8 am
Tess went 4.5 hours last night. Dave and I woke up to the sound of saws at 7:58! We felt like we’d somehow joined Sam and Dan on a beach in Puerto Rico: a million bucks’ worth of extra sleep! I blame and thank the vaccines.
12pm
Tess slept all morning while we coordinated the kitchen packing. It went pretty well! I’d prepared well enough for it to be simple, and the movers were awesome. Poor mom – we’ve completely taken over their basement. They have half our house right now!
The house is getting action: the tile guy is here with some awesome girls that are cleaning and stacking all the stuff for the basement. They’re switching the kitchen over Monday; the bathroom and basement stairs are happening next week, too – and the shower glass guy was here today for our bathroom. Soon, soon! We will take back part of our house for however long the addition takes. Tess has handled everything like a champ since everyone’s being so careful, but still.
Tonight, we’re biting the bullet and leaving Tess with her future nanny Natalie. Yes, we found a French major nanny who’s sweet, quite experienced with English and French kids, and has been nannying for her professor all summer – which tells me she’s gotta be a pretty responsible girl. She responds quickly every time we contact her, and even lived 15 minutes from Senlis, France as an au pair – very close to where my adopted family the Chartiers live! It’s a sign. We’re sorting out her class schedule for the fall, but I think mom’s going to take Tess on Wednesdays, making the rest of the week manageable for us to use our flex time.
At any rate, we like her a lot and haven’t been out just the two of us since Salt Lake, so wish us enough energy to make it through dinner and a movie! Tess is currently napping her way through tummy time. Oh, well. Rest is important, too.
10:30pm
Well, we all enjoyed our night! Dinner and a movie was great – I freaked out a little, which I thought was unjustified until Dave reminded me this is the first stranger/not-nurse we’ve ever left her with! By halfway through dinner, we were joking around and catching up like long lost family members. You’d think we weren’t living together! We came home to Tess quietly hanging out in her swing – with washed bottles, clean pjs and a binkie in hand. Super win for the new team member. Natalie was telling us about her summer job, and how the little boy just started walking. It made me feel okay about letting a third adult into Tess’ regular routine. Especially when she said how much she enjoys dogs and kids – other people’s dogs and kids!
