My keys are out to get me

I seem to be stuck in a battle with some inanimate objects including my keys.

Incident #1
When we went on vacation about a month ago, my keys refused to come home with me. Matt & I both took our keys along but only his returned. When we got home & could not find them, I had a sinking feeling I new exactly where they were in the vacation house. I continued to check everywhere I could think of, then contacted the owner of the house. By then, she had already been to the house to clean it & did not see them but said she would check when she was there next. A week later she contacted me to let me know she found them exactly where I thought I left them. We set up a time & place for me to meet her au pair so I could get them back. I arrived on time to the Evergreen school to meet an au pair named Sarah. I had her cell phone number so tried calling a few times so I would know exactly where to meet her. Her phone gave me a message that she was not accepting calls. So there I was looking for an au pair named Sarah who I had never met before. Should I start calling her name? How many Sarah's would think I was crazy? For lack of a better idea I went up to a teacher and said "I am looking for an au pair named Sarah. Her boss Sheryl has a daughter who goes here. She has my keys that I left at their vacation house..." Did I know her last name? No. Did I know the child's name? No. Any more information I could give? No. Just Sarah. Then from less then 2 feet away a girl walks up & says (with a slight accent) "are you Leah? I am Sarah. I heard you saying Sarah, Sarah." Hurray, problem solved! Except she had forgotten the keys in her hurry to get to the school in time. She returned the keys to me the next day & all was well. Until...

Incident #2
What better way to impress people at a preschool you are new to then to lock your keys in your car. I had both girls with me, school was over & most moms had already gone home but it had taken me longer to get out the door. I reached into my bag & my keys were not where I usually put them. Not in my pockets. Not anywhere else in my bag. Oh shoot. I peeked in my car window and they were safely sitting on the passenger seat of my locked car. So I walk up the only mom within sight & say "guess what I did? locked my keys in my car!" Thankfully her husband was just pulling up to drop off on older kid & take home their younger kid. So he was willing to drive me home while his wife watched Addie & Etta. We have a house key in a lockbox by our front door so I was able to quickly get in & grab Matt's keys. He has been out of the habit of taking them to work since he takes the bus & does not need keys for his building, then I borrowed them for 2 weeks when mine were missing. So they were exactly where they should be & I was back to the school within about 10 minutes. Lesson learned. Always double check to make sure keys are actually in my hand or purse before walking away from car. Except...

Incident #3
The worst one. I pulled the dread of all moms everywhere: keys & kids in the car, myself out of the car, doors locked. I parked the car on Phinney Ave yesterday because I was taking the girls to the zoo. It was nice weather & who knows how much longer that will last so I am trying to get out with them. I parked & did what I always do: I tossed the keys onto the passenger seat right next to my diaper bag. Then I got out & closed my door. Next I was going to get the stroller out, get the keys, water bottles, cellphone, snack, etc, etc settled into the stroller then get out the girls. Keys first then girls just in case. But the back door of my car would not open. Neither would the side door. Oh #*%$# !!! The car windows were down slightly since it was a beautiful day. I tried to reach my arm in. I tried again. My arm is bruised today to show how hard I tried. Did you know you can bend glass slightly? I got my arm in some, but was not able to reach the door handle. I decided getting my arm stuck would not help matters any. So I told Addie I needed her to unbuckle herself & talked her through it. No luck. She could open the top part but not the bottom. Bless her sweet heart she kept on trying. But although I tried to calmly explain the situation she felt no urgent need to get out or panic. That is good. Because at this time Etta was screaming at me because she wanted out. I saw a car park & a man cross the street towards us. He was the nearest person & I needed help. What luck! He lived at the apartments right there & came back with a wire coat hanger within 2 minutes. It took a few attempts, but he was able to hook the keys & get them out the window into my eager hands. This whole incident did not last long & it was not blazing hot or pouring rain or anything - it could have been much worse. But I intend to never let it happen again. Thus:

Lessons I learned:
1) Hide a car key under my car. My dad did this when we were teenagers because he did not want to have to rescue us from various locations due to keys locked in cars. I had one hidden under my old car, but Matt & I never hid one under this car.
2) I disabled the child lock feature on the doors. The button is on the side of Addie's door & she likes to push it up & down sometimes instead of climbing into her seat. For a few months it has been in the locked position because I did not want her deciding she wanted out of the car, pulling on the handle & opening the door. I am going to now trust that she will not do that. She is old enough to open her door for herself at the appropriate time. I told her that she is not to play with that button.
3) Teach Addie how to unbuckle herself.
4) Pay attention to your keys Leah!!! Not sure yet how I am going to do this better. If I carry them in my hands when I go to get the stroller or girls out of the car, there is a good chance they would just get set down somewhere other than the passenger seat & potentially forgotten. If I immediately put them in my diaper bag I would need to have the diaper bag with me right away (which gets in the way). Or assume that I would not lock the diaper bag in the car & leave it to grab until last (possibly too big of an assumption at this point). Another solution I have thought of: purchase a new car with a key pad lock. Problem solved, brilliant!
5) People are quite kind & willing to help when you ask.

This had better be the end to my key issues. But I do have one more incident to share that makes me question   my mental abilities. This was a fairly small one & could happen to anyone, but the fact that it happened along with the key incidents has my slightly worried. 

Unrelated (I hope) Incident
Last Friday I returned to the library a book that was actually ours. Oops. Good thing they have that happen a lot & set them in a pile. But when I returned two days later, the book was nowhere to be found. I feel my mistake was understandable because we had two "David" books. "David goes to school" is ours, "No David" belongs to the library. In my hurry I grabbed the wrong one. Not only are they the same size, shape, general colors, etc but our copy actually has library stickers on the side since it used to be a library book which I bought at their sale a few years back. So anyways, the kind librarian checked numerous possible location but David had vanished. In my guilt over my mistake I walked to the local bookstore looking for a replacement book. They did not have "David goes to school" nor did they have "No David", but they had "David gets in trouble". So I bought it for full sticker price (an atrocious $18 or something since it is a hardback). I explained what happened to Addie. She was not as upset as I expected, probably because she knew I was making restitution. I am not quite off the hook though. She decided that she does not like this David book as much as the other two. So it may get returned or it may become a gift for someone we know (Merry Christmas! Addie does not like this book but I think you will because I do!).

Ah the glamorous life of a mom.

Etta's first ...

Pancake!

Despite the fact that there are no real smiles for these pictures,
she really liked the pancake & gobbled almost all of it up.
I am starting to give her a few things, such as pear, in larger sizes for her to hold and bite instead of just pick up as a finger food. She is doing well but it is always a nervous transition for me due to choking possibilities. 

In a hurry to grow up

 Etta wants to do everything just like big sister. 

So, much to her delight, I let her have snacktime at what we call the tea table. 

She loves flipping through magazines so I thought maybe she would want to do that during snack just like she sees daddy do during meals sometimes. 

I will not be able to call her a baby for much longer. She will be a wobbler than a toddler before I know it.

Recess time is over

These kids of mine crack me up sometimes. Here are some snippets of our week

*Addie loves the "No David" and "David goes to school" books. In "David goes to school" one of the lines from the teacher is "Recess time is over David!" Addie has lately amended that and taken to saying at completely random times (such as during lunch) "Recess time is over Etta". Makes me laugh every time. I explained recess to Addie & I think she understands that the context is not right, probably she just says it because I laughed the first time :)

*Addie & I went in to get Etta up from her nap. Etta was happy sitting in her crib grinning at Addie so I unzipped her sleepsack but left her sitting. We talked with her a minute more. Then I looked at Etta, then I did a double take & looked even closer to confirm: Etta was wearing a shirt but no diaper! I had put a cloth diaper that attaches with velcro on her, but either it got loose on one side & she squirmed out of it or my little Houdini reached through her sleepsack to pull the velcro open and take it off. Thankfully she had not peed. I am not sure if that was pure luck or the fact that she is smart enough not to want to pee all over herself. I am watching her a little closer these days.

