Update...through photos

A lot has happened in the past few months, in addition to the other updates, here are a few photo updates:

Philip had his first ear infection.  Happened during the child care crisis

Amazing what some drugs and numbing ear drops do for an uncomfortable boy, within a few hours of taking his first dose he was about 83% better.  No wonder the doctor and pharmacist stressed the importance of him finishing all the medicine, and not stopping when he felt better. 

Phil bought Natalie a Play-Doh cake making station

She loves it and loves making cakes for everyone

I found this idea somewhere, not sure where.  I took big slices of watermelon and let 

Natalie cut it up with cookie cutters.  She went through at least 4 slices in this sitting. 

Natalie & Philip had a 4th of July parade at school - which basically meant that they walked down the hallway way too fast for me to get proper photos.  This is the only one that looked okay

Natalie had ballet photos taken at dance class - this side head pose comes out when she wears that tutu

A few days after her class photos they had their year-end recital 

(see the side head pose? She wouldn't take her photo any other way)

She loved being on the stage - this is after the show, she insisted on 

going back up on stage to dance again, this time solo

We took down the crib, no more babies here.  Philip is officially in a big boy bed and has been doing pretty good.  He is still not a great sleeper, but at least he is in his own room.

These are from our recent trip to St George, Natalie was very impressed because she caught her own lizard this time. Every night she let the new pet go, and every morning she would catch another one.  

They were all named Hoatio

Tea Party on the patio in George

Auntie let Natalie try another face mask - which she LOVES

Change, Change, Change

Back when we were in Disneyland, we found out that our nanny would be leaving us a mere 2 weeks later.  It was heartbreaking!  She had been with us for over two years and was the only care taker that Natalie remembered and Philip had ever known.  Once we returned from Disney, Phil and I debated finding another nanny, but we didn't feel we would have enough time to properly search for and interview then hire with less than two weeks to go.  Also, to complicate matters, I would be leaving for a week trip that would last for 3 days of our last week with the current nanny. To say this was a stressful time would be a huge understatement.  I think the fact that I'm only able to write about the experience is because I'm still traumatized!

I did a few searches online for a nanny, sent a desperate-sounding email out to every contact in my email contacts list asking for any referrals for care takers, then I decided to call the Montessori school we had toured two years prior when we were in a very similar situation.  My some miracle, they had opened up an 18-24 month class within in the last year and had one opening and on top of that, they had a kid who had just moved out of state, opening up a spot in the 3-4 year classroom.  It was decided that we would snatch up these two spots, having Natalie start the Monday after our nanny left and Philip would start a month later. We were able to find a temporary sitter for Philip for the 4 weeks between our old nanny leaving and his first day of school.  To top off our luck, all my work trips were put on hold due to a travel ban - which was a real miracle, because there were a few planned and it would have left Phil home with the kids during this tumultuous time.

So, change is hard, hard on mommy especially!  It has been painful leaving the kids at school.  I was so accustomed to having them home, and even though I work full time, it was always nice to be able to check on them throughout the day - sort of the best of both worlds.  Natalie hasn't loved every minute of school, there have been some very hard drop offs and long days.  There is a schedule they follow in their classes and  by the second day of class Natalie had it figured out and what that meant was she didn't want to go out to recess, because after recess there was lunch and she for sure wasn't going to eat her lunch because that meant she would have to take a nap and she wasn't going to do that!  She had some long days of no eating, very rough naps and tears.  She also figured out very quickly the route we would drive to get to school and would ask us not to turn here or get on that road because she knew they led to school.  It was rough.  She is gradually coming around, not all drop offs are hard, she is having more fun, she started eating her lunch (most days) and doesn't beg us not to drive her to school.  Although, she LOVES Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday because it means NO school.

Philip has adjusted a little better.  He hasn't had as many rough drop offs, loves his teacher and she loves him.  He is also becoming more of a little man, he loves feeding himself, sitting up to the table, telling us what to do and when to do it.  Changes in our child care situation means changes in our kids.