On Monday, Annabel had her first play date with some other kiddos from our childbirth class. This is how we envisioned it...
(On a side note... maybe it's just me, but all 3 babies in this video look white, no? Maybe it's the quality of the video. Hmmm...)
Anyway, yeah, our babies weren't quite that cooperative. Here are some photos from the day...
JP says, "Check out all my ladies!" From the left, there's Paige, JP, Annabel and Regan. What a bunch of cuties!
Future Prom King and Queen? Annabel already knows how to strike a pose! ("What are you lookin' at? Vogue... vogue... vogue")
Paige and Annabel get ready for the shot, while JP looks around for the lucky penny he dropped.
Paige says, "What is going on here?" While Annabel wonders why Paige looks so distraught.
Annabel says she hasn't been practicing sitting up on her own in her Bumbo seat like Paige... so she's just going to lean on JP, who's feeling a little squished.
We Mommies had so much fun taking these photos. The kids were probably blind and in a little bit of shock from all the flashes. We know they're all really good smilers (we have photographic evidence!) but it's funny how they all look a little shell-shocked in these pics. We think maybe it's because they're used to being the star of the show and don't know about having to share the limelight.
Play date was definitely fun, and Annabel's looking forward to more of them with her friends! Hopefully other friends can join in too... the more the merrier!
Ok I'm finally getting around to the child care discussion. It's just been so disheartening, especially after today, when we had a virtual "nannypalooza" of interviews planned.
The situation is this... a fellow friend from childbirth class and I have been looking for a part-time nanny to take care of our kids. Two days would be with Annabel at my house, and one day would be with her baby, JP, at her house. We figured it would be easier to find someone who would want to work for three days than someone who would work for two or one. The reason I only need two days is because I'll be working from home and need someone to watch Annabel while I'm working. (Conference calls with a wailing child in the background don't go over very well... I know, can you believe it?)
So to avoid paying exorbitant agency fees, we signed up for a couple of nanny job posting sites (the Monster.com for nanny jobs). We posted our job listing and searched for nannies. Our first interviewee had potential... she showed up for the interview! And on time! But she brought her 3.5 year old son, who was all over the place. So she ended up paying a lot of attention to him instead of the interview. She kept saying how she LOVED babies, but didn't really acknowledge either of ours until the end of the interview. Plus, she talked. A lot. Too much. We were annoyed.
Subsequent nannies we interviewed were either no-shows or really, really late. Most told us how much they LOVED babies, but again, didn't really pay any attention to ours. We asked one of them to meet us at Chick-fil-a, and she didn't know what that was. When she arrived for the interview, she wouldn't make eye contact with JP's mom! Some would show up looking completely disheveled, a total mess. Unbelievable! How can we expect you to take care of our children when it looks like you barely take care of yourself? Are we asking too much?? Are all the good nannies taken? When is freakin' Mary Poppins going to glide in with her awesome umbrella and spoonful of sugar to save the day??
Here's a photo of Annabel and JP awaiting the next nanny candidate. They waited so long, they decided to fall asleep!
On a positive note, we did find someone to watch Annabel for the days that I have to go to my office downtown. Her home is only a couple of miles from Chris's office, so he can drop me off at the train and Annabel off at her house. And if anything should happen, she's very close by, so Chris can get her easily. So at least that's taken care of!
If anyone has any other ideas on how we might be able to find a good part-time nanny, please comment below. Any suggestions are appreciated!
Those of you who've known me for awhile know that I'm typically not a fan of reality TV. I have to say that in general reality TV is a sign of the downfall of American culture (sorry Ginny!)... but that's just the opinion of little ole' me.
But, considering the baby-crazy culture that Hollywood is creating, I have to say that the "Baby Borrowers" show could possibly be a true "reality check" for teens. Plus, it's so relevant for us since we're starting on this journey of raising a child too! So I'm blogging while I'm watching the first episode that I have Tivo-ed.
So the premise of the show is these 5 teenage couples (most of them 18 or 19, and one of the guys is 20) will take a life journey, 3 days at a time. 3 days with a baby, 3 days with a toddler, 3 days with pre-teens, 3 days with teenagers and then 3 days with senior citizens. The show has 5 houses on a cul-de-sac, and each couple is living in one of the houses for the whole experiment. There are 2 couples from Texas (jeez, it's like Texas is reality show breeding ground), 1 from San Diego, 1 from Georgia and 1 from New Hampshire.
They open the show with intros of each of the couples, how long they've been together, how they're all like "we're so ready to be parents because we love kids" ... ok, so it's actually mostly the girls who are saying this, and the guys are just like "uh, yeah, I'm so whipped I'll do whatever she says. Plus it's cool to be on TV." A few of the guys say that they're hoping this experiment actually makes their girlfriends realize how NOT ready they are to be parents. I'm trying to keep an open mind here, so none of the couples completely annoys me yet. Not so for my dear Christopher, who thinks they're all stupid for wanting to be parents before they can legally wind down from a crazy baby day with a cold, frosty beer. (Not that we do that, mind you -- we're lightweights, remember? Unless it's some sort of fruity cocktail for Chris!)