*I wish I carried my camera with me at all times. Etta woke up this morning & Addie went in & turned Etta's bedroom light on before I had a chance to go in. Addie had informed me she had a prize for Etta. I go in and see Etta standing in her crib, crazy morning hair on her head, one hand holding on to the crib, the other holding her "prize": a yellow bowl with a ball inside it. Etta's look was priceless. It was a mix of: it is really dang bright in here for a girl who just woke up, what the heck  am I supposed to do with this bowl and why did my sister give it to me, and give me some mamas milk now lady!

Baptized by Water

On Sunday Sept 12 we had both Adeline & Ettalyn baptized. For those of you who do not attend church, this might not mean much. For those of you who do, you know baptism is a sacred sacrament and an important part of a persons faith journey. 
(a semi-detailed explanation of our choice of infant baptism for the girls 
is at the bottom of the post)

I tear up during basically every infant baptism at our church. I thought I would be a total mess during 

Addie & Etta's baptism & the prayer after. But I was not. Odd sometimes how you don't have the emotional experience you expected during the really big moments in your own life, but you do during others . Another example: I do not think I cried or got misty during my own wedding but have during my sisters and close friends weddings. 

Both girls were quite during the baptism despite all their fidgets and playfulness when we were sitting in the pew beforehand.
(thanks for taking the pictures Myron. thanks for video taping it May)

 It was a tough decision for us on baptism vs dedication (thus the fact that we had not done either for Addie yet). We have been having on & off conversations about it since Addie was born. I was raised in a Christian Reformed Church that did infant baptism& that is what I really wanted for Addie. Matt was raised Baptist and wanted infant dedication & believers baptism. The Presbyterian church we are members of will do either but the vast majority do infant baptism and that is the church tradition. We went to a baptism class at our church when Addie was like 3 months old, then the two of us met with our pastor to discuss it further. We were no closer to a decision so just tabled the issue. Then it got to the point of me being pregnant with Etta so I figured whatever we decided we could just do for both girls at the same time. In July our senior pastor (Pastor Dan) announced that he was leaving Bethany Pres & would be pastoring a church in CA. (God had been telling him that his time at Bethany was coming to a close, but left on his own Dan would have stayed here much longer). We all love Pastor Dan so were (and still are) really sad at the news. I also felt a really strong conviction that I wanted the girls baptized by him before he left. Matt & I talked it over a bunch more & Matt agreed to have them baptized.

Addie vs the Burrito

Looking pretty all dressed up for church.

Addie enjoys taking the time to put filling in a tortilla herself. She rarely actually takes more than two bites of the resulting product before she gets annoyed that things are falling out or that all she tastes is tortilla, and then she opens it up & picks things out. We have not yet stressed utensils as necessary but we may need to soon because she sure loves to eat with her hands. Even soup. 

Etta the eater

Just some cute pictures of Etta.
She eats food faster than I can get it on her tray sometimes.

Chubby baby arms + cute tank top = picture moment

Sit still Lion!

Addie informed me that I needed to take pictures of lion sitting on his chair.
He is a good sitter these days!

Matching Polo shirts

Grandma Karen came to babysit & we had to take pictures of their matching shirts.

Addie is giving GG a kiss :)

Come one, come all

To the Gently Used Kids Gear Sale

Saturday Sept 18 from 9am-1pm 

At Phinney Neighborhood Associations "community hall" in the brick building

There will be quality gently used children's clothes, shoes, toys & gear including cribs/beds, 

car seats, strollers, maternity wear & more.

Double decker

Matt was playing in the yard with the girls this afternoon. Look what I saw when I looked out the window:

When prompted, Addie said they were double-decker :)

Canning Tomatoes

First we made our own cheese, and today we canned tomatoes. What will be next: Soap? Rag rugs? Candles?

With a special appearance by our newest member of book club: baby Naomi!

Today I am thankful for

*Blaise who turns 4 today (and his fun fireman themed birthday party).

*Baby Maya who turned 1 & also had a party today.

*Baby Naomi who was just born yesterday to my friend Angie from bookclub.

