Thankful

Ok, so I totally missed Thanksgiving, and now it's nearing Christmas, but I'm finally getting around to an update, so Thanksgiving (and, I guess all of November!) it is!

November was one crazy month. Our new house closed on the 20th (I think?). Robert and I spent a few days in Cancun/Playa del Carmen that same week. We got home late Tuesday night, I took Wednesday off work to focus on Thanksgiving cooking/baking, but ended up in the ER instead because a granite tile fell off a display at Lowe's and landed on my foot!

Believe me, I don't recommend granite tiles coming anywhere near any part of your body. My foot swelled up instantly into this giant tennis ball-sized green and purple lump, and everyone thought it was broken, but it ended up being soft tissue damage. It hurt like heck and I've been in a boot ever since, although this week I've been venturing out with my Uggs for shorter excursions and it's been okay. Anyway, being in a boot with a REALLY painful foot meant that no cooking was done the day before Thanksgiving, so we got up bright and early with the girls the morning of Thanksgiving and just plain started cooking/baking. Robert made the turkey and this amazing vegetarian gravy (it's so yummy!), and I made the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (I tried a new recipe that someone gave me on the Bump and it was really good according to the crazy people who eat sweet potatoes), stuffing, green bean casserole, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, and whipped cream. My dad brought his delicious homemade cranberry sauce, and my mom and stepdad brought rolls and a chocolate cake. It was lots and lots of food, and it was all really good. Yum!

The girls had a good time for most of the day, but didn't nap for very long and were probably over stimulated from having so much going on, so they were pretty much done by around 4 pm. Since that's right when we'd planned dinner, it made for a challenging meal. They were really excited to sit down and eat with us, but then they refused to eat and started hollering pretty much as soon as everyone else tried to eat! Luckily, we were able to get them situated in the living room (which was essentially right off the dining room in our old house, like one big room) with a video just long enough to shovel lots of food in our mouths. After dinner, we piled everyone into their various cars and headed over to our new house to show it off. It was the first time that the girls had been there, so that was really fun for us, too! It really means a lot to me to have a home, that is ours, where we can really build and grow our family, and this house has already been that in the few short weeks that we've been here.

Thanksgiving was a flurry of activity, and it just got crazier from there! We took the big kids to the Melting Pot and out to the Nutcracker on the day after Thanksgiving (as is our family tradition!), packed Saturday, and moved Sunday! Plus, on Wednesday, we discovered that the paneling in the girls' room that we wanted to remove before we moved in was likely put up long ago because the walls were so thin in that room that they had giant holes in them and any pressure would makethem rip like paper! That resulted in a scramble to find a contractor who was available over Thanksgiving, not to mention coordinate all of the demo, but the end result was that we had the entire room ripped down to the frame, insulated it, put up new drywall, had all of the taping/mud/texturing done, had the nice wide floor molding installed, AND Robert had the room painted by the time that we moved in on Sunday! Plus, Robert spent pretty much every free moment at the house and painted the boys' temporary room (while we get the basement remodeled), the dining room, Emilia's room, and our master bedroom before we moved in! It sure was one crazy week, but in the end, everything was ready for us to move in, we moved in without any issues, and we were able to get mostly unpacked pretty quickly. We still have a few boxes, primarily in the dining room, and a few things to get from the old house, but we're tackling it slowly but surely! It's really starting to feel like our home.

Now, of course,the hustle and bustle of the holidays are here, plus finals for me! I'm halfway through my finals as of this morning, with one paper and one final left to take. I've also nearly finished my Christmas shopping, with just a few small things left here and there, and we put up our tree on Monday! Unfortunately, we realized that two big boxes of decorations/ornaments were mistakenly left behind at the old house, so we haven't gotten those up yet, but we're at least partially decorated! We took the girls out with us to get the tree, in the ridiculously freezing cold weather that we're having lately. Alice loved it and ran everywhere, Charlotte clung to me and didn't like it at all. They both like the tree itself, though, and it hasn't been much of an issue keeping them away from it. In fact, the big kids and I even made gingerbread houses last weekend and we put them out on tables that the girls can reach, and by and large they have left those alone, too! We're really starting to hit the point where they listen to us, which is such a relief.

