January ended up being a crazy hellacious month. First off, our nanny went on vacation and we were without any help for three weeks. Joel was off for a week between Christmas and New Year's, which wasn't too bad, and then I was on my own. In what apparently decided to be one of my busiest business periods so far. Of course. Just when I have no childcare, right? So in between trying to keep the house clean, keep the girls entertained, and doing whatever business stuff I can keep up with, I was also doing all of my client calls late at night after the girls went to bed.
Then, mid-month we found out our nanny quit on us. Just up and didn't come back after her vacation. Without calling. We only found out she quit because we did some detective work and finally got ahold of her in Peru. Her response was to the effect of "Yeah. I've been meaning to call you. . . ."
So, that was our beloved nanny - the one we had raved and bragged about for the past year. She just flaked out on our kids. If you've been one of my buddies on Facebook, y'all probably watched me freak out about the situation daily. There is no telling how much business I lost from the inability to keep up that month. As you can tell from how late I've been updating this blog, I'm still digging out from under all that insanity. Abby is still upset about it, and there is nothing I can do for her to make it better. Don't worry, I'll get over being upset about this one day. Eventually.
Well anyway, Joel and I both went into hyper-drive. Joel contacted a nanny agency here in Santiago that we had been referred to; and I drove around to all the local playgrounds and asked the nannies there to pass the word among their friends. I talked to the nannies in the grocery store. I carried little slips of paper with our contact numbers in Spanish at all times, just in case. For two weeks, we interviewed nannies every single night when Joel came home from work.
That's actually how we finally ended up finding our new nanny. Her sister takes care of a little girl in Abby's classroom. She started the last week of January, and is doing well. She's brand new from Peru, so I'm having to do a bit more "training" and "supervision" than I really wanted to be dealing with, but oh well. At least we have someone who's good, right? She's very good with the girls, and likes to organize. Really. She organized my sock drawer, the spice cabinet, and the girls' playroom. She was trained as a pediatric nurse in Peru, so she is also very good with dealing with how strict I am about the girls' diet. (I am considered "strict" by Chilean standards, compared to the other parents in our neighborhood. I don't allow my toddlers to drink Coca-Cola and eat candy incessantly. And the nannies at the playground can't understand why my children can get to sleep so "early" at 8pm, when the other children are easily awake until 10pm or later.)
So beyond that, what else went on this month? Abby went to the summer session of preschool, and had a wonderful time. Each week was a special theme. She learned about things like dinosaurs and space. They had water games twice a week, and once a week did face painting which she didn't want to take off. Have I mentioned before how much I love this preschool? I begged them to let Lily in this year even though she isn't two years old and they said no. Leaving this school is going to be the hardest part of leaving Santiago.
I've mentioned Lily's allergies to you guys before. Well, at the end of December, I had to take Lily to the pediatric gastroenterologist. Her reflux is continuing to be a problem and we're attempting to get to the root of the issue. The Doctor agrees with me that she seems to be having some kind of issue with dairy and soy milk as well. Then rice milk became an issue because she was getting constipated from that as well. So we ended up ordering a machine so I could make her milk from almonds and it finally arrived. Yep, you read that right. I make 2 liters of almond milk just ever other day.
The good news is she actually likes it (I add a bit of honey and vanilla to make it taste good) and is having no reactions to it. The bad news is the amount of time it takes to prepare, and that we are now tied to needing a refrigerator. It has bit of a crimp in our traveling plans, but I guess that's just as well.
Here are a couple pictures from our month.
Here, the girls created a cafe where they could go for coffee. I remember doing this with my little friends growing up so I got a huge kick out of this. Oh, and I introduce the girls to Oreo cookies. Lily will do ANYTHING for an Oreo cookie!
Then, I went to get my hair cut and took Abby with me so we could have a "Girl's Day." While I was getting my hair washed, she got her first little manicure!
She picked purple. (I was hoping for pink. Oh well.)
Then, my big girl girl her first hair cut. (It was just an inch or two.)
Here she is, before:
During:
And after:
While we're sharing pictures, I thought I'd share a couple of Lily. Lily has perfected the art of throwing herself down to the floor in the most melodramatic way possible.
One day, when I was trying to load the dishwasher, I discovered she had decided to paint herself in diaper rash medicine. Don't worry, she's not in pain here. She's just angry because I told her that this was "not good."
Finally, here are a couple of shots of Joel playing a new game he created which I call "Sleeping Beauty." Except, Joel's the one asleep, and the "beauties" have to kiss him to wake him up. The girls love it. Crazy papa.
February is a complete summer break for us. We're trying to do as many fun activities with the girls as possible. First up is Vacation Bible School, then lots of play dates and pool time, grilling, and just enjoying the summer weather!
Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily
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