Day 1 -- the girls have to wear pregnancy suits (read huge boobs and ginormous bellies) and the couples go to infant care class at the local hospital (too bad they didn't have Sgt Keely to teach their class. Those kids would have been scared straight and given up the whole silly idea then!). And we have a winner for the first girl to annoy me on the show! The honor goes to Kelly, the debutante from Georgia. She gets all insecure because her SO (his name is Austin) giggles when she puts the suit on... goes on and on about how she looks fat and that he's making fun of her, blah, blah, blah. Tears flow and then of course the dramatic locking of herself in the bathroom. Wait... who's the baby here? All these dramatics, and she doesn't have the excuse of having real pregnancy hormones surging through her body! Ugh, I just want to slap her. Again and again and again. Here... misery loves company, so enjoy a clip:
It makes me feel for Austin the way I did for Nick Lachey when I would catch the random episode of "Newlyweds" on MTV.
Next task... prepare the nursery! Apparently there's not much drama here, because this part of the show lasts all of 2 minutes. I do have to say that I'm liking the couple from Katy, Texas. He's a Southern gentleman through and through, and he tells his "pregnant" SO to go rest while he puts the crib together. My hubs was the same way!
Day 2 -- The babies arrive! The parents introduce the couples to their babies (at this point, Chris says, "These must all be their second children because there's no way I would let these idiots touch my Bellie." Our poor, someday-to-be second child! Apparently, he/she has big shoes to fill already from Big Sister.) and provide them with very thick binders complete with instructions on how to care for their child (eating habits, bedtime routines, preferences, etc). NO FAIR! God didn't provide us with a handy dandy binder! The show producers are quick to point out that each couple will have a professional nanny living with them who will not be involved with the care of the child, but just keep constant watch for the safety of the baby. Also, the parents will be close by watching surveillance video of the "idiots" caring for their child.
Chaos ensues at each of the households. I won't bore you with the deets, but we have another winner for most annoying girl. That would be Alecia, from Houston. She's trying to feed her baby, who, like a normal baby, doesn't necessarily want to eat his veggies. He'd rather be held and be given a bottle. Of course, at 7 mo, he needs solids to complement the formula he's being given. Alecia tries time after time to shove the spoon into little Karson's mouth and he keeps spitting it out. She starts cussing and finally throws down the spoon and says, "Fine. Don't eat then." At which point, the shocked mother of Karson (rightfully) storms over to the house and rips Alecia a new one. Woo hoo! Go Mom! She tells Alecia that she needs to put the baby's needs first and get over herself. Alecia argues that the baby doesn't want to eat, just wants the bottle. Mom says that Alecia should be making the decisions, not the baby. Alecia throws a temper tantrum after Mom leaves and says she won't touch the baby any more because she doesn't want to deal with Mom. She says she's here to learn, not to be criticized. As one of my friends and fellow bloggers says, WTF? Again... who's the baby here???
The show closes during Night 1 when they're all trying to get the babies to sleep. My fave couple from Katy seems to be doing well. I love the guy, Jordan, who shows his frustration but still plugs through and supports his SO (Sasha) through all the crying. The couple from New Hampshire completely forgets to bathe their baby, change her diaper, or even put her into her PJs before trying to get her to sleep. The guy in that couple (Sean) annoys me because he keeps referring to the baby as "it". So baby's Mom storms over to rip him a new one. He had "jokingly" said to his SO (Kelsey) to just put the baby in the crib and let "it" cry because that's what "it's" going to do anyways. Mom is pissed! She says that's nothing to joke about. After Mom leaves, Kelsey cries upstairs in her room because she knows Mom has a right to be mad, but it still hurts anyways. While Sean is downstairs grinning because he says his "plan" is working because Kelsey is not happy and now she won't want to have a baby with him. Ugh. I want to punch his smug face in. Jeez, this show is making me violent.
You've probably noticed that I haven't mentioned anything about the couple from San Diego. Much like Texans seem to be stereotyped on TV as all being hicks who wear cowboy hats and ride horses to school/work, Californians seem to be stereotyped as surfer dudes. Hmmm... which stereotype would you prefer? Well, the Cali couple on the show actually ARE surfers! Awww... how... ugh. Anyways, the girl is completely orange (and my evil mind is thinking, maybe they'll do a follow-up show with them 10 years in the future and she'll have leather skin before she turns 30) and the guy is... well, he's a surfer dude. As a couple, they're not very interesting, but their baby Miley (whose Dad is Wiley) is the cutest baby of the bunch. She's adorable! I wish I could find a clip of her to show you, but alas, none to be found. Honestly, we could be biased because Miley is part Asian :-)
About two-thirds of the way through the show, Chris is ready to shoot them all. He is totally empathizing with the parents and probably imagining Annabel as each of the babies. I don't think he'll be joining me in watching future episodes.
