Wheee!

Smacky just loves to play rough. She laughs when I throw her in the air, she enjoys being held upside down and she finds it fun to be tossed onto a bed of fluffy feather blankets or pillows.

Here she is being held up by Gary, probably getting ready to do some supergirl-style flying.

January 21, 2008- A Fateful Day

Tomorrow is the anniversary of us finding out about Aurora's existence.

Four negative pregnancy tests later, I thought I was in the clear until a test run by my doctor told us otherwise.

This ultrasound was taken in March when she was 20 weeks old. See her curved head and snub nose? Who knew she'd become so adorably screamy. Eeee!

A Giant Bath

Here is a photo taken for my friend Arwen and her baby Hazle. Smacky and I just happened to be loitering in the background, testing the temperature of the pool and checking out the other babies.

Swim Swim Swi- Zzzzzzz

Here is another photo of smacky relaxing after swimming yesterday. Nothing like a bottle of milk to fill the hungry post-swimming tummy.

Work Those Arms! Work Those Legs!

Smacky's swimming lesson was a little better today. She gulped the poolwater a few times when she forgot to hold her head up, she learned how to hold on to the edge of the pool, and she floated on a noodle.

It was soooo exhausting that she fell asleep on the counter in the locker room afterwards.

Jumping Jumping Jumping

Smacky's new favorite toy is a pink bunny that one of my coworkers gave to me. She loves it when we flap the bunny's ears in her face, she adores sucking on the bunny's ears, and she her mouth opens wide to gum bunny's nose. Bunny even shared her cereal last week.

Here they are together with Granny in Smacky's jumperoo, a favorite place for all of them. One of Smacky's legs powers the jumping, the other just sort of twitches. She likes it so much that she jumps in my lap hours later.

Childcare Woes

We're pretty lucky with our childcare situation. My mom watches Smacky on Mondays and Fridays and Gary works from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays while watchingAurora and Arlo.

Smacky goes to Kindercare on Wednesdays, sharing care with 8 other babies between two caregivers. I've been pretty happy with Kindercare, and so has Smacky, until their "reservation" fees started.

When Aurora misses a day, they charge us half-price, even if they're closed. I suppose it makes sense since they still have to staff the center, but we missed three days last month and $160 for no services is a little steep.

So we're looking for a new provider. Maybe I'm crazy and everyone operates this way. I guess we'll see! Does anyone have any suggestions or criticisms to help our search?

UPDATE: We found out yesterday that Gary can't work at home any longer, so we need to find a facility that will care for Smacky three days a week. We're looking into the Y- any opinions on that?