UPDATES

Things are NUTS around here! Absolutely NUTSO!

In a good way - The kids are finally adjusting to Daycare - and no longer sick.
(We had a week of sickness which made daycare hard and everyone cranky)

Katie is doing incredibly well at school. She is in the PreK 3 class. Even though she's not even 3 yet. All the other kids are a full year older than her but she's adjusting really well. She brings home projects and worksheets where she has circled letters for letter recognition all by herself and they learn spanish and she's coloring within the lines... it's just amazing!

I was second guessing my decision to push that she be in Pre K because I thought it would be hard on her emotionally but I think that she is doing fantastic and that she fits in with the older kids WAY better than she would fit in with the toddler group as some of them are barely even talking yet.


So... last week was nothing but stress, sick kids, cranky kids, vomit, diarhhea, and hunger strikes.

This week has been easy drop offs with no tears, and good reports from the teachers and returned appetites.

Work is going really well and now we are just waiting on doing an inspection for the house before we can proceed with the rest of the home buying process.

Fingers crossed for no huge surprises!

Next up is figuring out Christmas... as according to katie she needs everything she sees!

Ben is fully standing on his own and can even cruise around from toy to toy if he is really determined. I expect him to be walking before Christmas. It's much harder to keep him in one place at the moment and he's gotten fast and he has a radar for finding everything we don't want him to touch!

Day Care DRAMA

Day Care DRAMA (copied from my other post)

O.k..... so Katie has been going to a daycare now for about 2 months. It's int he basement of a church and kinda dark and old and dingy (because it's in a basement) but I heard FABULOUS things about the teachers and really liked them when I met them. When I first put her in, it was only for a few hours, 3 times a week - basically to give both of us a little break so I could spend time with Ben and she could get playtime with kids her age. So, I wasn't really concerned with curriculum or brightness... newness...

Fast Forward to a few weeks ago when I decided to go back to work. (Mostly because Katie took to going to daycare so well )

Daycare A is the place Katie was in PT. They were actually in the process of opening a brand new location in a Huge old house and it included infants through full day kindergarten. (daycare B) State certified, beautifully decorated and designed for kids and it was all inclusive so all I would have been packing every day was formula. It was opening November 1 - so I signed Ben up for the new place because I didn't want him going to the old place since it would be full day.

The plan was for both kids to transition over to Daycare B when it opened and the timing was perfect because it was opening a few days before I went back to work so that we would have a few days of transition before I had to commute/work FT.

Daycare B - didn't open November 1. They were having trouble with permits and inspections - and they couldn't tell me when they were going to be able to open. They thought most likely the end of the week (like Thursday or Friday)

In the meantime, they were going to juggle some things so that they could take Ben for me at Daycare A for 2 days as I was scheduled to work. So, it was very nice of them to juggle things, but I needed to know if my kids had a daycare for sure because I was starting work.

Wednesday comes and they still don't know for sure.

So, I go and visit Daycare C which is in the town my husband works in (and one town over from me) it's only a 5 minute drive and that's only because of a long light -

I go check it out and fall in love. The infant room teachers are all sweet little old grandmas with one super hip young girl to balance it out:) They have a big open space to crawl, walk, play and I liked the way they were set up. They give me a sheet every day to tell me what he's eaten, his diapers, etc... he has his own crib there and it's just very nicely organized.

So... they have a spot and can take the baby. I decide I don't want to send him to Daycare A for just 2 days to then end up switching him out and Daycare B still had no definite opening date.

(p.s. I hadn't been given ANY OF THE PAPERWORK for Daycare B either yet)

Sorry... this is long... so I'll shorten it. This is what happened
I signed him up for Daycare C and they said they could take Katie too and that she could start in the Pre-K 3 class with her friend. My intention was to leave her at Daycare A for 2 weeks because that is the policy so I told Daycare C that she would start in 2 weeks but that Ben would start this week - they were great!

I called Daycare A/B to find out what is going on and of course they had JUST gotten the ok to open... So, I tell the owner that I had to sign my baby up for a different place and she was clearly irritated and said how she had told me they were opening on the 7th - and I explained that she had said she thought they were but that the date had already been pushed back 2 times....
SHE WAS IRRITATED WITH ME?

