Faith

Wow.  It just occurred to me that I have not posted about a huge, significant change in our lives around here.  In Ellis's and my attempt to make life less stressful, things run smoother, etc, we made a big decision last December.  We pulled the girls out of day care and hired a nanny.  I mentioned in a post a while back that we hired Faith to help us in the evenings.  Well, we decided to hire her on as a full-time nanny and she accepted! 

Let me tell you - this one change has made life AMAZING.  Faith is fantastic with the girls, is responsible and reliable, and even helps me around the house with other things during the day.  I absolutely love having her here.  Now, when we come home from work, the girls have had their solid foods, aren't overly tired and cranky, and we can finally spend quality time with our children in the evenings before putting them to bed.  I do not need the help in the evenings anymore, partly because the girls are older and getting more independent, but also because I'm not rushing in the door at 6 or 6:30 with car seats full of cranky girls who are starving.  The tone of our evenings have changed.  I also feel much more comfortable because I can keep track of exactly how each girl is doing during the day.   I am hopeful that keeping them out of day care will keep the girls from getting sick so much.  Poor Carter has been sick for so many days for the last few months, and Catie starts throwing up every time she got an ear infection ... we needed to give them a break from the sickness.  They will still get day care germs from Will but at least now they have one-on-one care to bring them back to health (and Mommy doesn't have to take time off of work to be home with them).

Will is still at school because he loves his friends and teachers there and, I think, has a great time.  This really is confirmed by the fact that he has not questioned once that his sisters no longer go to school but he does.  He has not asked to stay at home with them, although he loves Faith.  And now the pick-up/drop-off at day care is SO much easier again.  Hauling a 4 year old and two infants into the day care was just becoming completely impractical.  As the girls are getting too heavy for me to carry in their car seats, I was beginning to wonder how I could ever get it done without taking 30 minutes or more to pick up all the kids.

We are so incredibly thankful for Faith.  She is such an awesome addition to our lives.