My New Love

Many of you already know that I started babysitting in Jan. It was such a God-thing how I even met the mom! One night Ginny called me and told me someone in her small group had a friend whose daughter was looking for a sitter. Ginny knew I had done some babysitting a few years back so she thought of me. (When I babysat before, Kaitlyn had just turned 1; the baby was 6 wks. old. Then I got pregnant with Renee a few months later...tiredness, morning sickness, etc. Let's just say it wasn't the most positive experience.) I hadn't even considered the possibility but we're redoing our kitchen this summer so the extra money would be nice. Well, I called the mom and we hit it off on the phone. Then she and Ethan, her 5 month old son, came over to meet me. Once again we just clicked. So I accepted her job offer. He came one day before Christmas for a few hours as a trial run and did great.

Emily is a school psychologist in Dirk's district and her husband is serving in the army in Iraq. He started coming on Jan. 6 and it's been great! He gets to our house around 8:00, give or take 15 min. and is here until 4:00 or so. He does stay late on Tues. but just for a few weeks while his mommy has a class. His daddy was home for 2 weeks so I only had him a few days during that time. He just turned 7 months old on Sat. He's the sweetest little guy...we all love him.



The first day Ethan was here Kaitlyn was all excited about playing with him when she got home from school. Well, when she got off the bus Emily was pulling out of the driveway because Ethan had his 6 month dr. appointment. Kaitlyn was so mad...she stomped up the driveway and the first thing she said to me was, "You promised!" She did forgive me when I explained how I didn't know about the appointment, etc. The next day she got to play with him. Renee does really well with him too, especially considering she hasn't been around too many babies. He is very happy and cheerful, even when he's teething. It's been such a great fit for all of us and helps me get my "baby-fix". He goes with me when I take Renee to school, to Morning Moms, any place I need to go. He almost always falls asleep in the car but will also sleep in the pack-n-play. (That other baby would only sleep in the swing and her disposition was not quite as cheerful!) If Dirk gets home early enough he gets to play with him too. He likes having some extra testostorone in the house. I'm not quite sure exactly how much testostorone a baby has but I don't want to burst his bubble.

Here are a few pictures of my new love:

How's This One??

A very dear friend told me my last background was hard to read. So Kaitlyn helped me pick out this one. I hope you like it.

Last Sunday I stayed home from church with Renee who was coughing a lot. Today Dirk stayed home with Kaitlyn. She woke up at 3:15 Sat. morning and started crawling in bed with us. Dirk and I heard it coming so I quickly grabbed the garbage can and she got most of it in the can. But a little got on our sheets. So my dear husband was stripping the bed at 3:15 as I was scrubbing out the garbage can. I spent the rest of the night in Kaitlyn's bed. Then yesterday she spent the day in her jammies on the couch. She actually napped off and on. I finally got some Tylenol in her and her fever went away. This morning she threw up a little more but I think she's on the mend. She HATES taking any sort of medicine so I'm glad I only had to force one dose. Renee on the other hand, I think that girl prays for a fever just to get the Tylenol. She LOVES it! Just yet another difference between the two.

We got the Kindergarten registration packet in the mail yesterday. It's hard to believe the Renee is actually eligible for school come Sept. I cannot picture her in Kindergarten and glad we have the option of keeping her home one more year. She is not ready for school (and I'm not either!) and because her birthday is late Aug. we'll send her to Pre-K at Pearce and then school the following year.

Today is Feb. 1 and all my life I've always known that that is a special day for my parents. It was 62 years ago today that they got married. As far as I'm concerned, they still are, just celebrating in separate locations. So Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I miss you Daddy and look forward to seeing you someday.