New family May 22, 2007

Rose is leaving.  She’s moving to Seattle in August.  So we’re interviewing new families to find a replacement.  I met the first one (only mom and baby) today and they seem like the best match so far in terms of age, but I also found out that Rose’s end date is later than we thought it was going to be and 2 and a half months after this potential family’s desired start date.  Hum.

Rose started crawling last week.  She’s still getting good at it, but she can make it pretty well around the room…eventually.  Liz has started pulling herself up and she reached for me while her mom was holding her for the first time last week.  She’s started crawling over to me and trying to pull herself up on my legs which is very endearing.

Mike is going to be in Chicago Wednesday only a few miles away, and I don’t get to see him   Friday…friday….friday

Oh My! May 21, 2007

More from Overheard in Chicago:

Little Girl: “When I grow up, I want to be a doctor or a stripper.”

Teacher: (in utter disbelief) “What?! Why?!”

Little Girl: “Doctors help a lot of people and mommy says daddy loves all the strippers he sees. I want to help my daddy, too!”

- North Shore Elementary School

Taking the pain May 14, 2007

My neck, chest, and bossom (or is it the plural bossoms?  This is a hot topic in the apartment) take quite a beating while I’m rocking Liz to sleep.

Yes, she cannot yet put herself down, and she’s still sleeping in her swing.  It’s not what I would chose, but I respect the parent wishes.  I don’t think it’s horrible either.  She’ll learn in her own time.  Besides, she’s going to grow out of that swing soon, and then a new situation will have to be found and she will have to adjust.

Ok, back to the topic at hand.  Liz likes to slap, claw and pinch me in an attempt to keep herself awake.  Ouch.  But what can I do?  She doesn’t know that she’s hurting me.  She doesn’t really understand that concept yet.  At least her mom has started trimming her nails more.  There were a few weeks where it was really painful.  I do what I can to discourage her, and try and at least get the concept across that she shouldn’t do that, but it often helps keep her awake.  Grrr…

Nanny Hell May 9, 2007

How you know when you’re in nanny hell.

When you have cramps, need to pee so badly you think you might have a situation on your hands, are staving because it’s after 2 and you still haven’t had a chance to eat lunch, and have two cranky, cranky babies who are hungry and tired but are refusing to eat or sleep.

How you know the nanny gods hate you.

When you found out that same morning that one of your families is moving to Seattle and you job has suddenly become very uncertain.

You truly are in the deepest darkest inner circles of hades when…

You carry two still tired and cranky babies (because they didn’t sleep long enough) down three flights of stairs, bundle them into the stroller only to discover there’s not enough room to get between the cars to get the stroller out and have to carry two, even more cranky, babies back up three flights of stairs.

But you’re back in heaven again…

watching your babies’ faces as they discover the joys of swinging.