UPDATED W/ NEW PICTURES! SEE BELOW!
So following our holidays, Jeni and I hoped things would start to normalize a bit. As discussed, I took a few days off here and there to spend some time at home with Jeni and the girls around Christmas and New Years. My job is REALLY slow this time of year since all of the campuses are basically closed with students and faculty at home for the holidays... thus, not a lot I can accomplish but planning ahead...
So Jeni and I both went back to a full work week on Monday 1/5. Nana Sharon and Papa Rick came up and did their usual Monday duties with the girls. On Tuesday, St. Louis got a quick blast of ice; just enough to cancel school for Jeni. Then, Grandma Pat had some more vacation time she wanted to take, so she volunteered to watch the girls for the rest of that week. On Wednesday, the girls went back to the pediatrician for another shot...
With Jeni's return to work, we've shifted the girls' schedule up a bit. They've been on only 4 bottles a day for a while, but our new schedule is that Jeni gets up at4:45am to feed Sydney. I then get up around 6:00am and feed Olivia. This schedule finishes up the day around 8:00pm with their bath and last bottle of the day... It took the girls a few days to get used to this... I got up several nights in a row with first Sydney and then Olivia at around 3:00AM... An ounce of milk and a replaced pacifier followed by a few minutes in the rocking chair and they would drift back off to sleep...
Since the girls were scheduled to start at their daycare on the following Monday, we arranged for them to first go in on Friday for a half-day "dry run". We've heard nightmares about how tough some kids have it adjusting to daycare, so we thought we should try a half day before going full speed ahead. It was fairly uneventful... The girls really weren't too freaked out or overly tired... Probably because it was just a 1/2 day. Grandma Pat picked them up at noon after I dropped them off that morning.
On Saturday I met the guys up at Buffalo Wild Wings for some drinks, sports, and some good male bonding time. For the past 7 years or so, it has been a tradition for several of my friends and I to meet up on Thursday nights for "Guys' Night Out". We've migrated from several bars and the attendees have changed many times with additions and subtractions, but the core 3 or 4 of us has been consistent. However, over the past 2 years, our regularity of outings has dwindled, mainly relating to our growing families. This year has been especially tough for us to get together, so we attempted to do a Saturday outing instead...
On Sunday, Jeni and I spent the day being lazy (as is our usual Sunday agenda). My big plan for the day was to go to Best Buy and spend some of my Christmas money and gift cards. So mid-day I was at Best Buy making my purchase when I got a frantic phone call from Jeni. Apparently she had just gotten off the phone with our daycare provider, Ms. Georgine, where our girls were scheduled to start full time on Tuesday. Ms. Georgine called and told Jeni that unfortunately she wouldn't be able to take our girls that week. Her original plan was for her mother to be there with her to help with our girls since she has several other kids in the daycare. However, her mother has to have some emergency surgery that will take her out of commission for a couple of months... She was very upset and apologetic. She said that she could honestly probably still take the girls, but couldn't give them the attention they deserved.
As you can guess, Jeni too, was quite upset. We were scrambling... Our plans that had seemed so perfect for so many months were now changing...
So, I finished my purchase and made my way home. We reached out to our friends Keith and Amy and got the information on the Nanny service that they had used. Jeni filled out the online forms and we looked forward to the next day to hope we could get some much needed relief to our worries...
Monday arrived and Nana Sharon and Papa Rick watched the girls again. Jeni and I went to work and I communicated with the Nanny service to fill out the paperwork they needed to give them the info to find the type of nanny we would need. By the end of the day, they sent me 4 bios of candidates for us to pick from. On Tuesday, we received another bio. So we had 5 very qualified choices. I worked from home on Tuesday and stayed with the girls. I contacted our top choice from the Nannies and scheduled her to come and meet us that evening. Later in the day, we heard from Ms. Georgine that should could take our girls for the rest of the week, which was quite a relief...