On the other hand, Alice is the epitome of the drama llama lately. She whines about everything! All we hear out of that girl is "no," "ouch," "ew," "stuck," or her favorite word... "MINE!!" It's kind of come out of the blue, and I really miss my happy-go-lucky Alice, but I figure that this phase too shall pass. Charlotte, meanwhile, has been extra cheerful and is making huge strides verbally. Alice can say pretty much everything, string words together, and so on, and Charlotte is starting to catch up, too! They completely crack me up with some of the things they say, and some of the connections they make. I really love this age, drama llama and all!

This weekend, we're going to take all of the kids to Westlake Center where they have set up an ice skating rink, a carousel, and various other winter displays, and then down to the waterfront to see the Toyland Village of 30+ giant light up characters. I am really looking forward to it, and I think that we're all going to have a great time! I really love doing fun little activities like that, and it seems like there are so many to do during the holidays. I also have a cookie/ornament exchange tomorrow, so the girls and I will be baking this afternoon!

I finally remembered to order a few things (I went with art supplies and sticker books since those are always fun when you're stuck in bed!) for the Second Annual Jackson Malia Toy Drive, and I really encourage you to do so, too! You can order online and have things sent directly to them, and they will deliver all of the toys to the kids at the hospital. It's a really great cause and I like to think that it helps Jack's memory live on each year. I remember reading Megan's post two years ago (was it really two years ago? It seems like yesterday in some ways) about how nice it was that Santa had come to visit Jack on Christmas at the hospital while she was home with her girls, and it makes me happy to think that just by clicking and spending a few dollars, I can help bring that happiness to someone else whose child is hospitalized this Christmas. Anyway, give if you can. Most items have free shipping, and there are even things that are a couple of dollars if that's all you have to spare.

And, now, on to the kid cuteness!

The obligatory family Thanksgiving shot, albeit missing Robert since he was the camera man!



My girls!



The Melting Pot...mmmm!



The kiddos at the Nutcracker (Jared was bitter because he didn't want his picture taken with, gasp, girls!)



Camera phone pic of the big kids hamming it up at the Nutcracker!



Cute camera phone pic of the girls playing on Jared's bed with him! I am somewhat alarmed to say that Alice has mastered the fine art of climbing a ladder and can climb right onto Jared's bed, so that is one door that has to stay closed all the time!



I'm afraid that I haven't uploaded the Christmas tree pictures yet, but I do have a few pictures from our first tree hunting night (failed on that front, but did swing by Carl's Jr. for dinner, which is a rare treat for us!) and gingerbread making!

Babies' first onion rings... they both really liked them!





Gingerbread houses!





Lastly, if you made it this far, I've been thinking about starting a family blog since it becomes harder and harder just to write about the girls as they get older, and it is important to me that this blog act more as their story (and perhaps the story of another baby someday, too!). I can't come up with a name, though. So, if you have a name that would reflect our family, with a focus on fun activities, trying to live green, getting back to simpler values, etc., I'd love to hear it!

All Mama, All the Time

Over the last few weeks, I've been really blessed by having two girls that have been all about their mama. Robert calls it the "all mama, all the time show" and that's about how it is sometimes. It definitely goes in cycles, and sometimes the girls aren't much more interested in me than anyone else they love, but I've noticed that, the older they get, the more they are all about their mama. And, I, of course, love it! I love feeling like they really need ME in particular, as opposed to just a competant caregiver. I get so many kisses, hugs, and cuddles on a daily basis that it's probably more than some people get in a month (and even well loved people!). And I just plain eat that up! It's sort of like the difference between a newborn and a 6 week old who has started to smile at you. You always love and adore your babies, but it's so nice to feel like they are giving that back to you, too! Don't get me wrong, though. As much as I love it, it's also pretty intense to be that important and that needed by these little ones. I can't pee alone, much less shower or have 5 minutes to myself sometimes. Alice's favorite word is "mama." She will literally just chant it over and over again. And, I always respond with "Alicebutt." We can spend 15 minutes going back and forth that way! Still, there is something so special about the way that she says it, like "mama" is the most precious person or thing in the world.

It's also been really fun lately because the girls are talking so much now and every single day there are new words and new ways that they find to communicate with us. For example, this afternoon, I was putting the girls down for their nap and Alice pointed to the rocker in their room and said "song over there." Not only did she want me to sing the goodnight song that I sing before they go to sleep, but she wanted me to do it in the rocker (I usually do it standing up and holding them). It is so cool that they are able to express their wants/needs to us now. Plus, who knew Alice knew the word "song"? Or "home," like when she said we were home yesterday? Every day, she just throws out what seems like 5-10 new words and combinations of words. It's amazing! Meanwhile, Charlotte is going nuts with the talking, too. She's not talking as much as Alice, but she is making such great progress.

