Lots Going On

It's been another crazy few days here in the McFadden house.

Late in the evening on Saturday (around midnight), my good friend, Katie, and her daughter, Samantha arrived from a 12 hour drive from Maine. Katie and I have a long history and she is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I was so happy to see her!!!!

Saturday was a mellow day, with everyone kind of tired from the late night and long drives.

Sunday, we threw a "Sip n See" to welcome Connor into the world. It was lots of fun and we had many of our friends come by and meet Connor. I am always a bit wierded out by entertaining, but I decided to keep this very low key and simple and it didn't turn out to be too much work. We had about 5 children here, around Bailey's age and one Connor's age. The kids were distracting and funny! Of course, we didn't take any pictures, because we never remember. But all told, I think it was successful and I'm glad we did it! And I'm super happy that Katie was here to help, because the last bit of preparation was a bit of a nightmare.

So, Monday dawned early and I was so excited that Bailey was going back to childcare. The weekends are very, very long. On the way to school, she was so excited to see her friends. At one point, she even threw her hands up in the air and said that she was "so excited to see all friends!"

We arrived at school to find that the center director, who had only started 7 months ago had walked out on Friday, leaving nothing but a note for the staff. She had not notified her management and it was an apparent surprise to everyone. The center was in disarray. The teachers were frantic, not sure what to do. Everyone seemed scattered and the entire feel of the place was disorganized and uncomfortable.

In about 30 seconds, Bailey went from super happy to be going to school, to very unhappy and nervous. She started crying and didn't want to stay. She screamed every time I made a move to leave. The teachers, rather than respond as they usually do, just sort of ignored her. Eventually, I was able to calm her down a bit and leave...but she was still crying as I left. I was too. It was an awful morning.

I came home on a mission and told Kelly that our job that day would be to find a new childcare facility for Bailey and Connor and that she would not be staying there through yet another transition. We went to check out Children's Center for Discovery about 2 hours later.

And we fell in love immediately. The center was full of color, of laughter, of happy children. The differences between our current facility and the other was amazing. We were so impressed by everything we saw. We grilled the teachers, we grilled the director, we took a tour of the facility and then asked more questions.

There were two very important things for us.

1) The teacher that will be Connor's teacher is the same woman that took care of Bailey. She had left Childtime about 5 months ago and gone to Children's Center for Discovery. The opening in the infant room was with her. She is truly an amazing care providor and we absolutely adored her when she cared for Bailey. It made us feel like we were coming home when we realized that Connor would be in her care.

2) Bailey's room is better in every way imaginable. There is a curriculum, the kids are her age, there are 3 teachers as opposed to 1, there are real toys, real circle time, and a true schedule. It's not glorified crowd control.

And equally important, although not the deal-maker, is the price. It will be $115 LESS PER WEEK to send out two children there. LESS!!! That is nearly $500 PER MONTH! Insanity!!!!!!

We got the paperwork and then brought Bailey to visit the next day. Putting aside the normal shyness, she absolutely loved her classroom. She participated in circle time and some free play time. She created a weather chart with the other kids. She looked for us constantly, but that is normal. She is going to absolutely love this class. She really is.

We put down our deposit for both kids and now, their spaces are secure.

Bailey will start on Tuesday, April 14 (the Monday is a holiday for the center) and Connor will start on May 20th (when he is 11 weeks old).

So that is what we've been up to. Kelly is still struggling with yeast infections in and on her nipples and Connor still has a bit in his mouth. But they are starting to get better. There is none of the same pain that existed before. A bit after, but not like it was.

Connor's 4 week appointment was this morning. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces...which is 1 pound and 1 ounce MORE than two weeks ago. Seems like the breast feeding is working!!! He was 21 1/2 inches long, which is growth of an inch and half since birth. He is a tall, skinny guy - in the 25th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height.

Everything else is good. He is normal in all ways that we can tell this early. He had one more hep shot, which sucked. He was sound asleep when it happened, and he did cry in his sleep but just briefly. He didn't wake up and he didn't cry for longer than a minute. It will be much, much worse when he has to have more than one. His little, skinny legs are not nearly as conducive to shots as Bailey's thick, chunky one's were!

Mommy, Momma and big sister are all hanging in there. There are pockets of roughness, but for the most part, we are doing okay.