Hiking

Nanny

So this week we had a lot of "nanny emotions."  We'll start with the sad.  Our first and only nanny, Kelly, watched the girls for the last time on Monday (well...last time as our nanny...we told her she is welcome to babysit anytime :) ).  Kelly has decided to take a position with OneU, a college ministry that our church supports at University of Maryland.  She is going to be so great in her new position and we are very excited for her, but we are so very sad to see her go.  I don't think it really hit me until I sat down to write her a little thank you card and started recalling all that she had done for us.  Kelly started watching the girls at 3 months.  They were 9 pounds, didn't do much but eat, poop and throw-up, and we were still pretty clueless as to what to do with these little girls.  Kelly came in full of confidence, jumped right in to taking care of them and really put our minds at ease as we left our little peanuts in her care day after day.  She saw them through so many milestones, sitting up, crawling, cruising, walking, eating baby food, eating solid food,  sleeping through the night, taking naps in their cribs instead of their chairs (I give her 100% of the credit for training them to do this!), talking and so much more.  She cared for them when they were sick, taught them how to go down the slide at the play-ground, made ever day fun, and really cared for them like they were her own family!   I can't express how grateful we are for her and for the care she gave our little girls.  I write this with tears in my eyes thinking about how much our girls love her and how sad they will be not to have her around everyday!!  We are so grateful that our little girlies had such a great nanny at such a critical time in their lives. 

The other side of our "nanny emotions" this week has revolved around the search for a new nanny.  When Kelly found out she was going to be leaving, she let us know that she had a friend who would be interested in taking her place, and after interviewing her and seeing her with the girls, we hired her.  We were so relieved that the process of finding a new nanny was so easy...the search for a nanny was not a fun road before we found Kelly.  However, the day before we left for vacation this summer, we heard from the nanny that she was not going to be able to watch the kids after all, and we were left to again open up our search for someone to care for our babies (side note:  we completely understand why this girl was not able to watch the girls...we aren't upset with her...we were just very stressed at the thought of having to search for someone new).   Trying to find someone to entrust your children with is not fun!  How do you know that they are going to be honest in their interview, How do you know that they are going to take good care of your kids?  How do you know that they will honor your family values? How do you know that they will love them as much as you do?  The answer, of course, is...you don't!  You just have to go with your gut.  When we were looking for a nanny the first time, we interviewed a lot of people.  They all sounded great on paper, most of them seemed good in person, but until we found Kelly, we never felt in our gut that any of them would be good for OUR girls.  Nothing we could really put our finger on, but...we just knew that they didn't fit.  This time around, we started feeling the same way.  We interviewed quite a few very well-qualified nannys.  After each one left, we would say, yep, they seem good.  They seem like they would make a good nanny.  BUT...we just weren't excited about any of them.  And, I really wanted to be EXCITED before we gave someone the go-ahead to basically help us to raise our kids.  So, Saturday, we had two interviews.  The first one was a Hispanic lady that seemed great.  She was patient, sweet, had good experience and spoke Spanish.  We both really liked her.  But...I just couldn't get over the fact that she didn't speak much English.  Yes, we could communicate...I know enough Spanish and she knew enough English to get by...but what if the girls were sick...would I have confidence that if I gave her specific instructions for how much/how often to give them medicine  that she would get it right?  Maybe?  But I just didn't know... so I was left to consider that all morning.  Until our next interview that is.  At 12, we had an interview with Heidi.  She walked in the door, shook our hands, and I immediately felt at ease.  We went through the interview and everything she said just confirmed my ease.  She has everything we are looking for in a nanny and then some.  As soon as she left I told Cesar I loved her and wanted to cancel the rest of the interviews!  We had found our nanny.  So, Monday evening, I called her up and offered her the job and yesterday she accepted!  YEA!  I can't tell you what a relief it is to have found someone we can be confident in.  Obviously, we don't know her from anyone else we interviewed..so we will still pray that she will take good care of our babies, but we are confident that she is the one God has given us to take care of our precious little girls!!!  I can now enjoy the rest of my summer vacation without the stress that this has been putting on us.  Woo-Hoo...bring on the sun, the pool, and the relaxation (oh..and the cleaning, house organizing, and all the other stuff that goes along with taking care of a family!).

(sorry for all the boring details of this post...remember that this blog is how I am keeping record of things, so bear with me!  Guess I should have put that at the beginning before you read all this..whoops...sorry!).

