The crazy life and times of J & D!

I wasn't even sure I remembered my blog password today when I tried to log on and I am pretty sure there isn't anyone out there who still tries to read this, but I feel like I need to get back into the swing of things...so here it goes.


There have been some big changes and some big events over the last month or so...Jacinda and I have vacationed at the beach, moved into a new house in a new city, registered her for dance classes and been through our first post placement visit, immunizations and the beginning of school testing. We have been busy, busy gals.


Let's start with the vacation...honestly this seems like it was so long ago, I need to go again to recapture the feeling, but since that isn't likely to happen, I will have to do the best I can. Jacinda LOVED the beach, the sand, the ocean, the waves...all of it. She had a blast and I am so happy that her first vacation was such a hit with her. We went to Ocean City with Aimee and her girls. That was a new experience for all of us, but I think all in all...we did pretty well. We took the girls to Frontier Town where Jacinda rode the stagecoach, panned for gold, watched a crazy dance show and rode a pony. On another of our outings she rode several amusement rides until we were rained out...sadly! All in all it was a very fun time!

Then a week after returning from our vacation...Jacinda and I packed up all of our belongings and moved back to my hometown in West Virginia. It was an emotional farewell, but our new house and being so close to our family is really the greatest things for us. We're still unpacking and working on getting things put back in order, but all in all we love it! Especially the fact that people just swing by for little visits...I truly cherish that time!

And then three days after the big move, Jacinda had her doctor's appointment. She is healthy and got her school immunizations. She did great! Then we went to get her bone age scan done, which confirmed what I had thought for a long time. Despite being ensured by my agency coordinator that Jacinda was 5. (Even going as far as to say "Trust me Diann, I have met her and she is 5", turns out my girl is 8 years and four months old. That being said, I have decided to keep her assigned birth date of Oct. 31 and have her turn 8 then. Let the party plans begin!

In addition to all the happenings I have also had her tested for school placement. This turned out to be an interesting process since the school district we are in hasn't had an ESL student in probably a decade. But I am really happy to report that the educators have been great to work with and have allowed me to place her age appropriately in the second grade and will be getting an English Language Learning teacher assigned in the next week or so.

So that being said, Jacinda started Second grade yesterday. She was a trouper and made some new friends. She easily reported on what they had for lunch and how she played on the playground. She made a trip to the library and drew a few awesome photos. She missed the point of a homework assignment though and didn't bring the supplies home. I kind of got upset about that and the fact that she lied about it, so I wasn't the nicest mommy on the block last night. But this morning we talked about how it was important to bring all homework home and how she needed to speak up in class. She was excited to go again this morning, so I think that is a great sign. I also sent a note to school for the teacher letting her know that Jacinda may need some extra guidance when it comes to bringing things home. So we'll see how day 2 goes!

Well three months has officially passed and we had our post placement visit last week. I love our new social worker, so it was really a very easy and painless process.

So that pretty much brings everyone up to date and now we will continue to settle into our new normal!