Cambria turned 3 this week. How on earth did that happen already?! I can't believe she was placed in our arms 3 years ago! 3 years ago today, her birth mother signed her relinquishment/ TPR paperwork, and 3 years ago tomorrow we took our baby girl home from the hospital! Such an amazing time in our lives. I love looking back on that time with fondness for her birth mother. I watched her sign the paperwork (I asked her if she wanted us to step outside the room in the hallway, and she said no.) Talk about strength and determination on her part. I don't know if I could have done that. We texted each other and shared FB posts on her birthday. Things are going well with our open adoption. Cambria's paternal birth grandma posted a really nice thing on my FB wall too. I'm so glad she is supportive of the adoption.
We had a little party for her during the day with her little friends while the older siblings were at school. Then we went to Phoenix to celebrate with my parents and family friends at Chuck E. Cheese. Fun times! Then she took in cupcakes to preschool the next day to celebrate her special day at preschool. She received lots of lipgloss and nail polish for her birthday....2 of her favorite things!! :)
My 2 younger boys got their report cards today at their new school. They like it and are doing well. WHEW! Thank goodness! It is a lot tougher than their old school, and both of them did not get the best teaching last year....it was mostly a joke year for both of them last year, unfortunately. So we were nervous to move them to this new school that has a rigorous curriculum on the heels of their pitiful school years last year. However, everything has worked out! YAY!
Zack is in 8th grade, which they consider the upper school at his school. He is taking crazy hard classes like AP World History, Economics, Algebra 2, Mandarin, English, Biology, Chemistry, Biology, etc. Overall he is doing well. This school year is a lot harder than last year. He also wanted to play a lot of video games at the beginning of this year. I'm not sure if he was in denial that summer was over and it was time to put his nose back in the books?! He has gotten back on track though, and is doing well. He has also cut back on the video games. WHEW! Plus he is the starting catcher for the 8th grade baseball team (pre-team for the frosh team). He is the 3rd shortest kid on the team and one of the youngest, and he is managing to hold his own. His coaches are good, and they play the kids on ability, not on favoritism, and there is no daddy ball. Baseball takes a good chunk of his time, but it is good exercise, builds teamwork skills and friendships, and keeps him off of the video games and his phone!
I think I talk mostly about my kids and adoption on here. This is a hard school year for me.... I feel like I am 20 steps behind a lot of days. However, my kiddos won't be little forever. In the blink of an eye, they will be older and more self-sufficient and the house will be quiet and I won't be driving them around town for hours after school to their activities. This is what I am supposed to be doing now. It will be so worth it for my kiddos in the end (I think!) to have me around and available all the time for them. Since my kids are at a new school, I feel a bit cut off from my friends that I always saw at their old school. I have been trying to make an effort to get together with my friends for lunches or birthday celebrations.
That's all for now. Good night.
