I guess that makes sense . . .

Luke was putting his swimsuit on this weekend and amazed by the fact that you don't have to wear underwear in the pool. He touched himself inadvertently and announced to us, "Hey! That's my pee pee!" I looked up from rubbing Evie down with sunscreen and gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?" He reached down to his testicles and said, "Look, Mom, here's my pee pee." It took me a minute to figure out that he thought his testicles were where the pee pee is stored. I had to set him straight, but he remained convinced that his pee pee gathers in his testicles. The poor kid is going to have quite a shock in Health class when he realizes that I've been telling him the truth all these years.

Evie's Babies

Evie told me at breakfast yesterday that she wants to have five babies. She intends to name them Alicia, Jaguar, Diego, and Dora. She's very certain about wanting to have five. She does not know what she is going to name the last baby. Maybe her husband will get to name one.

Movie Quote 33

Wish I could be doing this today.

Oh, I'm sorry. I can't come to the door right now. I'm afraid that in my weakened condition, I could take a nasty spill down the stairs and subject myself to further school absences. You can reach my parents at their places of business. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concern for my well-being. Have a nice day!

Groan

About 8 hours ago we went out with a couple-friend of ours. We were all so excited that in five years of knowing each other, we finally found a chance to go out without the kids so that we weren't being constantly interrupted by little cherubic (sometimes devilish) children. We grabbed a drink before hand a little jazz lounge (which was empty at 6 p.m.) in the basement of one of the buildings downtown. It is super cool because you go down an alley between two buildings and ride in an elevator down to the basement. I kind of feel like I'm getting into a speakeasy and have to know the secret knock just to get in, but it isn't actually that big of a deal. Anyway, I had a couple of glasses of champagne before we went to dinner at the fondu place next door (also in the basement). After the salad and the cheese course, I started to feel ill and then by the time our main course was finished (before dessert arrived), I was miserable. It sucked so bad and I have no idea what made me feel that way. I tried to even throw up, but no dice. (I would never be successful at bulemia). So, after groaning my way through dessert, I sadly had to go home at 9:45. I was sooooooo bummed! I really wanted to go see the movie The Proposal, and I couldn't even make it, and now I know Chuck will hold this against me when I tell him I want to go see the movie again. I got home and our sweet babysitter was putting George down and all I could do was lay on the couch and groan some more. I swear, I think it was all the oil that I ate that my system is just not used to. I mean, that cheese is mixed with a cup of oil and then you roast your main course in a pot of oil. That can't be good for the system.

So, I collapsed into bed and Chuck retired to the den to watch tv (disappointed in me, I'm sure). I groaned my way to sleep and woke up about 40 minutes ago feeling better, but still not a 100%. And here I am, unable to sleep and blogging to you about this very boring state of affairs. If you've made it this far in the post, I salute you. I hope the rest of you are sleeping well.

Update

I did not fall off the face of the earth, I've just been soooooo busy and tired. I even went to bed at 8:45 last night. Life is good though. Things are progressing well with work, kids, school, and au pair Lindsey.

Work is busy - but busy is better than slow. I'm going in this morning to wrap some stuff up. Same goes for Chuck. He's actually at work already this morning and we will switch off with kid duty around 8:30.

Kids are great. No one is really sick right now although Evie has a sniffle and is constantly sniffing her nose or licking her boogers. Disgusting. We are trying to stop the licking and sniffing, but it is tough. The most disgusting part is that she can actually reach her tongue into her nostrils. I groan each time I see her do it, but she won't stop because she thinks it is funny. Yick.

I've got Luke signed up for Kindergarten. Seriously, I don't really know why, but for some reason I thought that the State just knew that my kid was going to show up for Kindergarten. It totally makes sense that I would have to fill out paperwork, but I just seem to have a mental block with regard to his going to Kindergarten. He'll be lucky if he gets there on the first day with all his school supplies. That's next on my list of things to do. At least I'm aware of that (thanks to a friend who emailed me the supply list).

