And you are...

Kena's birthday.
The Dangler.

Check out that mouth.

Time to play catch up. This past month (or two) have provided us with lots of fun and lots of challenge. Chloe got her first of two colds in March and then in April the girls all got the stomach flu. Chloe was down and out for a week solid. Luckily (and unluckily for her) Grandma doodoo was here to help (and actually do all of the work while I worked, and played and worked a little). We also had to search for a new babysitter for baby Chloe. Granny had a great neighbor, Jara, who was willing to start watching Chloe 3 days x week. This is a great set up except that a) Chloe still cries when I drop her off and b) I'm only working 3 days x week. Daycare is expensive and my least favorite part about having kids. I promised myself after having the girls that if I ever had any more kids I would NOT deal with daycare of any kind. It is a huge headache (worrying, cost, worrying, etc.)

Things don't always (0r ever) turn out as we hope, so here we are, in daycare (sort of). It could always be worse, and this situation is actually fine - just not ideal. I remind myself that my big girls don't even remember years 0-4. Really. I ask them if they recall the black lady (ms. deborah, with black hair so they called her the black lady), uncle danny (the extremely sketchy brother of the owner who they called uncle) or the polka-dot girl (I can't remember her name but she had mad freckles). They say, "No, mom." These were all prominent characters from their early years. They don't remember. So what damage am I doing to Chloe really by sending her somewhere else a few days a week? I'm not sure. Thus far, no damage at all. I love Jara and I sort of want her to baby-sit me all day long, too.

Chloe is getting huge. Size-wise she's still midget status, which is sort of funny now that she runs around everywhere. She says mom, baba, and growls all the time. She started climbing on things recently... and hitting herself up the side of the head when I tell her "no." This is exactly what Hface used to do when she was little. They are so much of the same kid it's scary. I hope that Chloe gets a bit of the Maya in her - in that I hope she cares about school work, and has Maya's killer fashion sense. Anyone who has seen Maya lately has seen her tribal-like jelly bracelets climbing her arms. I ask her to narrow them down by a few each day. They still return. I'm sure my mom probably had the same issue with me when I was little - maybe about my extreme hair-do (or hair-don't as it were).

We recently went to JR's house for Kena's birthday. Funny, because it seems like we JUST celebrated her birthday. Codangler kept us entertained by his new dance moves. If we could have set his dance to the tune of "hips don't lie" by Shakira, I think we'd have a hit on our hands.