Wordless Wednesday...Sheer JOY

Could possibly be the best picture I have of the two of them yet!

LOVE them both with all my heart!

Take two....

I haven't written about our struggle to keep a sitter/nanny because it was kinda personal.  But I need to vent a moment.  I call this take two, but it is more like take 4 or 5.  When I went back to work only a short year ago...yes it seems like a decade.  My wonderful neighbor helped us out with childcare.  Running Meghan to school, making sure Colin got on the bus and entertaining Caitlyn while the rest were away.  Then I got help from  our dear friend Roxanne.  Who was amazing and I didn't want to let her go...but she needed benefits for her an Tyler so,  tear....she got a "real" job with benefits.  Our next sitter was super fun too, Kelly.  She had two girls about Meghan and Caitlyn's age.  BUT boy did Meghan give her a run for her money.  Meghan tested every which way she could and the summer could not come soon enough.

That brought me to Carly.  Who as a college grad with a psych degree who had no idea what her next move was.  She landed a wonderful "big girl" job as I like to call it, in Baltimore working with children with autism and their families. Super proud of her!

But that all happened as we lead into Christmas break.  I looked and I asked around but I just couldn't find the right person.  I then had to start looking at centers.  Which made my skin crawl, and that was just the price alone!  I then took to the internet...care.com, sittercity, craigslist, parents of multiples...

Care.com was my hero!  I thought I found a good fit.  Great interaction through email, on the phone, we met up and the kids really liked her.  All her references checked out, along with the background check.  I hired her....she called out her first morning and hasn't returned a call since.  

HEARTBREAKING!!!!!!!

So back to work I went at looking for the person who would fit with us.  All the while my dear, sweet, lovely neighbor has put up with the kids bickering, fighting and whining the morning away.  And has toted Caitlyn to drop off, pick up and run her errands like she has an almost two year old of her own again!

Saturday we found our person and she started today!  And you know what, I think she is going to stick with us for a while...I hope!  I am very grateful to have Kym now become an extended part of our family!  And the huge weight lifted off my shoulders.  The kids are super happy, so that makes the mama super happy too!

Wordless Wednesday....my kiddos

Breathe

It has been one of those weeks.  The kinda week that just opens up around you and you don't know if you are coming or going.  That was this week for us.  After a wonderful week with family last week and an eventful New Years Eve(more about that later) we had a very LONG drive home to Maryland.  It snowed more than half the way home.  With each hour confined in the car I could feel each of the kids coughs getting worse and the germs crawling all around us.  I knew I was going to be into the doctor the next day.  What I wasn't expecting was Strep x 3 kids, a UTI for Meg and pinkeye for Caitlyn.  So two days home for the big kids and day three Caitlyn had gotten worse.  So back into the doctor we went and Cait was graced with an ear infection on top of everything else.  In the mean time, I have been cleaning and scrubbing trying to get these germs out of our lives.

I am so grateful to have sick leave so I can be home with these sick kiddos.  To be able to snuggle, bathe and love on them has been great.  Monday we should be back to our normal routine.  In the meantime, I am going to breathe and pray they continue to get well.  AND clean this house!

Thoughtful Thursday...Meghan

This darling little face is going to be my downfall.  In a nut shell, she is me.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Currently our ugly consists of her testing her limits.  One area in particular has me stretched beyond my limits.  She gets lazy and doesn't always "go" where she needs to.  You see, she is still wearing pull-ups at night.  NOT because she is a chronic wetter or anything but because it is more convenient for me in case she does.  It is maybe once a week that she needs them.  The part that has me fuming is she refuses to take them off unless she has to go to school.  If she is home(like this last week on winter break) she will wear them until I physically take them off her myself.  By the time I can get them off her she has already peed in them.  The other issue happened again last night.  She gets ready for bed and still has 30 mins with the family before we go up to tuck in.  She poops in the pull up because she doesn't want to get up and go.  I am so confused.  Some days she flat out tells me she was just being lazy and others like last night, she says she can't feel it.  I am so confused!  We have been to the doctor, as far as we can tell with limited, non-evasive testing there is no physical reason for it.  When she was doing it after Caitlyn was born, I chalked it up to regressing.  But Caitlyn will be two next month, I can't believe that could still be the reason.  Each child gets 1-1 time before bed from both parents so I can't believe she would be feeling slighted or left out.  I don't know...I guess I will continue to pray a leave it Gods hands...for today at least.  I will take a deep breath and just breathe and let her be herself.

Wordless Wednesday...BIG hugs!

Some good ol' family time!

This was taken New Years Eve.  My three little munchkins and my two adorable nieces!

It was a great week together and the kids made some memories.

This is just one of the many shots we got as they played together! 

LOVE THEM!