As for Lindsey, she has her paperwork and is set to visit the American Embassy in London on Tuesday. As luck has it, I think she is going to meet my sister in London that day too. I'm excited for them to meet. I also received her flight information this week. She arrives on the 24th in Dallas. I can't tell you enough how excited we are about her arrival. We're talking about her a lot and Luke even pointed to a girl at dinner last night and proclaimed that she looked like Lindsey. He was right, to my surprise. I was glad to see that he is thinking about her even when we're not talking about her. And both Luke and Evie have asked, "When is Lindsey going to be here?" Of course, Luke groans and adds in a whiney voice, "Ugh . . . it's taking forever!"

So that's our update. I know I have more to post, but, I swear amusing things do not happen to me everyday. So for now, my posts are pretty boring. Sorry to disappoint. I'm sure Luke or Evie will do something appalling sometime soon. I'm due.

It is so damn hot. I hate summer.

The swamp

Seriously, Lindsey can't get here soon enough. That's all I've got to say about that.

Things are pretty boring at our house right now. All we've been doing is fixing the house, it seems. Chuck installed a hot water heater, drained, cleaned, and filled our pool, and fixed a drip in one of our air conditioners. Now it feels like our other air conditioner is on the fritz so we'll have to go buy another. Chuck broke the valve on our pool pump last night so that has to be fixed. I'm sure something else will break soon. Old houses are just a drain on your bank account.

The pool doesn't sound like that bad of a job except, well, it was! It was green like a swamp. The algae started growing while we had the cover on and we didn't realize it until we took the cover off and, by that time, it was way too late. We called our pool guy (who stopped coming while we had the pool cover on). He came by, took one look, and fired us on the spot. He said, "I don't have time for that." Yeah, no lie. I had no idea pool guy could fire us, but there you have it. Chuck spent all last week trying to back flush it (whatever that means) and then we had some friends over who actually know something about pools and the consensus was that it needed to be drained, power washed, and refilled. So we spent Saturday and Sunday doing that. The algae was so bad that we couldn't even see the top step. There could have been dead bodies at the bottom of the pool and I would have never known. I'll have to post a picture when I get a chance. Anyhow, things are better now, but I have to say that all this maintenance and repair work has been keeping our life hectic but boring. Hence, I have no stories, no interesting events.

So, instead, I will just have to post another movie quote soon.

Carrot Sweater

I went to see George at lunch and came back with carrots on my cream colored sweater. What a sweet baby - sharing his lunch with me.

Father's Day

Happy Daddy's Day. Missing my own today, but so happy for everyone else who was able to spend time with their father today.

Father's Day gift

I haven't even started shopping for Father's Day. What is wrong with me? I'm already up with George and everyone else is asleep. I know Home Depot is open, but that seems like such a trite gift at this point. After all, I think Chuck owns every power tool that Home Depot carries. So what now? I've adopted this new method of choosing gifts by asking the kids, "What should we get Daddy?" It can be a bit tough to maneuver. For example, the first time I did that Luke answered, "A new car!" I had to explain that a new car would be too expensive. So instead he said, "A boat." Again, too expensive. Perhaps we should have some lessons on the value of money. Luke will also tell us that he wants to buy something while we're at the store (a toy or movie or something like that) and we will respond with, "Okay, do you have any money." We'll say, "Oh well. I guess you can't buy it." That used to be the end of the conversation, but the other day Luke responded with, "Daddy, you have money." Chuck responded, "Yes, but that's my money and I worked hard to earn it." Luke replied, "Daddy, you have to share your money. We all have to share." Good point Luke, but no dice. Whoops, I digressed.

Back to the gift. No idea what to get. And when I asked the kids what we should get Chuck, they said golf clubs. I told them that Daddy already has a set of golf clubs, but they remained firm in their decision and Luke said we should go play golf on Sunday. Maybe I'll get a golf gift certificate or something. Oh well

Movie Quote 32

Another movie quote for Friday:

Louisa can make it with a whole jar of spiders in her hand.