The other day, I took the girls to the grocery store with me just to get 2 or 3 things. It was that time of the afternoon when they are bored and cranky, and I thought that a quick trip would help improve their moods. And, sure enough, they were angels at the store and were happier when we got home. But, the funniest thing happened in the car on the way home! We were driving home and all of a sudden Charlotte started making her sound for elephant frantically and fussing. I knew she had her elephant, so I couldn't understand what the problem was. We were almost home, so I just kept driving. Finally, we got home and I found that elephant had gotten stuck in the straps and Charlotte was upset and wanted him freed. It cracked me up that her way of communicating that to me was to keep saying the sound an elephant makes over and over again. Such a sweetie pie!

Lately, the girls have been all about cooking and baking with us. Whenever Robert makes a meal, he has at least one of the girls in his arms or on a chair watching. They are totally fascinated by all of the steps to making a meal plus, of course, the food aspect of it! I made chocolate chip cookies with Alice on the counter the other day and she cracked me up by trying to put satsuma oranges that were on the counter into the mixer to be blended in with the other ingredients!

It looks like our new house will be closing Monday before Robert and I go to Mexico, so soon it's going to be time to think about packing, painting, moving, etc. I've been trying to decide what on Earth to do with the girls' room. They aren't ready for toddler beds, but I'm not sure that I want to keep going with pink/green. However, we have a green rocker/ottoman so green at least needs to stay. I also have beautiful pink silk curtains that it would be nice to use in either their room or Emilia's. If Emilia doesn't want them, I might end up sticking with the pink/green color scheme, but otherwise I'm ready for a change as we start to move to big girl rooms. I'm thinking something brighter, and maybe with animals. Meanwhile, we'll be painting an office, too, that we hope to eventually use as a baby room. So, I need a color that will work for both. For now, it's between sky blue and a light orange.

Pictures!

Reading the paper with Robert





Little monkeys!





Bathtime (the look on Charlotte's face cracks me up!)





Charlotte is obsessed with apples and eats 2-3 per DAY these days (but only whole, not cut up)



The girls are totally obsessed with tomato soup these days



What happens to your hair after tomato soup gets smeared into it...



Baking!





One way to sit in your high chair...



Friday morning breakfast... for some reason, Alice loves to sit on the stepstool that we've been using to replace a broken dining chair (despite it only needing one screw replaced and having two unassembled ones to boot)



Playing with Jared and Camden







Chilling in the big bed!







Camden the snake!

Halloween

The girls had a great Halloween yesterday, albeit not many actual Halloween festivities. We spent the day, which turned out to be sunny and lovely, at home, and their grandma and grandpa came over to visit. They had a good time with them, and didn't even seem scared of them anymore by the time they left! The girls have been doing a lot better with their stranger anxiety lately, and it was good to see them finally having fun with their grandparents (and even sitting on their grandpa's lap)!

Naptime, however, was a debacle. They had gotten up early, so I figured they would be more than ready for nap. As naptime drew closer, we had a nice leisurely lunch, and both girls were in super sweet, super tired mode. Charlotte was so tired that she could barely see straight. So, I got them changed and into bed, and figured that they'd go right to sleep. And, Charlotte did. When I saw Charlotte asleep on the monitor and didn't hear anything from Alice, I thought they were down and took a shower. The second I got out of the shower, though, I heard Alice hollering for me to come get her (Out! Mama! Stuck! OUT!). I thought that she might just need a cuddle since, sometimes, Alice will holler until I come in and kiss her and then she'll go right to sleep. However, when I got in there, I found.... a naked Alice with her diaper in the corner of the crib and her pjs still snapped around her neck, but otherwise completely off. And, naked Alice was doing a headstand, hiding her face from me, and hoping that this position meant that I wouldn't see her. For the love of god.

I got her out and it was funny because she KNEW she was in trouble because she wasn't talking to me. Instead, she'd point to things with something of an abashed look on her face. So, she pointed to her penguin on her pjs and then pointed to her crib where her stuffed penguin was. It cracked me up, but I tried to pretend like I was not pleased with her. I got her re-dressed and put her back down, but she never did fall asleep. And all of her jabbering woke up Charlotte, who had only slept for maybe 45 minutes. Oy!

