Craziness

I haven't posted here in awhile, and it's largely due to all the nuttiness that has been our lives lately!  Just before my last post we had traveled to Atlanta for my mom's birthday.  We attempted to surprise her, but that didn't work out :)  She wasn't buying Ken's story of "but I need to get the AC in the van fixed so you need to work from home" story, so we caved and just told her the munchkins were coming for her birthday so she'd better work at home that Friday!! 

The next weekend was Carrie's 3rd birthday party.  Whew.  That was exhausting.  We had a great turn out, complete with plenty of kids and bounce house and tire swing madness.  I was seriously questioning why I even bothered with the bounce house since the kids seemed so excited about the tire swing.  However, as only 4 of them could fit on the tire swing at a time, the bounce house was tolerated until they could get their turn.  There are pics of the party on our Picasa site.  My grandparents even came down for the festivities, and I was so excited to show them the new house and have them there for Carrie's party. 

Anna's doing all kinds of things these days.  We've gone from sort of crawling around to "OH MY GOD I HAVE GOT TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B AS FAST AS POSSIBLE OR CARRIE'S GONNA LEAVE ME BEHIND."  She's pulling up on everything in sight and does not want to sit down at all, any time.  More than once she's gotten herself stuck underneath our main coffee table in the living room because she's trying to crawl on the boards underneath it and explore.  Jerry and I predict she'll definitely be walking before her first birthday, if not before.  Solid food continues to improve.  Bananas are always a favorite.  She'll tolerate carrots, but also really likes apples, broccoli & avocado. 

Carrie's in a baking class on the weekends with some of her friends from school and she seems to love it.  The woman that is doing it is also a teacher at her school.  I say she is a very brave woman to have these toddlers in her home to cook and paint.  Not sure I have the patience for that, but Carrie loves it.  And, double bonus - the parents get to drop the kids off and then head over to The Dispensary for a beer or two!  We're also going to sign Carrie up for a gymnastics class for the summer.  I was so excited to hear they had one where the kids go in the early evening instead of smack in the middle of the day, so I can actually enroll her and take her myself.  I can't wait to see how this goes :)  Stay tuned...

In Love (Again)

Yes, I'm in love again.  This time with our new nanny, Lizzy!  She's been with us two weeks and I'm once again in heaven :)  Not that there was anything wrong with Joan; not at all.  She was great with Anna....it was just the combo of dealing with both Anna and Carrie in the AM and PM that was going to be dicey.  She had a hard time carrying Anna in the car seat, and that was without trying to make sure Carrie didn't fling herself out into the street at the house or school.  Kayla and I both have been known to have to go darting across the yard, Anna in hand, behind Carrie who's decided it's a fun game to try to run away from whomever's watching her at the time.  NOT COOL.  But we are keeping Joan on our babysitter list for date nights and so forth, so we were able to end on amicable terms. 

Back to Lizzy - the name may sound familiar because she used to be Carrie's teacher.  As in on March 26th she was Carrie's teacher and on March 29th she became our nanny.  Yes, it provided for a tiny bit of drama at school, but everyone's over it now (I think!).  Lizzy made sure everyone there understood that it was her idea to approach us regarding a nanny position once she heard we were looking.  I personally think they were just sad to see her go, and who wouldn't be?  She's been an amazing teacher to Carrie this year, and now will be hanging out with Anna teaching her all kinds of things.  Yes, Jerry and I did stop to ponder the idea that "hey....if we hire Lizzy we're basically taking from one kid to provide for another."  We have full confidence in the other teachers in Carrie's class to carry on the quality care Carrie was getting in her class, not to mention Lizzy was already spending half the day in another classroom. 

I feel like we are getting settled back in and can mark the nanny thing off our list, hopefully for good!  Heck, Lizzy did a far superior job to me in packing the girls' things for our trip this past weekend than I ever could have.  The house looks amazing when I get home (I'm sure Lizzy gets frustrated when she comes the next morning and finds we've undone all her hard work!).  Both girls are happy as can be (or as happy as a three year old can be) And remember what I said when Kayla left that I doubted that we'd find another nanny that would text me during the day and send cute pictures of Anna?  Perhaps I spoke too soon:

Welcome to the family Lizzy!!

Bedtime conversations

Some of the best/funniest conversations we have with Carrie happen at bedtime.  Take last night for example.  Jerry was messing with me and telling Carrie that I had to go to "school" today....this was actually my driver improvement course for getting in that wreck (if I took the class the ticket was dismissed and no points).

Carrie:  You're going to school tomorrow Mommy?
Me:  Yep.
Carrie:  I want to go with you!
Me:  The school I'm going to isn't much fun, honey.  You'll have more fun staying here with Daddy & Anna.
Carrie:  It's not fun?  Don't you have any friends?

Another new thing she's doing at nighttime if I'm putting her to bed is running through all the usual procrastination tricks - one more story, gotta go potty, I need some water, etc.  By the time I finally get her tucked in and am just at the door and telling her Sweet Dreams, I hear a little voice say "Mommy, will you rock me like a baby?"  How can you say no to that?  So I go to her bed and sit on the edge, pick her up and rock her like a little baby for a few minutes.  Those are some of the best minutes of my day.