strange things are afoot at the martells.

exhibit a. ali is in bed, asleep at 8pm on a sunday night, missing both of her favorite shows, Sopranos and Entourage. never happens. ever.

yesterday, my day started at 9 am, when the husband went to pick up my new nanny Michelle. (to be completely honest, the day actually started at 6:15am, when Isabella decided to serenade us with her ever-so-familiar morning song “mommydaddy, mommydaddy, i wah Diego” yes, folks, Dora is officially so-five minutes ago. and then she topped it off with our favorite “ew. stinky. stinky. ew. ew.” which meant that one of us had to get up. which really meant that both us of had to get up)

i walked through some basics with her – things that i normally do on autopilot and don’t think about, such as how to pack a lunch or get the backpacks ready. backpacks? schoolbags? what do you call ’em? so far so good with her. she’s actually been really sweet and really helpful….and all three kids seem to have taken a liking to her, which is a blessing like you don’t even know. i was really worried.

speaking of backpacks….i got myself a fancy shmancy new work/gym bag on ebay. it’s brand new and i’m so in love with it. i want to make out with it.

seriously. i so want to make out with this bag)

anyway, so, at 10:30, i kissed the husband goodbye – he’s off to vegas for a week – packed the kids into the van and dropped them at my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s. seriously, they should be sainted. either that or they have a serious death wish. or they are smokin’ a ridiculous amount of crack. because they offered to take my kids for the entire day so i could go do the HBC Fashion Show and work the urbanmoms/cuisanart/mommy chef booth at the Today’s Parent babytime show.

(edit: i didn’t leave the kids with Michelle yesterday because she was brand spankin’ new. i didn’t want to overwhelm her OR the kids on the first day. especially because i was gone, literally, the entire day!)

i got there just before six. we gave them dinner. took them home. bathed them. they were all asleep by 7:45.

and i was asleep by 8.

i’m wiped.

don’t forget to vote!!

i know y’all have to sign up and it’s a little bit of a pain…but do it for me anyway…because you love me. because you really, really love me.