We lucked out, though, because having their grandparents here distracted them from being overtired and cranky for much of the day. Grandma and grandpa left around dinner time. I made the girls some leftover pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce from our dinner the night before and they went NUTS for it. I think that they had three helpings of pasta each. It was crazy. They ate more than I did for dinner that night! They also had mixed veggies and fruit, but they were all about the pasta last night. After dinner, Robert and Emilia took them for a long walk around the neighborhood to both pass time and to help them wind down before bedtime. By the time they got home, they were just plain ready for dinner and bedtime so they didn't get to help pass out candy to trick-or-treaters like I was hoping. But, since we only got a few groups later that night, they didn't miss out on much. Robert took the big kids around the neighborhood, and between that and their Microsoft haul, we now have more candy than a candy store. I wasn't sure what to do with it (I usually end up throwing it away, which seems like a waste), but Emilia gave me a great idea. You see, Emilia and Alice share some of my OCD about cleanliness and order. Alice, for instance, loves to clean and will even push her chair in when she gets down from the table. And, Emilia sorted all of her candy into Ziploc baggies by type. And that gave me the idea to sort all of the candy into Ziploc bags for movies! Then, throughout the year, we can just grab baggies for each of us every time we go see a movie. Bingo, instant movie snacks! My inner cheapskate and neat freak totally loves that idea. The big kids also went to the Halloween party at the community garden right by our house, where they had candy, cider, face painting, etc. I love living in this neighborhood!

Meanwhile, although the girls weren't into the candy they tried on Halloween Eve, I let them each have a few Skittles that I ate yesterday and they LOVED them. So, apparently they aren't into chocolate, but do like Skittles. I don't like chocolate that much either, and almost always choose candy like Skittles or Sour Patch Kids if I am at a movie or something, so I guess they share my taste there. I'm all about eating healthy and organic most of the time, but I also think that it's important to have yummy, junk food sometimes. Like on Halloween!

Another really awesome thing that happened yesterday was that the girls hugged each other for the first time! The girls were just about to go out on a walk, so they were all bundled up in their coats, when Charlotte came over to Alice and hugged her, just like that. At first, Alice looked alarmed and didn't realize what Charlotte was doing. But I said "oh, how sweet, Charlotte is hugging you, Alice" and she understood and got the CUTEST smile on her face. And then Charlotte kept doing it, and they both were smiling and laughing. And then they'd fall over because of a particularly vigorous hug, and keep right on laughing. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. The big kids went running for the camera but, of course, by the time they found it and got it to me, it was too late to get a really good picture of it. But, it was just about the sweetest thing that I've ever seen. After Charlotte lost interest, Alice kept backing up into her and yelling "HUG!"... it was like she didn't realize that SHE could hug Charlotte first. Talk about adorable!

The best hug picture I could get!



Taking blue bear for a walk (Alice looooves blue bear)



Halloween baby!



Baby's first Skittles... so sad when it was all gone! (This picture cracks me up because I remember thinking as I took it that Robert was going to look weird because of that he was doing... and... yeah...!)



Balloon! With eyes!



Too much candy!

Halloween Eve

One thing that I love about working at Microsoft is that they celebrate Halloween by encouraging their employees to decorate their workspaces and common areas, put out candy, and bring their families by to trick-or-treat. This year, they even had a big haunted house, face painting, and other cool stuff. Unfortunately, that area had a line stretching pretty much as far as the eye could see to get in, so we opted not to take advantage of ALL of the fun times, but we were still able to trick-or-treat with the kiddos this afternoon. Fun family time plus a few hours off work makes a great combination in my book!

Since James doesn't take the girls until Sunday, I asked him if he wanted to meet up with us to see the girls in their costumes. He ended up hanging out with us the entire time, which was really nice. I'm so glad that we're all able to do stuff together, and that the girls have so many people who love them!

