Halloween

Abby's 2nd Halloween proved to be a fun adventure! She was dressed up as Piglet from Winnie the Pooh and we set off in our neighborhood around 5:30 pm. By 7:00 pm, we had received enough sugar to fuel a car and she was so wiped out that she slept until 8:45 am the next day. She had a great time and even learned how to say "thank you" when someone gave her candy!

Now the problem is that Jason and I are stuck with too much candy. The leftovers will be coming to work with me this week and left for the office to devour.

And now on to the next holiday - Thanksgiving! We're still debating over driving or flying to Chicago. We shall see.....

Success!

I am SO happy to report that the first official week of our new nanny was a success! Gaynell was great and Abby loved her. She was on time, professional, responsible and totally picked up on things (including taking Sadie on walks!) right away. She even babysat for us on Saturday night and survived a short blackout at our house. And my neighbors' two nannies adore her as well, especially since she's been driving them home at night!

Hopefully all will continue in this positive direction because she is so nice and Abby is definitely taking to her. I can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief now.

This past Saturday we took Abby to see Sesame Street Live. I didn't know if she'd be able to sit through the whole thing but she LOVED it! She was so fascinated by singing, dancing Sesame Street characters (esp when they talked about Abby Cadabby!) and was beyond excited when she got a $10 Elmo balloon at intermission. Geniuses, I tell you.

All in all, it was a successful week for everyone, and it was very much needed.

A Fresh Start

Today begins Day One of our new nanny, Gaynell. She did a trial day on Friday and so far, all went well. Hopefully as each day goes by, she'll get more comfortable with Abby and with us and we'll feel more at ease with her. It's just such a strange thing to let a stranger into your house to take care of your most precious goods and to trust them with your child, house and car. I really hope she works out because I can't take another nanny interview at this point! Good luck, Gaynell!

And as for Abby, she turned 16 months yesterday and she is a full-fledged walker and talker. She repeats everything and says so many words, it's crazy. She really has developed so much in the last 2-3 months, it's unbelievable. I cannot believe she'll be 1.5 years in just 2 months! Each day is something new and more fun with her. We're so lucky!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I am so not one to tout my own birthday - after all, who really wants to announce that they are a year older?? But today is my birthday and it's been quite a lovely day so far. It started with a box of Munchkins from my neighbors on the train ride to work, then I received a cake, a necklace, flowers, a gift card and a bracelet from work people, and numerous calls/emails from friends. Tonight Jason has arranged for a mint chip ice cream cake to be shared at our house, so I'm looking forward to that - mostly to seeing what Abby thinks of mint chip ice cream, which I'm sure she'll love as much as her parents do!

On the nanny front (aka "saga"), we didn't have to worry about firing our temporary nanny who we increasingly hate each day because she did it herself! She told us she was going back to school 2 days/week and could work for us 3 days/week. Sorry but it's a full-time job! And unfortunately things didn't work out financially with Rebecca (the nanny from last week who I was excited about), so we placed another ad on Craigslist.

We (ok, I) interviewed 4 more people in person and spoke to countless others. We made an offer to one woman on Saturday and she is going to do a trial day with us this week and pending all goes well, she'll start with us next week. Please cross your fingers for us that she is great! I know that's one thing I'll be wishing for over my ice cream cake tonight!

Thank you, Susan!

It's been 3 weeks, 13 interviews, plus numerous phone calls since the new nanny search has begun and I think I might actually have found a gem of a nanny. My friend Susan told me about Rebecca (a friend of her friend's nanny) who I met with over the weekend. She was so nice, had great references and was eager to work with us. She officially accepted our offer today, but still has to resign from her current employer. Assuming they let her go, she'll hopefully start with us in 1-2 weeks. And that day, my friends, cannot come soon enough!

We have a temporary nanny right now (a friend of the nanny next door to us) but we're really not loving her. We liked her when we met her but we've noticed a few issues (nothing terrible, just things we didn't love) and it's only her 2nd day with us. So we need to find a way to gently say goodbye to her once we know when Rebecca can start.

I have to say, this process has been challenging at best - but I hope for our sake and Abby's sake that it gives us a new, more responsible and reliable person who will be with our family for years to come! Or at least until I decide I've had enough of my job and become a SAHM one day....

Try again

So, unfortunately the person we made an offer to yesterday (who, by the way, accepted our offer and told us she would start on 10/6) apparently also accepted an offer with another family who lives in the neighboring town. Nice, huh? Clearly we aren't dealing with the most rational, professional people here, but it's SO frustrating.

How did I find out, you ask? Well, my friends, this IS the information age and through a little savvy networking & asking the right questions, a totally random stranger and I found that we had a very disturbing connection!

This stranger happens to live a few minutes away from me, has a daughter 3 months older than Abby, works a few blocks from my office and also had her nanny not show up one day (after her paid vacation). We agreed that once we both have new nannies, we'll be meeting for a drink! Let's hope that's sooner rather than later....

Updates!

Well, I have a few things to report. I'll start with the good news:

I am proud to announce that I am FINALLY the mother of a walking child! Yes, folks, that is right, Abby has been taking about 6-8 unassisted steps as of this past weekend! She stands up by herself, walks a few steps and then falls down but does it all over again! It's so cute and I'm so excited and proud! I'm sure she'll be running around like crazy and I'll be missing the crawling days soon enough, but for now I love watching the joy on her face as she walks like a drunken sailor around the house.

We went for her 15-month dr app't yesterday and she weighs in at around 21 lbs (she was moving a bit on the scale, but it was just around 21) and she grew an inch to 29 1/4"! My little petite princess....

On a slightly disturbing note, our nanny Nicole didn't show up to work last Monday, leaving us confused, upset and clearly angry. We don't know what happened or why she decided to not come back - a call or email from her would have been helpful with that regard - but we're currently looking for a new nanny. It's upsetting because we thought we treated her very well, giving her tons of vacation days, buying anything she wanted, etc... but apparently she either found a new/better job or decided she'd had enough of us. Sad since Abby adored her and I know she felt the same - a few weeks ago, she told me that Abby was the best baby she's ever taken care of. Who knows....it might always be a mystery.

The good news is that we've been interviewing like crazy and have found some good people who also drive - hooray!! We made an offer to one person and we're supposed to hear from her tonight - hopefully it will work out because Jason and I both loved her the minute we met her. Stay tuned!!!