Time is Running Out

Wow. You would think that after being off of work since early December that I would want to go back?!
Nope.
Nada.
Don't get me wrong. I love the job and the family I work for and the people I work with. I just don't want to go back! I love being home with the kids. I do enjoy away time and I know I will get back into the routine of working but looking ahead to next week I just want to cry!
Next week!
This Monday!
AHHHHH!
It sure doesn't feel like I have been gone this long. It's not like all this time off was fun and games. Haha. I keep waiting to find a solution to stay home. Maybe I should have been playing the lotto all this time...

Busy times

Gabriel started the new daycare this week and so far he is loving it! In fact yesterday Nate and I went to pick him up and it took at least 20 minutes for us to leave and even then he cried in protest. And he even knew we were going to see Gma! And he LOVES to go there. He has been learning the letter "h" this week and is trying to use the potty everyday. No success yet but he's going through the motions.

Ben has started to eat baby food now. As if he's been doing it all of his life already! He ate almost an entire jar of carrots and apples yesterday. He probably could have but we had already used a little bit the day before. And this was all in one meal! Yikes!

Kirsten will be coming home next week on Thursday after her trip up to her Dad's house. She and Sean called me the other day. What a surprise! I was so happy to hear from them. They are having a great time and when they called they were on their way home from an overnight stay on an island. She has pictures on her Myspace I noticed last night.

Nate is trucking away at work in the hot Fresno sun and working four days a week at Whole Foods at night right now. Plus he is studying and doing homework prepping for his schooling coming up next month. He's still loving the Electrician's job so that's great. His neck and face are very tan from being outside so much. I think they pay you so well after five years because by that time you have skin cancer...

I spent yesterday plugging away doing stuff for It's My Heart around town and made a side trip to see my old OB/GYN doctor, Dr. Boehm, since he is retiring after this Thursday. I finally got his autograph on the football and baseball birth announcements. Talk about lucky timing! I will miss him. He's a great guy. He said Thursday he's going to throw back some beers and celebrate. I would to after 40 years of looking at women's hoo haws!

The Completed Final Project

This project didn't take as long as I thought it would! Yay it's done!

The Final Project ll

Wow I got a lot done yesterday! Even with a surprise visit from the electrician...(boring story)
I finished painting the walls and cleaning the carpet!!
Now to move the toys in and craft the trees and hang up some learning tools.

The Final Project

The plan was to move the boys to Sean's old room since it's a bigger room. They are so cramped in their little room. The boys' room would then become the guest bedroom. Well that has all changed. The boys are staying where they are but ALL the toys will be taken out of their room and put into the new playroom!! A guestroom would be a wasted room really. We don't get many overnight guests and when Sean does come home to visit we still have a bed in the garage that we can put on the floor in the playroom.
So before I go back to work August 18th I wanted to get this project started and finished. I started two days ago with priming and now have begun to paint the walls. Every wall will be a different vibrant color. It's going to end up looking like a little preschool I think. I have plans to craft some trees in all the corners too. I will probably get all the painting done tomorrow (I hope) and then move onto cleaning the carpet. (blah)
I have posted the before pics so everyone can see the transformation. We are keeping the blue already on one of the walls.

New Beginnings

I wasn't looking to find a new daycare for the boys. I was never opposed to the idea of another one though. It's just hard to put trust in someone you don't know and the daycare that Gabriel has been going to since November was the same one a dear friend takes her kids to. It made it easier to trust them.

Now we will embark on a new trust. Gabriel will start Brown Bear's Learning Center, an in home daycare, on July 28th. Ben will start on August 18th when I go back to work. (yes, back to work!)

Angela is the provider and her home is VERY clean, fun things to do and see, a learning curriculum, only four other children and close to Gma's house. It's closer for us to get to as well. Not much but a little bit and easier to get to.

The price is a little higher but I think this is going to be a better fit for both of the boys. Angela also has a heart child. Her 14 year old had surgery 12 years ago. He had 3 holes in his heart and a valve that wasn't fully grown. Sound familiar???? He has never needed another surgery. I take comfort in having a provider that has some familiarity with CHD.

Gabriel will have some struggles at first since it's a new place but most of all there are no pacifiers allowed after your child has turned one year old! He needs to get rid of it already anyway but it is going to be hard because when he's tired he wants it...

The downside to switching daycares is having to tell Tiffany this week that we are leaving in two weeks. I hope I don't cry...

Things are good on the homefront

Ben has been cleared for four months! No Cardiologist visits until then. He still has the leakage but it didn't get any worse. Maybe surgery will be years from now.
Good news!

Ben is sleeping through the night now and Gabriel still enjoys being naked. I think they are both coming down with a cold right now which is no fun. It will be Ben's first.

Gabriel enjoyed drinking from the hose the other evening. The downside was the amount of black ants that were on him and that he brought into the house! We didn't even know until we were laying on a blanket and they were crawling all over us!

Yesterday we had a play date with our friend's twn boys, Simon and Joseph. Gabriel had a blast!