On the next episode, we see the remaining 2 Baby Days. One person in each of the couples has to go to work, while the other is the SAHM/D. Diaper doody ensues!
While we're not what you would call an "environmentalist" family, we try to do our part to be green. We're pretty good about recycling (Frisco is great about giving us recycling bins the same size as the trash bin). We've started buying those Clorox Green Works cleaners for the house (they clean GREAT and smell really good). We were even Green Mountain Energy customers for awhile, but then changed because they had terrible customer service. I mean, I'm all for using a renewable energy source, but I want to be able to talk to a competent person when there's a problem with my bill. Is that so much to ask?
When I was researching baby stuff during my pregnancy (because surfing the net was about the only thing that didn't wear me out), there were these articles about how diapers are filling up our landfills because they take 500 years to degrade. Still, cloth diapers seemed like a lot of work to me. I can't afford a diaper service, and most child care places won't use them anyways. Then I read about these gdiapers that are basically a happy medium between the two. There's a cloth diaper that has an insert that you can flush, compost or throw away (they decompose in a mere 150 days). So it's like baby Depends!
So I took my happy, green-minded pregnant butt down to Whole Foods in Plano and bought the starter kit in the small size. I figured that Annabel could wear the gdiapers while she's at home with me (including the days that I'll be working from home - fun job for the nanny!) and Pampers when she goes to day care. And I can feel good that I'm not adding too much to the great big stinky landfills that are killing our precious ozone layer bit by bit.
Then... Annabel was born... and chaos reigned the Faber household! Who could think about washing a cloth diaper and making sure that the liner was properly fitted so as not to cause leakage when you have a screaming baby on your hands? Frankly, we had completely forgotten that we even had the gdiapers and went straight to the many packages of Newborn Pampers that we were given at our showers. We were pretty much just taking it one day at a time... hell, one diaper at a time.
But now, things have settled (comparatively) and I opened Annabel's closet to put some things away and discovered the gdiapers starter kit amongst the piles of diaper packages. So I thought, "Hey! We should try that!" So last night, I put her in her gdiaper for the first time.
Annabel is eco-friendly! Well, for one evening. I had read some reviews that said that they were not that great for overnight pee and poo containage. So yesterday evening, she wore her gdiaper, and it actually did a great job. The caveat here is that she only made a pee pee -- albeit a significant amount of it -- while wearing her eco-diaper. I do think that you're kidding yourself if you think that the two cloth diapers that come with the starter kit will be enough. It truly is just a STARTER... as in two diapers and 10 liners. It's definitely more work than the Pampers (of course, since when has going green been EASIER than the usual super-convenient, chemical-laden, ozone-killing norm?). You have to make sure that the liner fits inside the diaper properly, and you probably want to have an extra cloth diaper handy in case of overflow. But, I think it may be worth it to invest in purchasing some extra cloth diapers. Besides, they're super cute and they just came out with this cute stripey version for girls (they have one for boys too).
I think I'm going to do a full day test run with the two cloth diapers that came in the starter kit first, though, just to make sure. Stay tuned... I'll let you know how it goes!
Btw, apparently the FeedBlitz email subscription for my blog was not working previously. But I've re-uploaded the widget and tested it, and it works beautifully now! So if you want to get an email alert when I update my blog, feel free to subscribe via the box to the right. And according to FeedBlitz, they will NOT share your email address with anyone else (including me), so it's completely private.
And finally, I uploaded some more photos to Annabel's June/July album yesterday, so click the link on the right to check those out.
So I was watching the "Jon & Kate plus 8" marathon today (it aired Sunday, but I have them Tivo-ed), and they showed the episode, "Mady's Special Day" where she got her ears pierced. So that lead me to think... when should I pierce Annabel's ears?
My aunt has already given Annabel a pair of diamond earrings. I know, I know, but it's an Asian thing. I don't know if it matters, but they're not solitaires. They're pretty little hoops... and I do mean little. So cute!! And soooo beautiful. Now I, like Mady, got my ears pierced when I was seven years old (or was I six? I'm pretty sure I was seven... the summer after first grade). I honestly don't remember the experience, so I guess that's good. Mady was pretty upset when it happened. Of course, she's a drama queen, so I probably shouldn't use her as a model.
I was planning on having Annabel's ears pierced when she turned one. However, someone (I can't remember who) told me I should do it at three months. Yikes! That seems so early! But on the plus side, she DEFINITELY won't remember it. So, what do you think? When should I get Annabel's ears pierced? Is three months too early? Maybe six months? Is even one year old too soon? Looking forward to your comments!
i'm married to the most fantastic husband in the world who is also my best friend. we have a beautiful baby girl and two vizslas who keep us busy and laughing every day.
This is Macee, our goofy rescue dog. We got her from the Texas Vizsla Rescue organization. I know! Can you believe people want to give up their Vs?
After a hard day of playing, brother and sister are ready for a good night's sleep!