Anyway, we started the afternoon out with a little examination of the big fountain/water area outside this particular building. Both girls kept trying to drink the water, which was a truly alarming shade of brownish green. Ew, as Alice would say! We kept giving them cups, but apparently that water was delicious. Ew! After that excitement, we trick-or-treated on a couple of floors. Alice liked getting the candy and putting it in her bag. Charlotte liked wandering around, but wasn't very interested in the candy process. Except to suck on a (wrapped) Reese's peanut butter cup, that is! Eventually, James, Robert, and I hung out in a conference room with the girls while the big kids finished the last bit of trick-or-treating. The girls had a great time playing with the video conferencing thingy (Alice) and playing peekaboo with Robert and I at the door (Charlotte). I also gave them both their first taste of candy while we were hanging out in there! Alice got a mini Snickers and Charlotte got a piece of the Reese's. Alice sucked the chocolate off the Snickers and then spit it out, and Charlotte had no interest in the candy at all. It was funny how they pretty much had no interest in the candy, and then completely decimated the grapes and strawberries that we'd brought for them to snack on. Who are these children?!

It's probably going to rain tomorrow, so I doubt that the girls will get to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. If anything, I will probably just stay home with them and let them help hand out candy if anyone comes by before their bedtime. Otherwise, I'm afraid that today was probably their Halloween. The big kids will have all of the fun tomorrow!

In other news, yesterday was the girls' (much delayed) 18 month well child. They are just shy of 22 months now, so it's closer to a 2 year visit! At any rate, the girls are getting SO big. Alice is still 5th percentile for weight (at 23 lbs 14 oz) but Charlotte has chunked up and is all the way up to the 50th percentile for weight now (at 26 lbs 3 oz)!! She is also 75-90th percentile for height now (at 35")! We've never seen percentiles like that before so, as a preemie mom, I was incredibly excited to see tangible proof that my girls are doing awesome. While we were there, the girls got their seasonal and H1N1 vaccines, and they go back in a month for their Prevnar booster (since we only do two vax per visit). Dr. Ryan said that they are meeting all of their milestones and that Charlotte's speech is actually completely on target. It turns out that Alice is just advanced. That was a bit of a relief to me, although Charlotte is saying new words daily now, so it's been less of a concern over the past few weeks. I should've known better than to worry, though. Charlotte always does things, she just does them in her own time.

Alice the elephant and Charlotte the giraffe (that darn giraffe nose kept falling in her eyes so we ended up folding it under!)









Geek candy dish...



Loving the loot!



Mmm, Reese's wrapper...



Peekaboo!



Baby's first candy... bad Mama!



Conference call time!





Snack and dancing time!

Holiday Portraits

I was super excited earlier today to see that Aly had blogged our holiday portraits, but tonight I was even more excited to get the email saying that the gallery with ALL of our edited portraits was up.

I found so many amazing shots this time that I'm seriously almost tearing up. Aly did such an amazing job of really capturing all of the kids' individual personalities. They seem to leap right off the screen! Plus, they are really just amazing shots! I'm definitely going to have to order the DVD with all of the high-res images because there is no way that I can order just a few prints with this many truly amazing shots to choose from! In fact, it's been really hard for me to write this post because there were so many awesome pictures that I wanted to share. But, really, I'm guessing that the Internet at large doesn't really want to look at 50 or 100 shots of my family, no matter how awesome they are. So, here are a few (low-res copies from her gallery) of my favorites.

If you really do want to see all 100+, feel free to log in to her gallery site using the password "allard:" http://www.laluzphotography.instaproofs.com/. If you're part of the family, note that you can order prints directly if you want some for yourselves!









What happens when you try to get a shot of just the kids with two tired toddlers!

Frog Says "Bleahhhhhh"

This morning, I got up bright and early to start getting all of us ready for our holiday portraits. Although the portraits appointment wasn't until 10 am, I knew that it was going to take a few hours for all seven of us to get ready. So, I got up at 7, colored my hair in between making breakfast and cuddling with Alice on the couch, and really started kicking things into high gear at 8. From 8 on, I pretty much ran around bathing babies, dressing babies, making sure the big kids were dressed, overseeing diaper bag packing, etc and so forth. We left at 9:45 on the dot and pulled into the Arboretum right on time. Score!

My entire goal going into this portrait session was to get ONE decent picture of the seven of us where we were all looking at the camera. That's it. I didn't even expect seven smiles. Nope, all I wanted was seven little faces looking at the camera in a single shot. And, although I won't see the proofs for a week or so, I'm pretty sure that we got that shot! The girls were pretty cooperative in the beginning and, although they hate cameras and won't smile for them, they would at least look in the photographer's direction. So, it was pretty awesome for me that my entire goal for the photoshoot appeared to have been met within the first 5 minutes. Everything from there on out was gravy in my book!

