Bye Bye Hannah, Hello Preschool

We had to say goodbye to our sitter Hannah today. She needed to move on to another (full-time) job, and today was her last day. She was with us for about 18 months - the longest we've ever had someone. Can't believe the kids were only 18 months old when she started taking care of them!

I'm not sure the kids really understand that today was her last day, but we explained it the best we could. We're going to try to have Hannah come back to babysit on some occasional date nights, but we know she'll be busy with her new job.

So what's our plan now?? We were able to find a new nanny fairly quickly, and she starts next week. I think she'll be a good fit for us and the kids, but we also already know that she's temporary - she'll be starting medical school in the fall. That's ok, though, because we decided to send the kids to preschool in the fall, and my parents can take care of them a few afternoons a week when the school day is done. At first we had ruled out preschool because of the cost and the hassle of coordinating afternoon care, but after having to interview and hire our 4th nanny in three years, we are just feeling done with the process. So hopefully the kids will love their new school and will love having afternoons with Meme and Hat-Dad. And hopefully MM and HD will love switching to afternoons instead of mornings!

Finding a preschool was kind of tough. We were late to the game in terms of fall registration, and several schools we liked couldn't guarantee we could put all 3 kids in the same classroom. That just wasn't an option for us - no way am I putting my babies in school for the first time and separating them from each other! Luckily, we found a sweet in-home preschool right near our house that had room for all 3 of them. I think it will be a great mix of nurturing, play, and learning. I'm not looking forward to figuring out how to get all of the kids out the door on time 4 days a week, but hopefully it will be ok. Maybe the fun of shopping for backpacks and lunchboxes will take the sting out of it.  :)

And today I was reassured about the correctness of our decision not to put them in separate classrooms, especially at the place that wanted to put Lucas in a room apart from his sisters. Here are the two conversations I was a part of:

1. At breakfast this morning, Zoey wandered away to follow Jason and the guy who was giving us an estimate on new windows. Lucas kept saying "where's my Zoey? I need my Zoey!" and was so happy when she came back in the room.

2. Tonight at bedtime, Lucas and Abby were having a hard time settling down. Zoey was already in the pack n'play in our bedroom so she could get some peace and quiet. We asked Abby if she wanted to sleep downstairs in the other pack n' play and she said yes. Lucas got upset and kept saying "but I need you to stay with me, Abby!" It made me tear up a bit to see how much he loves his sisters.

So, I guess those are all our big updates for now. It's been a crazy few weeks of interviewing nannies and visiting preschools, but in the end I feel good about the decisions we made. Wish us luck next week when we transition to the new nanny!