This week...

A couple pics for Grandpa who taught the girls how fun it is to eat corn on the cob!

I'm pretty sure I've written about how OBSESSED the girls are with shoes..but I just need to reiterate HOW much they love them.  It's crazy.  When we read books, they point out everyone's shoes.  When we go to the grocery store, they randomly point out people's shoes, and when we are home..they always want to put shoes on, take shoes off, change shoes, etc...  One of their favorite things to do is to take out the big bag of shoes we have and try on pair after pair!  The other day we took out the bag and they decided it was a boots day.  I took a few pictures because I thought they looked so cute in their little shorts/skirt and boots!

I just love this one!!  She's ready for her first county concert!



I told them to dance and this is what they did.  Twins :)



Hamming it up during snack time

Ready for Broadway!

How can you not love these goofy sweet faces :)  Such a joy to be their mommy!!

New Videos

Today we went to the new neighborhood pool.  Wow!  It is more like a waterpark than a pool.  It is AWESOME.  They baby pool is huge..it has a slide, a giant whale to climb on, and some other fun things that the girls can play in.  The pool also has a lazy river (!), a volleyball net, a couple big kid slides, a splash park...and more.  It is crazy!  I am so excited that this is part of our neighborhood.  I even feel like I can take the girls to the pool by myself since the baby pool is so entertaining, the girls can stand up (and they love going under by themselves), and there is even a lifeguard assigned to just the baby pool area.  Yea!  I know what we will be doing EVERY day once I get out of summer school!

I took a couple videos of the girls on the slide.  They had such a great time with this combination of two of their favorite things...water and slides!! 

When we got home, Cesar and the girls had some down time listening to the girls FAVORITE song..."the wheels on the bus".  Seriously...the girls could be happy singing this song EVERY second that they are awake.  I don't think Cesar realized I was recording them..he he he.

Then...I told Cesar I was going to take a picture of him and the girls...here is the result...ha ha ha!

Wonderful Weekend

Everyone duck and watch out for the flying pigs...My father left his cozy little island (in an actual car instead of his trusty golf cart) and ventured to VA/MD/PA for a week!  He and Vik made their way up here Monday, stayed with Deanna & Matt until Wednesday, then with us until Friday, when we all went up to PA for G&G's funeral and other family activities.  It was an awesome weekend!  Cesar and I both commented when we got home that this was the best weekend our little family has had.  The girls absolutely LOVED hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Vikki, the weather could not have been more perfect, we got to see so many family members that we rarely get to see, we stayed at a beautiful and relaxing B&B, the girls slept well, played well, and for the most part, behaved well all weekend, and we just all had such a fantastic time!  We are going to have to work on Grandpa doing this every couple years instead of...well...umm...the "never again" as he has in his plans! 

We actually got some pictures of Grandpa this visit (unlike the spring break trip when he somehow avoided them all).  Here are some highlights from the weekend...



Grandpa and the girls eating lunch on the deck






Story time with Vikki

 




Bella trying to finagle a bit of Grandpa's "special drink"
Not for 20 more years my dear!

 






Isabella and Grandpa having fun at the playground




Leah hitching a ride home





Daddy and the girls at the B&B

 




Grandpa's little ducklings

 




Kai & Isabella

 




Morning explorations

 


New fashion statement...footy PJs and sandals!



We didn't have time to give the girls a bath after the long day, so we gave them a little sink bath...they had a blast!



My little beauties!





Always curious about the computer





Sunday we went to longwood gardens...what an amazingly beautiful place (and the perfect weather didn't hurt either!).

 

Melissa and the boys joined us for the morning



Isabella thought this was hilarious...she kept doing it all day.





Siblings!



Cesar would comment that this is a typical "Taylor" picture...no hugs, no arms around each other, just arms down straight and smile!  Ha Ha Ha



Our little family!





Daddy and Leah in the giant tree house




Isabella and Geneva





Longwood gardens had a little kids section with lots of water and the girls had a ball!!  The perfect little place for them :)  I really wish it was closer to our house!

                            



Great uncle Jim showing her how to "catch" the water





Bonsai!  Cesar used to grow bonsai trees and had a good time seeing all the ones they had on display.




A very cool little bonsai forest!





Look at Leah, my little ham!

 



Me and  my girlies!
(Notice Bella's finger up her nose...there were some people standing next to us who were laughing hysterically as we were taking pictures becasue the girls kept doing that.  Yuck!).