Stacey's Last Day

Get ready for sadness... Stacey's last day was Thursday.

We love, love, loved Stacey, but she was looking for part time and we really need a full time person. The two part time people was getting hard for everyone's schedule. Just about the time we were starting to talk about what we were going to do, Stacey got a call from her previous family asking if she could come back to them for two days a week. It was meant to be.

On a happier note, Jenn is going back to full time for the summer starting when her classes are over in two weeks. Until then, Auntie Colleen is going to fill in for Tuesdays and Thursdays. When Simon starts school in the fall, Jenn will go back to school, too, and start at a job in the photography lab at her school. We will then look for a full time nanny that can stay with Lillian for the next couple of years until she starts pre-school.

He was hiding, she found him!

Art and smiles

Simon and Stacey made a zoo map

He is quite proud.

Lillian likes it too...

Poor Sick Lillian

Jenn noticed on Monday that Lillian was pulling on her right ear, but she sometimes does that for comfort so when Jenn mentioned it to me I looked for it but wasn't worried. Looking back I should have connected that to the fact that Lillian has just been sleeping terribly. She was up a ton on Monday night and again on Tuesday night - only sleeping for 2-3 hours stretches. On Wednesday Jenn mentioned again that Lillian was pulling on her ear and I made an appointment for Lillian to go into the doctor's office. Colleen was coming by anyway to help make a cake for Stacey (last day cake) and she was awesome and came early so she could take the little one to the doctor. 

Lillian has an ear infection in each ear. Poor kid. We gave her Tylenol and her antibiotics. She had a hard time settling down for the evening, when the Tylenol kicked in she was so much happier she just wanted to play!  When she finally did get to sleep around 9pm she slept better than she has in days, only woke up once.

Hopefully she starts feeling better as quickly as the doctors expect her to. She should be feeling better by Friday, though obviously will stay on antibiotics for the full 10 days.

Cooking with Michael Jackson

Alan decided he and Simon were going to make an apple caramel crumble today. While headed to the store they hear Michael Jackson on the radio and so it was Michael Jackson that was on while they cooked. Simon even learned the thriller dance. I don't know if my tummy will be up for eating sweets, but it sure smells delicious! 

Peek-a-Boo Breakfast on Sunday

I have been super sick with the flu since Wednesday morning. I'm finally feeling up to eating again this morning and so we went out to breakfast. Simon and Alan were playing peek-a-boo with Lillian while we waited for the food and she laughed and laughed. So nice to feel human again! Also, she is really sitting up in the high chair by herself now. No food with us during breakfast, but it won't be long. 

Lillian movin' and laughin'

This morning Alan and Simon went to the store early and I hung out with Lillian. She was laughing hysterically at me when I bopped her toes to her face. When I tried to catch it on camera she was distracted by the phone. But you did get to see her roll and do her push/crawl backward. She is just as frustrated by it as Simon was. 

Simon's Pre-K Registration

Simon is now officially enrolled in the Chicago Public School's Tuition Based Pre-Kindergarden class at Hamilton. Hamilton is the school across the street from us and the Pre-K is a 20 kid class of 3 and 4 year olds from the neighborhood.  It is 5 days a week and goes all day (7:30 drop off and a 5:30 pickup) but the 'class work' is done between 8:45 and 1:30. That means one of us will drop him off around 8:15 and the other will pick him up around 4:30 on the way home from work.

We went last week to see the classroom and fill out all the paperwork. The teacher is Ms. Zairel (pronounced like Tyrel but with a Z) and she seems pretty great. In the coming months to prepare for school she will visit our house once to get to know us and we will have monthly play dates in the classroom.

Bonus: Ms. Zairel keeps a blog.