*Al the healthy babies growing inside friends & family.

*Our renters Heather & JJ. Heather has babysat a few times & the girls love her!

*The fact that Etta slept all through the night last night. This was a wonderful thing because she has been having rough nights pretty consistently the last few weeks.

65th Street Co-op

Both Etta & Addie will be starting co-op preschool in Sept. I had both girls names on waiting lists for this & one other co-op. I honestly felt like it was too early for Etta to start, but I knew Addie's chances of getting in would be better if Etta was in. And that was the way it worked. I got a call saying that there was a spot in the infant class for Etta. There was also a spot in the 2's class. So if I enrolled Etta, Addie's spot on the wait list would jump to the top & she could take the open spot in the 2's class. I took a few days to think it over. Being in a co-op means the parent is involved, and I wanted to be sure I felt ready to commit my time and energy.

This seemed like a really good time to join because
1) it is the start of the school year. That seems a better time to join then mid-way through the year when relationships have already formed and everyone else is familiar with the teacher & routine.
2) it is a brand new location (no longer on 65th). Since the spot is new to everyone we will all be learning where things are stored or which door children try to escape out of.

The new location is really close to our house. I have walked there by myself, but not within the girls in the double stroller yet. It is doable, but I know realistically I will drive most mornings due to rain, the time involved in walking, etc. The co-op is right by our new favorite park, Soundview (otherwise known as Uncle Myron's baseball park because his church softball tram played their games there & we met up with him & Lori there a few times to "watch").

I have gone to the new location twice to help with the unpacking of pods, cleaning of the space, organizing, etc. So although I am doubtful I will remember names, hopefully not all faces will be new to me :)

With saying yes to co-op, I had to say no to Little Gym. Addie loved Little Gym and part of me was sad to take her out of that. But I knew I could not realistically do both (and financially I would not want to either). Again, though, it seemed like a good transition time. Addie's favorite teacher moved to a new little gym location. I know Addie would have fun with a different teacher, but that is the one she was really attached to. Also, if I were to have kept her in Little Gym for the entire school year, she would have moved up to the next class in January. At that age, the parents are not in the class interacting with the children like they do for the younger kids. And I still wanted to be a part of something with her, not just watching but playing too. If I had kept her in Little Gym I also would have needed to decide what I should do with Etta. As in, where would she be when Addie & I were in class. But also, would I enroll her in Little Gym too? Addie started at one year old. Etta will be one in Oct!

So yes to both girls in co-op it is!

One of the best things about 65th Street Co-op is that they have a sibling care room. When I am in class with one girl, the other is a few doors down playing with other siblings. There are many benefits to this including that is is going to be cheaper than having a babysitter or nanny come to my house to watch one child.

So here is our school year schedule
Monday - Etta's class from 10-11:30; with Addie in the sibling care room
Wednesday- Addie's class from 9:30-11:30
Friday - Addie's class from 9:30-11:30
on either Wed or Fri (not sure which yet) I will be in class with Addie & Etta will be in the sibling care room. On the other day, I will drop Addie off. I will then have two hours with just Etta. This might be a good time to get errands done. What I am thinking I really need to do, though, is have that be my dedicated gym time & Etta can be in childcare at the gym. I dropped my gym membership a while back since I never went. My pants & muffin top are telling me it is time to re-commit and join a gym again.

The 9:30 start time of Addie's class will be a little tricky because that is in the middle of Etta's nap. But I know realistically that Etta's nap schedule will probably be changing mid-way through the year as she transition to one nap. Until then, I may just have to keep her awake longer in the morning & put her down for a nap in the sibling care room. Or just give her a short nap at home beforehand if she starts the day at 6am.

I am sure I will have a lot to share about co-op throughout the year: cute kids in Etta's class, fun projects or field trips Addie does, and hopefully not any stories about kids who bite & bully or mom's who drive me crazy :)

In other "school" related news: Matt & I will be working in Addie's 2's class at church once a month. We are looking forward to doing this together & hopefully getting some deeper relationships with parents of other kids Addie's age.