Prepare for my rant.

I took George to breakfast last weekend when Chuck was picking up the other two kids from his parents house. It was really a nice quiet weekend, although I didn't get much work done. I decided to go to this little joint called Fuzzy's Tacos. Yum. I ordered Migas and as I was getting my coffee, the woman who took my order came over and asked how much George weighed. I said, "Oh, about 22 pounds." She asked, "How old is he?" I responded proudly, "Six months old." She said, "My little girl is 11 months old and only weights 17 pounds. Is there something wrong with him?" I paused for a fraction of a second before responding, "Oh, no. He's fine. He's just a big boy." Honestly, I was a bit offended that she would ask something like that. He's not that big. He doesn't look like he is a giant or anything. He's just a healthy boy - still on the percentile charts at the pediatrician's office. And the doctor has never voiced any concern about George's weight. I couldn't believe a stranger asked me that! Then she followed up that question with, "Well, does he eat a lot?" I started to take a tone with her as my eyebrows furrowed and I said, "Uh, no. He eats just like other kids his age." I was a bit hacked. I wanted to tell her that George could squash her little runt 11 month old, but clearly I'm a nicer person than that. Good heavens. What happened to manners? It's like people don't even think about what they are saying anymore.

We also have some friends who have small children (and the parents are obviously petite as well). The father comments on how huge our kids are compared to his. In fact, before Chuck and I ever popped out kids (and when I was still quite in shape), Bryan spanned my wrist with his fingers and said, "Wow, you guys are going to have big babies. Your kids will be able to kick our kids' asses." (he's just like that.) I was a little offended though that he thought I was so "big." I've gotten over that, but the conversation continues now that we both have three kids and it is obvious that my kids could easily sit on his kids and win a fight. (Notably, his kids are rougher than mine- more wiry and mean).

Still, no mom wants to hear about any perceived defect in her children - even if it is obvious, because you can't really change the physical attributes of your own child (even though George has already had plastic surgery). What I do want to know is if my kid is being a little shit and needs a behavior modification. I hate whining, I will not tolerate hitting, biting, screaming, hair pulling, swinging the cat by her tail, etc. So, if my kid is impolite, let me know. But, if you think my kid is ugly or defective - keep it to yourself.

I wish the waitress from Fuzzy's was reading this. Ugh! I'm still appalled that she would ask me if there was something wrong with my precious George.

Movie Quote 31

Inconceivable!

The Naked Chef . . . no, not me.

Lindsey mentioned that her favorite chef is Jamie Oliver aka the Naked Chef. Anyone heard of him? Here's a picture.



Lindsey couldn't tell me why he is called "The Naked Chef" since he doesn't cook in the nude, so I had to do a little research. It appears that he is called "The Naked Chef" because he cooks without pretension and lets the food speak for itself. Something like that - I'm paraphrasing. Apparently he is also quite a heartthrob for the ladies. What do you think?

He is fascinating. He is only two years older than me and he wrote his first cook book in 98 or 99. That kind of instant success makes me feel like I'm behind the curve, but oh well. I guess when Lindsey gets here she can introduce us to some of Jamie Oliver's recipes. He seems like a super guy, despite my jealousy. He has a program called Ministry of Food and in it, he teaches eight people who won't cook, how to cook 10 budget friendly (healthy) meals and in return he asks that they pass the recipes on to two people or more. Great idea! He also advocates putting healthy foods in schools. I hate to credit him with genius because, well really, it seems like an obvious first step to fight childhood obesity, but it's great to see him wielding his popularity for good.

Panic

Just wanted everyone to know that today is International Panic Day. Enjoy your panic attack. I plan on having several today.

And the hits just keep on coming . . .

I spoke too soon. Luke has strep throat.

If it wasn't this, it would be something else.