The funniest part of the photoshoot was these damn boots that I bought for the girls. They are furry white boots with big white pom poms on them. And, sure they are ADORABLE. But, I also think that they might be slippers. And they fell off CONSTANTLY! So, pretty much the entire photoshoot was punctuated with someone yelling about a missing shoe, looking for a shoe, putting back on a shoe, or something else related to those damn shoes. Still, they were so damn cute that I find it hard to regret buying them, even if they were the bane of our existences today!

After we finished up our holiday shoot, we took the kids home and had our nanny come by briefly to hang out with them while Robert and I had our rescheduled (darn rain!) e-pics done. By the time we got home a little over an hour later, the girls were napping. As soon as they woke up, we all headed to the children's museum for the rest of the afternoon.

While we were at the children's museum, two noteworthy things occured. The first one was that Robert has forever messed with Charlotte's head by teaching her that frogs say "bleahhhh." He was playing a game with her where he'd make a frog puppet say ribbit a few times and then it would go "bleahhhh" and leap into her face. She thought this was the funniest thing ever. It totally cracked her up. But, when he stopped, she brought the puppet back to him, saying "ceahhhhhh" (Charlotte for do something that I'm asking you to do) "bleahhhh." That's right, folks, Charlotte's first two-word sentence had to do with a frog that says "bleahhhh." I'm sending her preschool teacher to Robert to clear this one up! Charlotte's other verbal breakthrough today, however, was music to my ears. For the first time, Charlotte said "mama" just like that. She usually says "mmmm-mah," but today she said "mama." Twice!

The other noteworthy thing about today's trip to the children's museum was that, while Alice was standing on the edge of this little pit of stuffed animals, a little boy walked up to her and PUSHED her straight into them. She landed on stuffed animals, so she wasn't hurt, but she was scared to death. I was SO angry at that little boy, too. Ugh! I usually make it a strict policy not to correct other people's kids in public, and I even waited for someone to come claim this little miscreant, but no one came, so I finally told him that it's not okay to push people and that he scared her. His mom did eventually appear, and he got in trouble and had to apologize, and she came by again and apologized to me later, but it was a really unpleasant experience for all concerned. Jared happened to be standing outside of the baby area at the time, and heard Alice crying, and when he found out what had happened, he pretty much came into the baby area and stuck to her side like glue for the next hour playing with her! It was really sweet to watch his concern for her, and his honest enjoyment of just playing games with his little sister. The big kids all really adore their baby sisters, and it's funny because I have to make a rule that they CAN'T come in the baby area because they're too old. Otherwise, they will spend all of their time while we're there in the baby area with the girls rather than doing their own stuff! I let them come in today because it was really empty, and it was very cute watching them interact with each other and the girls.

While we were there, Emilia made tons and tons of little pumpkins, so tomorrow we're going to buy some yarn and string them across the dining room wall as Halloween decorations. I think it will be really cute, and the girls will get a major kick out of them (today, for reasons I can't explain, they kept trying to put them over their mouths and suck on them, which really is an odd reaction to construction paper pumpkins).

I'm really blessed.

Preschool Madness

When Robert and I decided to live together after we got engaged a couple of months ago, he rented out his house because it's too small for all of us and moved into my rental house. And, by and large, it's been an amazingly easy transition for all of us. We've been really blessed by how welcoming and embracing of him that the big kids have been. You hear so many horror stories about stepparent/stepkid issues, and I'm sure that we'll have our own fair share eventually, but thus far they have been wonderful. Of course, I think that is largely owing to how wonderful Robert is with them. He's been a dad himself (he has an adult son), and he's just a family type of guy who honestly loves to do stuff like help the kids with their homework, have dinner together as a family, and read aloud to the older kids each night before bed. With all of that good time together, it's no wonder that they love him so much!

But, I digress. The point is that it's been wonderful having Robert here with us in all ways but one... this HOUSE! This house is in a great area, less than 10 minutes from law school and 25 minutes from work. We have really nice neighbors, a nice backyard, and enough bedrooms for everyone. However, it's also really, really small and not well laid out. The kitchen is an unmitigated disaster. It's almost imposssible to cook in there, much less bake. And we have (wait for it) only ONE full bathroom along with a toilet downstairs off the laundry room (and the only sink is the utility sink in the laundry room)! Simply put, this house was already bursting at the seams with the six of us, and the addition of a seventh person just plain put it over the top.

