad we're on the journey.
Happy Birth Mother's Day to all the birth moms out there. Please know that we adoptive parents love and respect you for your sacrifice you made. You made the most selfless decision to put the needs of someone else (your child) above your own needs....you endured heartbreak to give your child the life you wanted for them with another family. I've had 3 biological children, so I know that maternal bond and love that happens the instant you see your own flesh and blood. It is magnetic. I've been at the same place in the hospital as you on the day of discharge with the baby strapped in his/her carseat for the first time ready to go home and experience their first car ride....only it is at that point that we took different turns at the fork in the road. I went home with my baby, and you went home alone and most likely devastated. I can't imagine. You are far stronger than I am. Please know that we adoptive parents truly appreciate you giving us a chance to be parents and do something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. I wish you didn't have to go thru so much pain in the process.
The interesting thing is, when I saw my adopted daughter for the first time, I fell madly in love with her the same way I did with my biological sons. Instantly. I loved her so much that I started to panic and worry every day until our adoption was finalized that the birth parents were going to decide to take her back. I love her so much and couldn't bear the thought of losing her and not being able to see her everyday. And yet, you carefully and thoughtfully made the decision to place her for adoption with another family even though you knew it would hurt like hell, but you did it for your child....to give them exactly the life you wanted them to have but knew you couldn't provide at that time in your life. I am awestruck by your insight and bravery and maturity and love for your child.
Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Happy Birth Mother's Day.
I'm thinking about Cambria's birth mother J today. I am so, so thankful and grateful that she chose us to parent her child. I am so in love with my daughter and feel blessed every day for this gift that she gave us. J follows me on Insta.gram, so I posted a picture of her holding and looking at Cambria in the hospital on IG. I am usually fiercely private about her, but she said it was ok to post the picture.
Open adoption will have its bumps along the road, but I'm glad we're on the journey.
Happy Birth Mother's Day to all the birth moms out there. Please know that we adoptive parents love and respect you for your sacrifice you made. You made the most selfless decision to put the needs of someone else (your child) above your own needs....you endured heartbreak to give your child the life you wanted for them with another family. I've had 3 biological children, so I know that maternal bond and love that happens the instant you see your own flesh and blood. It is magnetic. I've been at the same place in the hospital as you on the day of discharge with the baby strapped in his/her carseat for the first time ready to go home and experience their first car ride....only it is at that point that we took different turns at the fork in the road. I went home with my baby, and you went home alone and most likely devastated. I can't imagine. You are far stronger than I am. Please know that we adoptive parents truly appreciate you giving us a chance to be parents and do something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. I wish you didn't have to go thru so much pain in the process.
The interesting thing is, when I saw my adopted daughter for the first time, I fell madly in love with her the same way I did with my biological sons. Instantly. I loved her so much that I started to panic and worry every day until our adoption was finalized that the birth parents were going to decide to take her back. I love her so much and couldn't bear the thought of losing her and not being able to see her everyday. And yet, you carefully and thoughtfully made the decision to place her for adoption with another family even though you knew it would hurt like hell, but you did it for your child....to give them exactly the life you wanted them to have but knew you couldn't provide at that time in your life. I am awestruck by your insight and bravery and maturity and love for your child.
Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Happy Birth Mother's Day.
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