Water heater broke with a "BOOM!" this morning. Water was gushing all over the floor under our stairs. Called Chuck and he headed home. I had all the kids on the curb, no shoes, cell phone to the ear, neighbors gathered, trying to turn off the water. Chuck finally turned it off when he got home 20 minutes later. I gathered up the kids an hour after the incident and headed out the door, but then George had a blow out. I changed his diaper and went to wash my hands - oh, yeah, no water. I scrubbed up and used an old glass of water that was on my bedside table to rinse. Then I took the kids to school. Old houses rock.

She'll be here soon!

Just got off the video phone (Skype) with Lindsey and, of course, she's fabulous! And she has a great family too. I'm not at all surprised - perfectly pleased! I can't wait for everyone to meet her - especially the kids. They won't say two coherent words to anyone on the phone or on skype. It's really quite annoying and embarrassing. I hope they make a better impression when Lindsey gets here. Her family probably thinks she's being subjected to "special" kids, if you know what I mean. Luke was a whiner during the whole conversation (other than when he made George cry when he took away a spatula of all things - don't ask me why George had a spatula). Evie refused to say anything at all and simply grunted in a high pitched voice (is that possible?) "uh-uh". And then George was perfect in my lap for half the conversation and cried for the first half. And to end the conversation, Luke knocked the computer and the something fell causing the phone line to disconnect. I'm certain that Lindsey probably heard me say something altogether unintelligible and then the line disconnected. Just another day at our house, however. Heaven help us.

The family (or I should say "the rest of the family") has retired into the living room to watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars - a star wars cartoon. For some reason I feel like this puts Luke and Chuck a notch above regular nerds. Poor Evie might grow up to be a chick super nerd if she starts to like the stuff. So much for having the popular kids in school. Luke even has on his star wars t-shirt.

Half a year.

Six months ago today, I had just popped out (as easily as possible) the cutest little baby boy and we named him George. He has wiggled his way firmly into our hearts and we could not be more grateful. God has truly blessed us. Here are more of my photos of baby George. Let me know if you have a favorite!

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9

Number 10

I couldn't resist the muffin top.

Number 11

Number 12

Number 13

Number 14

Number 15

He's my beautiful baby, but I have the hardest time catching his smiles. Enjoy.

Video Camera

I've been trying to install my video camera so that I can use skype to talk to my sister in London and Lindsey, but I cannot make it work! I had my sister Joan here to try and make it work and she spent a couple hours working on it. I thought this was supposed to be easy. I want to make sure it is up and running when Lindsey gets here so that she will be able to talk to her family any time she wants or needs to. I may have to get a different camera and start from scratch. I should have known when the salesman asked me if I wanted insurance (on my $35 camera) and when I said no, he responded, "Okay, but I can't do anything for you if you come back in two weeks and isn't working." Hmmm. I thought that was curious at the time, but I didn't realize it would take me this long to figure out that it wasn't going to work.

I DID IT! I officially requested a match with our au pair. Lindsey is supposed to arrive next month!!!!

Welcome to the family, Lindsey. We can't wait for you to get here!!!

Pictures of George

Here are the results of my impromptu photo shoot with George. He was very tired so I don't have fantastic shots. Looking for the right one to submit to the cute baby contests.

This one is my favorite so far. He was so tired, so it was tough getting him to smile.

Oh, and I can't figure out how to get the date off the camera. I need expert help.

Here's George's latest development. He started sitting up last week really well. He's more accomplished at it now than he was in this video. He's doing great and he's reached the age of ultimate cuteness -- 6 months. They are precious at this age - smiling, sitting up, grabbing things, starting to show personality. I just adore my little George.

And here are some pics of all three.

Chuck and I are missing Luke and Evie like crazy, although it has been nice to have some quiet. Unfortunately, we should have taken this time to clean house, do laundry, catch up on correspondence and errands. We did none of those things. We watched movies. Oh well. We all need some down time occasionally.

Chuck received the flea collar.

