Logan's Last Day!

Back in December 2010 I remember sitting in bed on my laptop when a message popped up on Facebook from my SIL's best friend Jen. She was inquiring if I knew any mom's that would be interested in watching her 2 month old baby when she needed to go back to work. By this time Michael had been unemployed for over a year! I remember thinking 'I could do that!' It would be nice to have the extra money and since Ella was the only girl it would be fun for her to have another girl to play with....eventually...Logan was only 2 months old! 

So on January 3rd 2011 Jen dropped Logan off for her first day with us. At first I was only watching her 3 days a week. I think it was Monday - Wednesday. It's changed a bit through the years! For the last year I've watched her Monday - Thursday. 

Ella was 10 months old when I started watching Logan....thankfully she was already walking so that helped. If she wasn't I'm not sure I would have been so incline to say yes. As you can see from the picture above even though Ella was 8 months older than Logan, size wise it was like having twins! Of course I did and still do get asked all the time if they are fraternal twins. 

During the course of Logan's stay with us I have always said that we have 4.5 kids! She went everywhere with us from day one. In fact on her first day with us she went with me to MOPS and screamed her head off for 45 mins! 

And just like I hoped, Ella and Logan have been the best of friends. Of course they are as close as sisters and Logan even says that Ella is her sister, but they also can bicker like sisters too! But for the most part they enjoy each other and have so much fun playing baby/mom or Elsa/Anna. 

This year has been a bit rough on me though. One of my personal goals is to improve and maintain both my physical and mental health. Having 4 children alone is a challenge and then adding another one into the mix just adds to the chaos. After praying about it and discussing it with Michael we came to the decision that my time of watching Logan was coming to an end. Honestly when I first started watching her I thought I would only do it until Michael got a job! Of course when he got hired he wasn't making nearly what he used to so me continuing to watch Logan only made sense. But that was also something I wanted to be very aware of....are we only doing this for the money? See my mom went to work in 1986 to put my brother and I through Christian school. I graduated in 1999 and she is finally retiring next January! I didn't want that to be me. Not that I was going to watch Logan for over 20 years, but I think you understand! 

Another main reason for this change is that Ella is going to preschool in the fall. This is my last summer before she starts on her education journey! Also this is the first REAL summer break for the boys. They are getting it....you go to school for 9 months and then your home for almost 3 months. It's a special time and I wanted to spend it with my 4 kiddos. These years are so short! 

So today is Logan's last day! I have watched her a total of 3 years 6 months exactly! Crazy! I know that Ella and Logan will miss each other and I'm sad about that. I'm also sad that I won't get to see Jen as much any more. She started out as my SIL's best friend, but she's my friend now as well! I will truly miss our chats! We'll just have to make sure we get the girls together for play dates! It's going to be really odd coming school time to only be home with one kiddo! Oh my...it's been years since I've only had one! 

Thank you Jen and Richard for letting me watch Logan...for being that need that God placed into our lives during a time when we really needed it. We were trusting Him then and we are trusting Him now to take care of us! It's going to be really odd thinking I don't have to rush downstairs in the morning and unlock the door waiting for one of you to bring Logan over. I'm sure that it will take Ella a while to get used to the change. She's always asking, "This day Logan coming over?" I'm sure that Logan will have to adjust as well. I never really imagined that I would watch her this long, but it's been so nice for the girls to have each other! I hope that Logan has a blast with her new daycare lady...she lights up a room and I'm sure she'll light up their home!