Where to start...

It's been a busy week with little time to spare. My apologies to the three loyal readers I think I might have;-)

So, I think I left off with my b-day post. Trying to think what has happened between then and now. Hmmm, there's a reason why I try to stay on top of this--I have no memory!

Thursday night Mindi cooked a birthday dinner for me and Stacey joined us. The chicken n' noodles with mashed potatoes were great and the companionship was even better. Getting a home cooked meal prepared for me is pretty much heaven and was a fantastic way to extend my birthday celebration.

Friday night our niece, Jordyn, spent the night. The girls love her and were thrilled to have her back with us. After all the time we spent with her here helping out this summer we really miss her regular presence in our house. Kendyl was excited to go to Blockbuster and choose a movie to watch with her cousin. I can't say that Jordyn was thrilled with the selection of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, but she was a good sport like always!

Saturday Jordyn attended a Babysitter Basics class at St. Ann's hospital. She has demonstrated to us that she is great with the girls and this was the next step that I had to take so that I would feel comfortable letting her stay with the girls on her own. I'm glad to know she has spent a day learning about choking, first aid, when to call mom and dad, etc. The first time we leave her alone with the kids will be a short night, but she's in 7th grade and totally trustworthy and I'm thrilled at the possibility of having a great sitter the girls so obviously love.

Sunday we got sad news: our nanny has decided that her flight attendant schedule and my schedule are getting too hard to balance. She's been with us over a year and the girls truly love her. She's going to give me ample time to find someone new and I thankfully already have a few promising leads. Hopefully one of them will work out and the girls will like my next selection as much as this one. We will miss Karen terribly, but she has offered to help in a pinch and wants to stay in the girls lives. I know she is crazy about them, so I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her.

Monday night Kendyl started a swim class at the rec center. We got a great surprise and realized a little boy from our playgroup is in her class! It's so much more fun to at least know one person. The class went well and I was incredibly proud of her. As a former swim instructor I feel like she is lagging behind where she should be in the water and hope that a few sessions of classes will give her the confidence she needs to get over her dislike of having her face wet.

Wednesday was Rob's last day at DSW. He has decided to take a risk and work on building his own IT Security practice within the confines of a company called Oxford Consulting. He's excited about the future and optimistic that he will be able to build a successful and thriving practice. His first official day is next Monday, but he has hit the ground running and is participating in meetings today and met with some people yesterday too. I'm hopeful that this switch will mean the girls and I will get to see him a little more. I dream of family dinners and evenings hanging out together. I'm excited to FINALLY move our family to his insurance policy instead of paying double to use mine even though I'm part-time. Lastly, the new job gives us Westerville residence status and means we can finally take full advantage of the awesome programs at the Westerville rec since we now qualify for resident registration!

Wednesday night Kendyl had swim again. Sadly, it did not go well. She had a meltdown and absolutely did not want to participate. It was a tough moment for me as a mommy. I try soooo hard to do everything I can to give her confidence and make her comfortable in new situations. We spent the summer at the pool and I didn't push her. I let her play and do what she was comfortable doing. I was ready to join her with the tears by the time everything was over. I know I'm a good mom, but if at that very moment someone would have asked me, I would have said I was a failure and that I'm obviously not doing something right. It was nice to have a friend there (Tressi) to offer support and to get some more from Caroline when I expressed my despair to her. Rob could tell I had had it too and let me head to bed early and get some much needed restorative rest.

That brings us to Thursday. Is anyone actually still reading at this point?? Last night I went out with my BFF and some of her great friends. We headed to BJs for some grub and then went to mingle with the teenagers for the eagerly anticipated premiere of the movie Twilight. We had some trampy, obnoxious high school girls behind us that were vulgar and rude. I pray that I'm not raising my girls to act like that. I know I never acted the way they were and it is not selective memory. The movie was good, not great. I was happy that the storylines they chose played out on screen much like they had in my mind when I read the book. The chemistry between the two main charaters was fantastic and I got to enjoy a love story. I felt like I was watching a Lifetime movie on the big screen, but for me that's a pretty great thing. I need to mention that I didn't get home from my midnight movie until 2:45!!!! Can you guess how tired I am right now???

There now, I think you are all caught up. Sorry for the massively long blog. Happy Friday!