Two beautiful boys

We watched Twilight last night and it was pretty darn good. Oh, and Edward is every bit as hot as everyone says. He's got that whole James Dean thing going or even a Collin Firth thing. Love it. Yum. I know he's a lot younger than me, but maybe he'd be into a Demi Moore-Ashton Kutcher thing. Oh, wait, I'm married. Nevermind.








My niece insists that I should read the book, but I have no desire to do so. I told her I would read the book after she finished reading all the books underlying all the movies she's watched - especially all the Shakespeare plays. I told her I'd swap my Shakespeare Anthology for her copy of Twilight. She agreed, but I'm pretty sure she's full of shit. We'll see.

On another note, I've decided to start entering George into beautiful baby contests because he's just so darn cute. Seriously, you have to agree or else you'll be banished from the blog. I mean, just look at this picture. It's a terrible picture and he's still freakin' adorable!

I'm hoping that if he wins some contests we can just start a nice college fund for him. Why didn't I think of this with the other two?

I miss my babies.

You know you're dirty if . . .

I don't really talk about Chuck much because he insists that he wants to maintain a "small internet footprint" (dork), but this has been cracking me up for about 48 hours and I just have to share (and it isn't really about Chuck).

Okay, Chuck is a manager at a finance company and he works in a huge building with hundreds of employees ranging from all walks of life. Well, I get to hear very interesting stories about people "hooking up" in unused conference rooms and all kinds of other things that always shock and surprise me (and Chuck). So the most recent "event" at work is that the building has become infested with fleas. Yup, I said fleas. What the hell? I could understand an infestation of cockroaches (sure) or even lice (that makes sense), but fleas????? No way.

There are no animals there, so some person must have brought the fleas to work where the fleas then jumped onto the carpet and other people. How disgusting is this???!! How unsanitary does a person have to be to bring fleas to work?! Gross! So, almost the whole building is being sprayed for fleas, but Chuck's area is not being sprayed because there were no reports of fleas there. One would assume that the fleas will flee (pun intended) the rest of the building and take shelter in Chuck's untreated area of the building. He better not bring home fleas, but I can just picture him sitting in his desk chair scratching behind his ears.

Plus, you know that feeling that you get when you see bugs crawling on someone else or even think about it and then you start feeling itchy all over even though it's just your imagination? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Ugh. I think I might start feeling that way. In fact, my head itches right now.

Anyhow, I've decided to send him a flea collar by Fedex. I hope it arrives and he has to stop a meeting and sign for it. And I really hope that there are people in his office when he opens it!

Movies you have to think about

All is quiet on the home front. Luke and Evie are spending the week with Chuck's parents. We miss them already (of course), but the quiet is amazing! Chuck and I even watched a movie last night that required our full attention - The Remains of the Day. Anyone seen that? When the movie ended last night I looked at Chuck and said, "I guess I'll have to go do some research because I have no idea what the ending is supposed to mean." It's one of those movies that has literary themes and symbolism all worked into it. I don't really watch movies that I have to think about anymore. Of course, I love Shakespeare and Jane Austen, etc, but it has been so long since I was in school and actually worked at identifying the underlying meanings of actions and words so now I just plain felt stupid watching this movie. It was nominated for 8 academy awards, so the lack of understanding is clearly on my part. I guess I've lost my literary edge. I used to be able to tear these things apart with analysis - I mean, I was and English literature major in college, after all.

Anyhow, if you like English movies such as "Gosford Park" then you will most likely like "The Remains of the Day." We like Gosford Park, but it is one of those things that you have to be in the mood for AND you have to have quiet in the house so you can concentrate on what they are saying and on all the subtle nuances of the film. Even with the silence in our house last night, we still had trouble understanding what was being said at some points. In fact, we rewound the tape three times at one point and turned up the volume so that we could try to understand what the character Charley was saying. No luck, except that we think it was supposed to be funny. I commented that we already need Lindsey here to translate for us because I bet she would know what the guy said. Oh well. Did anyone else see this movie? It was made in '93, so obviously we're behind and everyone else has probably already seen the movie, figured out what the ending means with the bird flying to the ceiling, and appreciates that the movie was nominated fof 8 academny awards. I guess I need to do my own reasearch on it so I can satisfy my feelings if inadequacy.