Our Nanny choice, Nikki, came over that evening to meet us and the girls. Immediately we really connected with her. She was very excited to meet the girls and eager to hold them. We could tell she really likes kids, especially babies. We got to know each other with the basic information and then showed her around the house. Jeni and I knew that we had found a great option for our Nanny. We told Nikki that we'd love for her to come back starting next week and that we'd even like for her to come over on Saturday to do a "test-run" and give us a chance to go through everything else like bottles, the girls' schedule, the dogs' routine, etc. When she left that night, I could tell Jeni was very relieved... The Daycare Drama was over. Nikki is going to be a great fit for us through April when the girls can go back to Ms. Georgine's.
So, the Sydney and Olivia have been going to the daycare for 3 days this week and are still not used to it... They come home every day very tired and VERY crabby... Even though Ms. Georgine says that they slept, you can't tell it... Jeni said there were some BIG tears even yesterday when they got home. I guess it's just really stressful changing up their schedule like that... Makes me sad... :(
In other news, I had to take my car into the dealer to get the headlight replaced. It's the driver side headlight... I just had it in a few months ago to get the passenger side replaced... This is the type of repair that I used to do myself... However, when I attempted to do this on my own, getting access to the headlight without a special tool is virtually impossible. In fact, the owner's manual tells you not to even try... Lovely. I also got my oil changed at the same time.
My car now has 92,000 miles on it... I know with the way cars are now they last way past 100,000 miles, but I think this is the most miles I've ever put on a car myself... It shouldn't make me nervous... but it does.
In other news about me, I finally purchased a new gaming system. I've been playing my Playstation 2 since I bought it way back in 2001 after it had been on the market a little while. Well, as the years have gone by and new systems have been released, fewer and fewer games are being made for the PS2... So I finally broke down and bought an XBOX 360. I bought the bare bones $199 version. Why not the PS3? Well, I don't need the Blu-Ray DVD ability since my TV doesn't support it. Also, after finding out that Sony didn't build the new PS3 with the ability to play old PS2 games, I'm protesting with my wallet and boycotting the PS3. So far I only have 2 games (NCAA football & a futuristic shooter game called 'Gears of War') but it's fun stuff! I recommend it highly. And I need to find some people to play against online...
Well, that's about it for now...
So Jeni and I both went back to a full work week on Monday 1/5. Nana Sharon and Papa Rick came up and did their usual Monday duties with the girls. On Tuesday, St. Louis got a quick blast of ice; just enough to cancel school for Jeni. Then, Grandma Pat had some more vacation time she wanted to take, so she volunteered to watch the girls for the rest of that week. On Wednesday, the girls went back to the pediatrician for another shot...
With Jeni's return to work, we've shifted the girls' schedule up a bit. They've been on only 4 bottles a day for a while, but our new schedule is that Jeni gets up at
Since the girls were scheduled to start at their daycare on the following Monday, we arranged for them to first go in on Friday for a half-day "dry run". We've heard nightmares about how tough some kids have it adjusting to daycare, so we thought we should try a half day before going full speed ahead. It was fairly uneventful... The girls really weren't too freaked out or overly tired... Probably because it was just a 1/2 day. Grandma Pat picked them up at noon after I dropped them off that morning.
On Saturday I met the guys up at Buffalo Wild Wings for some drinks, sports, and some good male bonding time. For the past 7 years or so, it has been a tradition for several of my friends and I to meet up on Thursday nights for "Guys' Night Out". We've migrated from several bars and the attendees have changed many times with additions and subtractions, but the core 3 or 4 of us has been consistent. However, over the past 2 years, our regularity of outings has dwindled, mainly relating to our growing families. This year has been especially tough for us to get together, so we attempted to do a Saturday outing instead...
On Sunday, Jeni and I spent the day being lazy (as is our usual Sunday agenda). My big plan for the day was to go to Best Buy and spend some of my Christmas money and gift cards. So mid-day I was at Best Buy making my purchase when I got a frantic phone call from Jeni. Apparently she had just gotten off the phone with our daycare provider, Ms. Georgine, where our girls were scheduled to start full time on Tuesday. Ms. Georgine called and told Jeni that unfortunately she wouldn't be able to take our girls that week. Her original plan was for her mother to be there with her to help with our girls since she has several other kids in the daycare. However, her mother has to have some emergency surgery that will take her out of commission for a couple of months... She was very upset and apologetic. She said that she could honestly probably still take the girls, but couldn't give them the attention they deserved.
