School

Yesterday was Erin's first day of Preschool, two days later than scheduled due to Tropical Storm Fay. She really liked it, but I was starting to question my decision to send her from 11-2pm as opposed to 8-11am. I had to strap all three kids in the car, unstrap them to take Erin in, put the other two back in and then take them out when we got home. And I had to do it all over again to pick her up (not fun with a kid that does everything when he wants to do it). It's not like I can just drop her off. No, I have to sign her in and leaving kids in the car would probably land me in jail or something. And of course Alex didn't take a nap until he finally conked out on a kitchen chair at 5:30.
Today was a much better day. I decided to take the "triple" stroller and walk to her school to drop her off. This eliminated the strapping in and out so many times and gave me 35 minutes of much needed exercise. The bonus? Alex and Marissa were both asleep when I got home so I got two hours of blessed peace. I mopped the floor, did some laundry and took a nice long shower. Ahhh... now that's how I imagined it. Hopefully I can get into a good routine like that this year.

Another thing is Marissa. She is an amazingly good baby (sleeps through the night, you can take her anywhere, doesn't have to be held all the time, etc.)... amazingly good until you try to give her a bottle. A good way to torture this kid it is to try to stick a piece of rubber in her mouth, bottle or pacifier. This is mainly a problem because I am supposed to begin school next week and will be gone for 6 hours at a time. I've been trying to give her one bottle a day. Every now and then after some resistance I get lucky, but mostly she refuses. Wish us all luck next week or I may have to drop out of school.
This morning I looked in her bed and she had her thumb in her mouth for the first time! I pulled it out several times but it kept finding its way back. I just don't want this to be a bad habit that will be hard to break, but some things I can't control either. What a rascal! We'll see what happens.