Sorry for the rambling post. Just an odd movie.

Sleep

I love sleep. I'm still tired this morning, but at least I slept in today. Tomorrow I start at 5:45 a.m. (which isn't all that early) when I go running at the local park with my friend Lorry (Mr. Chesapeake). That poor man is a saint for putting up with my grouchiness in the morning.

The process and your questions.

So, we are moving forward with the au pair (hereinafter "Lindsey", since that is her name after all). She has been fantastic and, in the interest of full disclosure, I have made her aware of this blog so she can really see what she's getting into. She has two sisters, so I'm not sure if she'll be as surprised as I am about all the boy stuff Luke shocks me with. Oh, those crazy boys. Anyway, we are working on getting her set up, and everyone seems to have a ton of questions about this entire process, so here's a little blurb. I'd be happy to answer as many questions as I can, but obviously we're still working through it ourselves.

First of all, we used a service called Au Pair Care. They do almost everything for us including helping us see each other's profiles and setting up interviews. They are incredibly helpful. I have no idea what our profile looks like on the au pair's side of this process, but I get to see almost everything about the au pairs. I see their health history, family history, childcare experience, where they have lived, education, languages, certifications, pictures, living situation, allergies to pets, recommendations, physicals by physicians for this process, references (that I can call), driving history, personality questions, an essay, short answer questions, an interview taken by an Au Pair Care representative. It's really amazing how much I can find out about a person. Then, I get to designate au pairs that I would like to interview. I call them up on the phone or conduct an interview via skype. (We signed up for an international calling plan and called the au pairs in one weekend). You are given three days to interview the au pairs and during that time they are essentially "off the market" for other families, although Lindsey interviewed with another family while we were doing our interviews (luckily, she picked us!). After three days, you no longer have priority and the au pair goes back into the pool of au pairs. Once you accept an au pair, you request a match and pay your fees to the agency. The agency arranges almost everything on the family end and we don't really do much on the technical side (like arranging for flights or visas) with the au pair.

Lindsey will live with us for one year. At the end of the one year commitment, the family can request an additional 6 months to one year and the au pair has the option of accepting - she has no obligation to stay. I can't tell you how amazingly accomplished most of the au pairs in the program are. I am blown away by their English skills and accomplishments in university. Lindsey actually just finished a year as an engineering student at "Uni" as she calls it. Took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about when we did our interview, but I caught on since she was talking about exams. She is also an accomplished golfer, but I warned her that it will be hotter than Hades on our golf courses.

That's the basic process so far. I'm certain that Lindsey could tell you more about the process from her side, but I won't speculate. I know they don't have access to our pictures because the au pairs that I interviewed all asked for pictures of the kids. I also sent pictures of the whole family, the house, and the room she will be staying in. I figured it is only fair. We have to provide her with her own room, but the program doesn't require her own bathroom. She'll have her own big room and bathroom in our house, but I thought it was funny when another au pair candidate asked me if she would have her own bathroom. This whole process is somewhat crazy when you realize that a stranger is commiting themselves to come live with you in a foreign country. Chuck and I are comfortable with it because we've done this before on at least three ocassions where we've had friends or family live with us for as long as six or seven months (and we all still get along splendidly! In fact, each person who lived with us came to George's baptism this weekend - well, Shelby said she was coming - oh, well). We've enjoyed it everytime, although I can see how some other people may not be as open to it as we are.

Okay, enough rambling for now. I'll post something witty soon!

Baptized today.

Here are the pictures, as promised. My mother-in-law, Daphne, took them and I'm grateful because we left the house without our camera. No surprise, right? The homily was wonderful and really lovely. I was so pleased that he remembered and mentioned George in the homily. I wish you all could have been there. Of course, I tried not to cry because it is happy, but a tear or two of joy came out anyway and I sniffed my way through the entire ceremony. It's likely that no one noticed that because my bra strap was hanging out the entire time. Once again, not a big surprise in my world. Anyhow, here they are. Enjoy.