As you can guess, Jeni too, was quite upset. We were scrambling... Our plans that had seemed so perfect for so many months were now changing...
So, I finished my purchase and made my way home. We reached out to our friends Keith and Amy and got the information on the Nanny service that they had used. Jeni filled out the online forms and we looked forward to the next day to hope we could get some much needed relief to our worries...
Monday arrived and Nana Sharon and Papa Rick watched the girls again. Jeni and I went to work and I communicated with the Nanny service to fill out the paperwork they needed to give them the info to find the type of nanny we would need. By the end of the day, they sent me 4 bios of candidates for us to pick from. On Tuesday, we received another bio. So we had 5 very qualified choices. I worked from home on Tuesday and stayed with the girls. I contacted our top choice from the Nannies and scheduled her to come and meet us that evening. Later in the day, we heard from Ms. Georgine that should could take our girls for the rest of the week, which was quite a relief...
Our Nanny choice, Nikki, came over that evening to meet us and the girls. Immediately we really connected with her. She was very excited to meet the girls and eager to hold them. We could tell she really likes kids, especially babies. We got to know each other with the basic information and then showed her around the house. Jeni and I knew that we had found a great option for our Nanny. We told Nikki that we'd love for her to come back starting next week and that we'd even like for her to come over on Saturday to do a "test-run" and give us a chance to go through everything else like bottles, the girls' schedule, the dogs' routine, etc. When she left that night, I could tell Jeni was very relieved... The Daycare Drama was over. Nikki is going to be a great fit for us through April when the girls can go back to Ms. Georgine's.
So, the Sydney and Olivia have been going to the daycare for 3 days this week and are still not used to it... They come home every day very tired and VERY crabby... Even though Ms. Georgine says that they slept, you can't tell it... Jeni said there were some BIG tears even yesterday when they got home. I guess it's just really stressful changing up their schedule like that... Makes me sad... :(
In other news, I had to take my car into the dealer to get the headlight replaced. It's the driver side headlight... I just had it in a few months ago to get the passenger side replaced... This is the type of repair that I used to do myself... However, when I attempted to do this on my own, getting access to the headlight without a special tool is virtually impossible. In fact, the owner's manual tells you not to even try... Lovely. I also got my oil changed at the same time.
My car now has 92,000 miles on it... I know with the way cars are now they last way past 100,000 miles, but I think this is the most miles I've ever put on a car myself... It shouldn't make me nervous... but it does.
In other news about me, I finally purchased a new gaming system. I've been playing my Playstation 2 since I bought it way back in 2001 after it had been on the market a little while. Well, as the years have gone by and new systems have been released, fewer and fewer games are being made for the PS2... So I finally broke down and bought an XBOX 360. I bought the bare bones $199 version. Why not the PS3? Well, I don't need the Blu-Ray DVD ability since my TV doesn't support it. Also, after finding out that Sony didn't build the new PS3 with the ability to play old PS2 games, I'm protesting with my wallet and boycotting the PS3. So far I only have 2 games (NCAA football & a futuristic shooter game called 'Gears of War') but it's fun stuff! I recommend it highly. And I need to find some people to play against online...
Well, that's about it for now...
Playing with our Laugh n Learn Puppy
The Girls and Mom
Sydney and her bunny
Olivia and the bunny
The Girls and Cassius
In one of their new outfits from Christmas
Sydney - Our little Diva
Olivia - Hamming it up for the camera
Olivia and her friend, Caroline
Sydney enjoying some oatmeal
Olivia - not enjoying much of anything at the moment
MThe girls hanging out in another new outfit... and bunny hats...
The girls and their dad... can you tell who's tired?
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