I started complaining bitterly to Robert about the house last week and showed him a few rentals (in the same area) that would be a better fit for us. We even worked out a budget to make sure that we could afford the higher rent. But, then he started looking at homes for sale in the area and realized that we could buy a house for less than rent (even including insurance, taxes, etc.)! We decided to look into buying a house on Tuesday, had financing approval on Wednesday, toured a house that seemed like a good fit Friday, put the offer in on Saturday, had mutual acceptance Saturday night, had a GREAT inspection Monday, and now it looks like we could be closing in a WEEK! Holy crap! It's been a total whirlwind, but we really lucked out because the reality is that there are very few homes that have the potential to fit our family in this area. We really love older Craftsman homes, but they don't tend to have a ton of bedrooms. What we really wanted to find was a Craftsman with a lot of potential that had 4 bedrooms and an unfinished basement, and that's exactly what we found! This house needs quite a bit of work (much of which we'll be doing before we move in), but it's going to give us six bedrooms to work with, and three full levels of living space. And, well, with a family this size, that's really what you need to avoid feeling like a bunch of sardines!

At any rate, we're full of plans to add a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a laundry room to the basement before we move in, plus paint pretty much every single room and do some minor cosmetic work in the main floor bathroom. Over time, we'll address the other stuff, but it's going to be awesome even when we move in, and that's really exciting. We also got a screaming deal on it, and that makes it even more fun. But, the best part is that it's only one street down and a few blocks over, and within easy walking distance of C&E's school! Jared will continue to bus to his school, which is further away, but C&E can even keep walking with their current walk buddies on sunny days. There is a really cool park only about 5 blocks away, and the lake is only a few more blocks away. It's really perfect for all of us!

When we were driving around our new neighborhood (even though, really, it's the same neighborhood we live in now), we noticed a preschool. I've been interested in getting the girls into preschool maybe two mornings per week in the next few months, so I decided to look into it. And, well, apparently their waitlist has 200 names on it!! Holy cow! I had no idea that such things existed outside of maybe NYC or the Bay Area, but apparently most people call and have their names put on when they give birth! The director was really nice, but it sounds like the girls have no real change of getting in until their 3's class (which requires them to be 3 by August 31 of that year, so that's all the way out to September 2011 for my girls!). I had them put on the waitlist, but I'm also looking into other preschools.

From what I can tell, because of the girls' December birthday, they won't be eligible for the 2's classes until next fall. And, really, that's fine. It'd be nice if they could start a little sooner than that, but it's nothing that we need to rush. Our only real goal is to get them a bit of socialization. But, we're only talking about 5 hours per week here, so it's not a huge deal! For now, we're trying to help them get more interaction through more frequent visits to the children's museum and places like the mall play area. Charlotte, especially, is starting to take a real interest in other kids and follows them around trying to play with them. We want to encourage that however we can, whether through preschool or just hanging out with us in places with kids.

At any rate, there are 3-4 coop preschools in the area, some with waitlists and some without, that I'm going to start looking into. We'll tour them in January and then apply soon afterwards for next fall. The coop thing seems like a great way to meet other parents, and to be more involved in their preschool experience, but I am a bit hesitant about the idea of helping in a classroom. If possible, I'd really prefer to do something a little more behind the scenes and let my girls begin to get used to interacting with other adults. They have come a long way in their stranger anxiety, and it would be nice if they could start building relationships with adults other than myself, James, Robert, and their nanny! Then again, who knows what they will be like by NEXT fall. They change so much every day, it's hard to even imagine it.

I was telling Robert the other day that I am finding myself getting a little sad at the idea of having another baby. Not because I don't want one, because I do. But, these girls are my babies. Somehow, seeing them growing up before my eyes, and knowing that in another year or two they might not even be the babies of the family just makes me want to grab them, kiss them, and refuse to let them keep growing up. They are such beautiful, strong, happy girls who have blessed my life in so many ways. I love watching them grow and change, but it's hard to think about retiring the cribs, and setting up a nursery for another baby. Then again, these girls are growing up no matter what. When I see Alice running around with her pigtails, and Charlotte playing with big girl toys, I know that there isn't much left of my babies anymore. They are toddlers, through and through.