The Nanny in the Attic

I just had a talk with the mom. It turns out, there is a reason that she’s been giving me so much time off this week. She decided that it’s not going to work with me being the nanny. She is sending me home and is going to find someone else.

I have mixed feelings about this. I’m kind of upset that she didn’t give me a chance to really get settled in. I’ve really only had one day by myself to work with the kids. She’s basing this decision off of one day of getting used to things.

I’m also upset because this was a great job and I could have earned a ton of money.

I’m also upset because I gave up a job at home that I can’t get back now for this.

Then again, I’m kind of relieved. I don’t know if I could spend six months with them and keep my sanity. The family is crazy.

I just hope I can find a job at home that can help me pay for school. ‘Cause I was kinda counting on the money, ya know?

So if anyone in Williamsburg knows of a place that’s hiring, let me know because I’m on the job hunt again.

I guess this ends the days of the Nanny in the Attic. I think I’ve learned a lot from the few days that I’ve been here. I’ve gotten some ideas about how I will raise my kids and how I won’t raise my kids. Food is always cheaper at WalMart. Kids don’t like being forced to do school work over the summer. And most importantly, there is such a thing as too much hand sanitizer.

Happy Fourth of July!

Today was a fairly easy day. They let me off work at about 3, so I took advantage of that and took a good long nap. This getting up at 7 every day thing is kicking me butt. I hate getting up early, haha. 

Anywho, after breakfast today the boys left for tennis so I cleaned up the house and did some laundry. They had eaten lunch at tennis so when they came home we played outside for a while. At around noon, the parents and the older boys left for golf lessons so I put the baby down for his nap. I was so tired that I fell asleep while rocking him! So we took a good hour nap together in the rocking chair. When I woke up I put him in his crib and went to go fold the laundry. He woke up at 3 and his mom took him to the pool where the other boys and dad were (there was a neighborhood pool party). They’re still there and it’s really nice to have a quiet house to myself.

I don’t understand the mom sometimes. She told me today they I had been working so hard today that she’s going to give me tomorrow off. …I’ve barely done anything today…I don’t really know what she’s talking about, but I’m not going to complain. I could do with a day of sleeping in.

Today was the first day by myself. I guess it could have been worse, but it could have been better. The boys were either gone or asleep most of the day so I had plenty of time to clean and do laundry and such. The mom kind of really annoys me. I get that she wants the best for her kids, but it’s kind of an overkill. The boys just want to be boys. They want to play in the dirt and get messy and eat chicken nuggets. Instead they go to tennis camp and golf camp and soccer camp and learn foreign languages and eat filet mignon. Speaking of filet mignon, she told me that I didn’t cook the meat for their dinner right tonight so they weren’t allowed to eat it and I had to cook something else. So guess who ate filet mignon tonight? That’s right. Me. Boo yah. She told me I cooked it wrong and then proceeded to tell me that I need to watch what I cook because it’s so expensive. I get that it’s expensive, but I mean, if you complain about it costing so much, stop buying the organic, lean, from-expensive-stores food. Shop at Wal-Mart. I bet she’s never even set foot in a Wal-Mart. But, whatever, it’s not my money and they aren’t my kids so I just do what I’m told. 

In other news, the baby didn’t cry at all today and he only asked where PreviousNanny was a few times. He let me feed him and play with him and he even let me put him down for his nap (which the mom was surprised about).

It’s so funny: every time I do something right the mom is completely surprised like she didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Well I’ll show her. By the end of these six months, she’s going to have complete faith in me.

Also, we found this cool giant looks-like-a-leaf bug on the side of the house today:

And I was the princess that the baby had to save:

Sorry about being emotional wreck yesterday. Things just weren’t going the way I planned. But prayers are answered, and today was somewhat of a miracle.