Getting God

George is getting baptized this weekend. What a wonderful event. We're so pleased that the Burnham-Kurzy Merge could be godmother (my sister Joan) and godfather (her son Colt). They are fantastic and have been here since last night entertaining and helping us out. George is going to "get God" tomorrow, so he's already getting his beauty sleep. He is precious beyond measure, as are our family and friends. Much love to you all. I'll try to post pictures soon!

She said Yes!

The Irish au pair said, "Yes, yes, yes!" We're thrilled. Aside from a few technicalities with the au pair service, I think we're settled. Her name is Lindsey and I'm thrilled and relieved!

It's not a nanny

She told us "no" today. I'm trying to see if our Irish au pair is still available.

Embarrassment

Do embarrassing things only happen to me? Sometimes it feels like everyday of my life I suffer some sort of embarrassment, then of course, I post it on my blog so I can further embarrass myself and my family. Yesterday, we received a phone call telling us that we were having a showing at the house for the first time in over a month. Chuck warned them that the house wasn't in perfect shape, but it certainly wasn't trashed by any means. I've been so busy at work, Chuck had to take the kids into school yesterday so he was the last one out of the house and said he made an effort to straighten up a little bit before he left. So, no worries, right? Um, not so much. When I got home yesterday evening I headed upstairs to change out of my work clothes and on my way to my room I surveyed the state of the kids room, the bathroom, and the nursery to see how bad it looked for the showing. Luckily things looked pretty good - beds made, clothes folded neatly, no toys in the middle of the floor, etc, until I peeked into the kid's bathroom and noticed that one of the little ones had pooped in the toilet, and as is their habit, failed to flush. And you can only imagine that a half stewed kid poop in a house that is not heavily air conditioned during the day was really not the sight or smell you want to experience during a showing or, really, any time at all. It was disgusting. I flushed the toilet and reluctantly told Chuck what had happened. He groaned and lectured the kids (once again) that they HAVE to flush the toilet. It is disgusting. I can't figure out why they can't remember to flush. What's the deal? Every time they go to the restroom we have to ask, "Did you flush and wash your hands?" For a while they would just answer us with a "no" and we would have to actually say, "Well, go flush the toilet and wash your hands." Now, after we ask, they run back in and take care of business - that is, unless something shiny distracts the A.D.D. children first. So, that's one of my embarrassing moments this week. I'm sure there is more to come since I'm headed to the golf course this afternoon.

Have a great weekend, folks. George is getting baptized this weekend. Much like the Kindergarten Roundup, George is lucky that I finally got this planned. Of course, the church is still bugging me for more paperwork and Chuck had to take off today to get it in. I swear I need a personal assistant!

Peace out, kids.

Movie Quote 30

Happy Champagne Thursday! The lady attorneys at the firm are gathering at my house this evening for our monthly happy hour. It sure is convenient that it is Champagne Thursday!

Now for this week's movie quote:

I choose Vodka. And Chaka Khan.

An easy one, I know.

1,289

Today I learned that Poison Control's Phone number is 1800-222-1222.

Luke sprayed Skintastic in Evie's left eye. Reason 1,289 why I won't be named mother of the year.

Still waiting on the nanny's response. The Irish au pair is no longer available. Why do I have so much anxiety about this?

And we wait . . .

No word from Nanny. I keep my cell phone by me constantly and whenever I'm away from my office I run back to check it. I sound like an obsessed girlfriend, but, hey, this is really going to affect my life. Now, I want to point out to everyone that having a nanny or an au pair sounds like a luxury, but really it's just a matter of life around here. We went five years paying daycare/montessori to watch and teach our children and we paid A LOT OF MONEY. So, quite frankly, the nanny/au pair option is really a lateral move. At three children, it actually makes financial sense for us to have a nanny/au pair. So for all of you out there who have one or two children, please realize that this is not a luxury, but merely a matter of necessity because we need someone to help us keep track of all three children with dance class, soccer, and infant care.