So, I tell her that I'm sorry but that I needed to find coverage because I have to work and I agreed to leave Katie there for 2 weeks and I was perfectly ok with that because she really likes her main teacher.

Katie goes to Daycare A Thursday and Friday. Ben goes to Daycare C Thursday and Friday. All is right with the world. I'm feeling guilty and considering leaving Katie at her daycare because she likes her teacher....

I go to pick her up Friday and her teacher tells me it's her last day.
WTF?

I had agreed to 2 weeks... If I had known they were going to make that her last day - I would have prepared her. My kid is smart, I didn't want to just pull her and tell her from one day to the next - I would have told her she wasn't gonna see her teachers anymore...

The freakin owner wasn't even there to tell me, she made the main teacher do it.

As you can imagine I was livid.

At the end of the day, Daycare C agreed to take them both on Monday - so it all worked out in the end - but I can't express how disappointed I am that what had been a VERY GOOD experience overall for us as Katie's first daycare and teachers has turned into a sore spot for me.

It didn't have to go down like that. I wasn't a complainer, I wasn't a meddler, I wasn't even holding them accountable for not knowing when they were going to open. I simply had to find a spot for my son because they couldn't guarantee me one as they had originally said they could.

In the end, It's better for all of us. They will be in Dave's work town so if we move, it won't be a drive to a random town for daycare drop off. Katie will be in Pre-K with her little bestie. Benny will be with the sweet little grandmas and we won't have to deal with all the kinks and problems that I am sure will arise from a facility opening for the first time.


And just to throw in a little more for my pity party and then I will stop - before all of this drama came about Friday Afternoon, I had found a flood in the basement, that ended up being the main drain for the house. In the course of figuring out what it was, the realtors husband found a dead bird in the basement, (I literally almost threw up at the announcement) he discovered that the furnace has probably not been maintenanced or cleaned in YEARS and that the main drain in the house literally rusted clear through and broke off... yes broke off. So, we can't use any water in the house until that gets fixed.

But... My pity party is over. The drain will get fixed and we will hopefully be moving VERY SOON. (this weekend has bumped my house hunt to a whole nother level) and the kids will be safe and hopefully happy at their new daycare - Daycare C.

Oh.. and I totally plan on writing a review on Daycare B to let other moms know the ridiculousness that ensued... it was the owner, not the teacher and I'm still bitter.

Here is to a better day today!

Halloween

BUSY BUSY few weeks for us here!

last week I got 2 - yes 2, Full time job offers. Lucky Lady to be sure!
I was able to accept a job with my old company which will allow me to work from home with a one day commute into the office.
I am so excited - I can't even tell you! I think it's the perfect way to re-enter the workforce while still allowing me to manage the house effectively during my lunch time and before and after work.

I can do crock pot meals, casseroles, even cook if I need to because Dave could pick the kids up after work - coming home just in time to sit down to a hot meal at 5:30. Plus I will be 3 minutes away from the kids daycare in case of emergency which makes me more comfortable since we don't have anyone besides myself and Dave as emergency contacts locally.

So, the next 2 weeks will include some serious shifting of schedules and figuring out how to organize a house where 3 members need to be up and out of the house by 8:30 am.
(which is early for us hahaha)

I am super excited!!!

This also means that we will be kicking the house search into high gear so that we can find something and slowly move in/fix/paint whatever we need to do. We can focus our search on the town of Nutley which is a little bit closer to our families and closer to all the places we shop too! We can also get more for our money there with a little bit of space between our neighbors and a really great school system!

crazy, crazy, crazy - I know. We never rest around here!

OH and I launched my new Knit/Crochet website as people have been asking for me to make stuff so I figured why not make it official... since I launched it about 2 weeks ago I've made about 10 hats for people - so I'm definitely keeping busy in my down time!

www.withlovebyannie.blogspot.com :)


Here are some pics from the halloween that almost wasn't for more than one reason... weather and a cranky Katie who wouldn't put a costume on - so our Thomas theme was bagged in favor of Barbie and a warm and cozy monkey!