The boys were gone for an hour this morning playing Squash (from what I get out of them, its like wallball mixed with tennis…) so I had plenty of time to get breakfast ready and clean up around the house. Then the oldest went off to a tennis camp with mom so the two youngest and I went outside to ride bikes. After lunch all of the boys took a nap, the youngest because he always does, and the older two because they are still on German time. When they woke up we rode bikes again and played in the dirt and got super messy. I gave all the boys baths, including the youngest which was super surprising that he actually let me without too much of a fuss, and then we ate dinner (which I cooked while they were napping. Unfortunately, I could only eat the rice because the chicken was breaded in almond flour…they make almost everything with almond flour or almonds or pistachios…gross.). After dinner the boys played while I cleaned up and then I helped the oldest with his piano practicing.

Here’s the thing with his piano skills. He can play fairly well for a 6 year old. But he doesn’t read the notes. He’s used to hear his mom play a line and then repeating it back to her. So basically, he’s learned by ear. That’s going to change. I spent most of his practice time teaching him the musical alphabet.

Then we read books and they went to bed. In all, not a terrible day. CurrentNanny was still helping me out, but I did a lot of things by myself. She leaves tonight so tomorrow I’m on my own. I think I’ll be okay, but I’m still afraid I’ll be overwhelmed.

I’m seriously starting to reconsider this. The 2 year old doesn’t like me AT ALL. He can tolerate me if Taylor or the other boys or the parents are in the room, but if I try to do anything with him by myself, he goes ballistic crying for their current nanny whose last day is tomorrow.

Also, the parents called me in for a meeting about a half hour ago because they don’t think I’m “quite fitting in with the family.” They say that I’m too quiet and need to talk more. I’m just trying to take everything in. I mean, she told me to follow CurrentNanny around and watch what she does…so that’s what I’m doing. I can definitely talk. They are all about asking the boys questions and getting them to think and being involved and learning new languages and going places and not sitting down to watch TV or doing anything idle. The baby is only 2 and he’s already bilingual. (That also makes it way harder because he talks baby-spanglish-talk so half the time I have no clue what he’s saying.) Anyway, they just basically want me to be more involved, which I can definitely do, I was just more content to watch and learn for my first real day on the job.

Another point that kind of offended me…it turns out the mom isn’t going to have me teach the boys piano because she thought I was too inexperienced and didn’t know enough about music/piano. So she’s hiring someone instead. I mean, I’m okay with her hiring a teacher, I’ll have enough on my plate already to not want to worry about giving lessons. But the way she said it to me made me feel like she thinks I have about as much experience on the piano as her two year old. It kinda made me angry.

I guess I’ve complained enough about it. Sorry to all you who think I’m just being a whiner…get over it (: Things will get better, I just have to figure out how to make it better.

Here I am! I got here at about 4:00PM yesterday afternoon. I spent the afternoon trailing after the current nanny (leaving on Tuesday) watching how she did things with the baby. After the baby went to bed, we went out with another nanny, Jean. She’s super cute and I like her a lot. 

The rest of the family (mom and the two older boys) got home from Germany today. The boys are CRAZY! They run around everywhere yelling their heads off. Of course, it could have just been they hype of being home after 3 weeks in a foreign country. I have off tomorrow and then the real work begins on Monday.

Also, I made two new friends today.

This is Sokka:

Yes, the poor baby’s fur is shaved off. He’s usually super fluffy, but the boys are “allergic” apparently so they shaved him.

This is Trader:

I would have more pictures of him, but he never sits still. I caught him by surprise while he was cleaning himself in this picture.

They don’t get much love, the poor dears, so I made friends with them (:

Anywho, that’s about all I have for today. Tune in next time (:

Well, here it is. Im on my way. We left at seven this morning. We’ve been driving for four hours. Im nervous and excited. I just want to get there.

Two days before I leave for New York. I’ll be honest, I’m scared to death. I have no idea what I’m getting into or what’s going to happen. I’m jumping into this blindly headfirst. Sometimes I wonder why on earth I ever decided to do this. Sure, the money was an incentive. I need to pay for school somehow, right? But I know that it’s also going to be an amazing experience.

I guess my only major fear is that I will mess up somehow. Like what if I feed the kids some food that makes them sick? Or what if I forget to take them somewhere? Or what if I can’t physically handle it?

I know that the first few days, or even weeks, will be rough. But eventually I’ll get into a rhythm and have things figured out. It’s just getting to that point is the problem.