Now, back to reason 1,286 as to why I won't be named mother of the year. I've known for many years now that Luke would be starting Kindergarten this fall, and despite that knowledge, I have not done anything to get ready for his entry into his elementary school. So, I finally looked up when Kindergarten round up is supposed to take place and it turns out that it was on January 29 - yup, that's right, more than 4 months ago I was supposed to sign Luke up for Kindergarten. So, I called the school this week to see what I had to do and it turns out I can just show up sometime this month with his Birth Certificate, SS card, immunizations record, and proof of residency and sign him up. Luckily, one of my fellow soccer moms who lives a block over has been keeping me updated with Kindergarten play dates (that I can't possibly take Luke to because they happen at 10:30 am on Fridays) and the school news. She sent me information for school supplies today and the deadline to pre-purchase school supplies is this Friday! Thank goodness someone is keeping me in line. It will be a miracle if Luke actually makes it to class on the first day of school.

Creepy

A man fell to his death from my parking garage.

Looking out our office window, I saw the police cover his body with a blue tarp.

Agonizing

I'm awake and can't sleep because I'm agonizing over our nanny v. au pair situation. We made an offer to the nanny tonight after she spent an evening babysitting. She liked the kids and thought they were really "easy" - her term, not mine. We have 24 hours to make an offer to the au pair that we really, really like before we lose her, so I had to basically tell the nanny, that even though we love her and want her to be our nanny, we need a decision within 24 hours so that we don't lose the other candidate in case the nanny turns us down. I feel terrible, because (1) the nanny has only known us a little over 24 hours, (2) she's having to make a huge life decision, and (3) I'm only giving her 24 hours. Luckily, Chuck chimed in and told her not to feel like she had to make a decision right away and told her that it would be fine if she could let us know by Friday. Hopefully, the tension didn't show in my face, but seriously, I'm worried. Here, we have two fantastic candidates for helping raise our children, and if the first one turns us down on Friday and I've lost my chance with the au pair, then I've essentially lost two fantastic candidates. Ugh. I hate this.

As for Evie and Luke, they were thrilled to see the nanny here tonight. They ran to the door to greet her and Luke forced two Hot Wheels in her hand and said, "Come on, let's go play Hot Wheels." I hadn't even had a chance to show her around the house to see where her room would be. She got done seeing the house, and proceeded to play Hot Wheels with Luke and Evie while holding George (who, I might add, is 1/3 her size already - she's tiny!). She's obviously more accomplished at this than me, because I can only do one thing at a time with the kids.

I really have no idea whether she's excited or not. We, on the other hand, can barely contain our excitement at having her (or even the au pair) watch our children. She's great, and the kids clearly love her. I hope we'll know soon. I guess I need to put it in God's hands, but it's difficult when it is such a big decision that will affect my family's life.

Au Pair or Nanny

We've narrowed down our selection to an Irish au pair who lives in Nottingham England or a nanny who just graduated from Tech. It's going to be a tough call, but I know more about the nanny and she has actually met us and is going to watch the kids tonight so we can see if she likes us and the prospect of watching three kids at once. Luckily, she has some experience working at a daycare while she was in college. It sounds like a win win situation to me, but I'm still paranoid as to whether she can deal with us and our quirks. Luke and Evie liked her when we had lunch with her yesterday. We'll see what they have to say about her after tonight.

As for the au pair, she seems really outgoing and interested in working with kids and learning about the U.S. I think she would be fun to have around and to introduce her to the States. She also likes to be active and that would be great for the kids since we're pretty sure she wouldn't be just hanging around the house all day. She would probably want to take them to museums, the park, the zoo, etc.

This is a big decision, but I feel confident that either one of these choices would be absolutely great for our family. We're praying about it. I'll keep you posted.