Ch-ch-ch-changes!

First, I have to say THANK YOU to everyone who wrote in support to me on my last post. I wish I had time to respond to each comment, but for right now I don't. Thank you thank you thank you. It means a lot!!

We signed up on c.are.com. I thought spending $30 in hopes of finding a nanny was a bit ridiculous, but I'm so glad we signed up! We've had 24 people respond to our ad so far. Some were completely crazy, but a lot were legitimately decent people. I wrote back and forth with several people, set up three interviews and we hired one! Yeah! We hired a nanny!! She's coming over tomorrow to hang out with me for a few hours so I can show her the usual routine and get comfortable with the babies. She walked in, sat on the ground and talked to both babies. She's intelligent, energetic and sweet. I'm hopeful that she will work out.

Let me tell you about the first girl that came over. I think we got catfished. She looked NOTHING like her profile pic. She looked rough!!! She barely paid attention to the babies and when Ella puked a little bit the girl said 'yuck.' Yes, yuck. She was across the room from Ella. YUCK?! I wanted to kick her out right then...

Aside from the nanny stuff, I've still had a couple of rough days emotionally and physically. The babies are switching to one nap a day all of a sudden... How to do it has been confusing for everyone and led to crankiness for us all. Last week one wouldn't sleep in the morning and the other wouldn't sleep in the afternoon, so I knew it was time to convert to the one nap a day.

It's been tough...but I think we're all getting used to it. They have been sleeping in until 8ish all of a sudden. They go back down for a nap at 1 after lunch. The nap has been short...only 1-1.5 hours, but I think once they get more comfortable with this routine it will last longer (we're currently 2 hours into the current nap!). One nap a day makes it a lot easier to get out and do things!! I'm definitely liking that! We went to the mall this morning at 10. I returned a few things, did a little shopping and we walked around while I sipped my Star.bucks. It was a lovely little morning. I could get used to that...

So much seems to be changing... EE decided they want to use sippy cups all of a sudden. They are feeding themselves milk throughout the day. Evan prefers a bottle at night because he's usually completely worn out and would rather cuddle and be fed. I thought they'd never take cups, but just like that one day they decided it was time.

Both have also decided they want to feed themselves with a spoon. Typically at meal times, they get veggies, fruit and whatever we are having. Depending on how much they ate, we'll spoon them some yogurt, cottage cheese or a blended fruit/veggie. Lately they have been grabbing for the spoon and feeding themselves with it. Of course they can't load the spoon, but they hand it to us and we load it for them. 

Meal time is a mess... anyone else have this problem? Somehow, they have decided when they are done with something or when they don't like something it should be thrown overboard. We'll tell them no, clear their trays etc. but can't find a way to stop it. We have food on our curtains, walls, floors. We have a dog that we let clean some of it up, but I'm so tired of picking up food from everywhere! I'm thinking about getting something to put under their chairs at mealtime... Is this normal or are my kids messy?

I find myself looking at pictures and often thinking 'a year ago' we were doing this or that.... I'm glad I've taken thousands of photos and videos because I love looking back at them and seeing how far we've come. They seem to be growing up and changing so quickly!! The days are long, but the year has flown by.