CJ is 6 Months!!!

Let's start with pics (cause I'm still figuring out how to navigate my new MacBook!)

CJ, Daddy & Chris at CJ's 6 month party (we had tacos, cake, snacks with the neighbors). Chris enjoyed singing!
Check out my sitting skills!

Chris loves, loves, loves Daddy & does EVERYTHING he does!

Chris painted his face at the Children's Museum (our home away from home)!

Picture of the family right before we left for our weekend getaway!

Well our baby is not so much a baby anymore... he's crawling, sitting, grabbing objects, eating solids, babbling and laughing at big bro! He's the calmest, happiest baby I've met in quite some time! (don't tell Chris we said this...but Chris was the exact opposite of Caleb when he was a baby...)

We saw Dr. G today for Caleb's 6 month check up. He's 28 inches (90%) and 18lbs8oz (65%). Caleb lost quite a bit of weight when he had a 2-3 week bout of diarrhea. It ended up he had a food allergy (we think to rice) and was pretty sick for awhile. We had to stop all solids....he got better...and now we are back with food (sans rice cereal) and he is doing great! His favorites are the Ella's Kitchen combos (spinach w/ apples, carrots w parsnips, bananas w/ apricots, etc.).

Now that he has become mobile and him and big bro are at home all day together we've run into a few jealousy issues...today Caleb crawled over and grabbed a string to Chris' toy. Chris pushed Caleb so hard that he rolled over 2 times!! CJ laughed....Chris cried after he got in trouble. Not even 10 minutes later Chris demanded to hold the baby, give him a kiss & hug! Deep down Chris really does adore and love CJ...he just doesn't know it yet! = ) Another funny from today was Chris walked up to CJ, grabbed his hand and shook it then said "Buenos dias, CJ"...Chris is hilarious right now! His vocabulary has exploded and he says the most random things! The other day he thanked me for cleaning his bottom.

Other fun stuff- Chuck & I had an overnight this weekend. We went to a Texas A&M game, went out to Northgate (our old, college stomping grounds) and stayed the night in College Station! It was great to hang out with family and friends! Namaw did a fantastic job keeping the kids solo and we had 2 happy, healthy kids when we got back home!

Anyway, life is good in our hood! Hope you are all doing well too! = )

Mrs. Mercedes to the rescue!

We've been struggling for a long time with daycare vs. nanny, pros vs. cons of each and finally decided to take the plunge with the nanny route! We made this decision before I went back to work. Oh my gosh - it was quite the process...

We interviewed SO SO SO many people.

We had about 50 applicants for the job, 20 or so deserved a call back, 12 got a 'real' interview and 3 actually kept the kids for a day (paid)...

We finally decided on a soft spoken, educated, bilingual woman (also a former teacher of Primrose, shhhh....) named Mrs. Mercedes! She is seriously more than we could have ever asked for in our price range! Fortunately for us, she just doesn't know how much she is worth, which makes her affordable! Chris adores her and I'm sure CJ will too as he gets older. The boys seem to really enjoy staying in their own environment during the day and spending time together! = ) Don't worry - they get plenty of socialization since we are always at the Children's museum, hanging out with family and friends, etc.... plus our pediatrician super approves of our plan! All in all, we are extremely happy with our decision!

Every day Chris greets us with a HUGE hug when we get home, smile on his face and some artwork and either a number or letter of the day! He then gives Ms. Mercedes a big hug and tells her "adios"!

Anyway, I'm sure most of y'all knew how extremely stressed out we were during the process so I just wanted to let you all know that it all turned out just great!

And now that we can look back and laugh on the process, here are some of our favorite interviewees:

1. Nanny E- "I provide nanny services on a pay scale. For $12/hour I will educate your child. For $9/hour I will just make sure they are fed and safe.... oh and I plan to bring my 2 year old 'sister' with me. Is that okay?"

2. Nanny K- shows up with a ginormous lip ring! Very goth. I'm just picturing Caleb yanking that thing out. I almost did.

3. Nanny C- I swear this lady was friggin' high as a kite on the phone. She talked for one hour and we couldn't get a single word in. She came over for a face to face interview and sure enough - totally hippie-d out! High.

4. Nanny R (whom we absolutely adored)-

Charlie- "do you have a car?"

R- blank stare

Charlie- "do you understand what I'm saying"

R- blank stare....

She was AMAZING with the boys but spoke NO ENGLISH! = (

5. Nanny E - drives up in a red, convertible mustang

Jennifer- "so, do you think you can handle 2 boys that are 2 and under?"

E- (giggles) "yea...(pause)...I think so..."

Charlie- "do you smoke?"

E- "only when I'm out partying with friends. Otherwise, no."

At this point I take my two fussy, hungry children in the back yard so Charlie can wrap things up...

Charlie- "well, it was nice meeting you. We will...."

E- (interrupts) "hold on! let me answer this text message really fast..."

6. Nanny T -

Jennifer- "so when would you be able to start watching the boys?"

T- "I wouldn't be able to start for 2 weeks"

Jennifer- "okay, that's fine. The boys are in daycare anyways right now. We are in no rush."

T- "I had gastric bypass surgery last week and I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy"

Jennifer- (thinking) ...well our 2 boys may be considered heavy...

Jennifer- (trying to be polite and medically oriented) "So, how's that going? Are you able to tolerate a diet yet?"

T- "Yea, I can now eat 3 tablespoons of pureed/baby food a day...if I eat more than that I get really sick, throw up and possible pass out..." WTF?!? At least she wouldn't

eat our kids or our food...

7. Nanny G-

G- "I got fired from my last job because I was on the phone too much!"

Jennifer- "oh really?!"

G- "yes. I learned my lesson though. I learned to never take my phone to work with me again. "

Charlie- "actually we would want you to have your phone with you in case of an emergency or we needed to get ahold of you."

G- "of course. good point. well, i will keep it off then."

8. Phone interview with nanny ?- "My husband and I are trying to get pregnant." I somehow lost connection with her after that statement....

And lastly, here is a pic of our bambinos! I just got a new computer (MacBook for life!) so I'm working on downloading/transferring pics so this is all I've got right now! Enjoy!