A new "normal"

After two weeks of Pat and I taking time off and having the help of our friends Sarah and Emily to care for the girls, we are moving into a time when another friend will be a more permanent fixture in our daily lives.   Hooray for "Brookie Poppins" and her built in playmates.  Margot and Nash, her two kids, have already been featured in some posts and pictures.  It is SO nice to know that the girls will be in a very comfortable environment, cared for by someone whose creativity, energy and general love of small children often amaze me.  Here is a shot that she sent during the day of the stamping project, when the babies were napping:

We will be working on figuring out our new routine, which will involve a bit more travel time than I am used to.  It should also involve a lot less worry, which seems like a very good trade.

Happy weekend everyone-

A quick sartorial comment:
Its been raining here.  A lot.  And cold.  So I broke out some blazers, sweaters and cool weather clothes.  Yesterday I wore a lovely professorial looking jacket, gray and brown wool tweed, nice and warm.  It fits perfectly.  It belonged to my mom and my aunt way back when and is probably from the early 1970s.  This summer I had some conversations with the same aunt about how sizing has changed over the past decade (she and I often wear similar sizes).  So I checked the tags on the jacket- size 9/10.  All of the jackets and blazers in my closet, which fit well and were purchased over the last 5 years?  Size 4.  The only exceptions are the two that I bought for interviews when Noella was 5 weeks old- they are a whopping size 6.  I guess I have some evidence to go along with all of those news stories about everything in American life getting bigger, from our dinner plates to our clothes!

My worldly girl
Earlier today, Mariel and I were playing a game of "guess how much I love you."  She topped my "I love you all the way up to the sky" with "I love you all the way down the pipes to the ground."
As I was getting her to bed, she kept interrupting my lullabies with slobbery kisses, laughing "I love you so much!"  So we played again, and this time she won with the farthest away thing that she could possibly think of. "I love you all the way to.... New Hampshire!" 

And the answer is NO.
Patrick and I had to fire our nanny today, for reasons I won't go into.  We are so thankful that we will have some help from our friend Sarah while we try and figure this out again.  I guess I feel a bit of relief right now.  I can start a new round of worrying again tomorrow, when I start my new search.
Anyone know a good nanny in St Louis?

Daddy's back!
After a week away (split between Kansas City and Las Vegas) Patrick is home.  We all did fine without him, although we did miss him and I was getting pretty tired by the end of the week. 

We had a fun girls' weekend, with trips to the farmers market, halloween decorating and crafts, lots of cooking (and the accompanying eating), and shopping.

Mariel set up a "store" in the kitchen which she spent much of Saturday tending.  She has interesting sales technique. She offered to sell me some toys for $45, and when I said I did not have enough money she gave me imaginary money to use. I bought the butterfly, and then she took it back, saying it really cost $55. Hmf.

Sunday morning we skipped church (its not so fun to go with Noella at this age) and went to a new sculpture park in the city, Citygarden.  Not only is it beautiful, it is also intentionally designed for interaction, making it a great place to bring kids.

Mariel got to climb, swing, splash all over, and by the end even decided to find a place for a little rest (it looks a little like she is a homeless kid in this picture, but I thought it was an interesting view of the sculpture!)

And Miss Noella is getting bigger and bigger- here are two shots of her for her 9 month post, a little late:

She really loves this toy, pushing herself all over.  It is fortunate that we have a sunken living room, because it helps to keep her somewhat contained!

This is just before she attempted to dive off of the bed.  I wonder if I should just start taking pictures of her while she is asleep?