The Joy of Sharing

Wow I have started and stopped this blog so many times thinking I would do it later so once and for all I am going to finish it! Even if it is going to be soo soo long!

So last Thursday was fun as me and Brayden got to play with his bendaroo things that are just waxed yarn ha ha but they are so fun! Brayden made a cow by himself and a horse and helped make a flower and butterfly and a guy and we made up a whole story with these things. The cowboy in the picture has a rope that is stealing the butterfly off of the flower because the cowboy wanted the flower all to himself and the story was really long so that is as much as you get to hear.

Last Friday Brent had an army farewell thing and it was outside and to hot for the little ones so I stayed in a nice air conditioned house while the others went and braved the heat. I got to spend some good quality time with the little girls Shaylen and Avery

this is how Avery feels about pictures ha ha jk :)

I'm so sad I cut off part of Shaylen's head because this picture would be so cute!

Then this week has been so crazy. I have been sick because Reilly decided to share her germs with me after she was sick. Which is why this is titled the way it is. So Saturday through Tuesday I spent a lot of time in bed trying to feel better. I still have a cough which keeps me up at nights so that is no good.

Reilly, Lyndsey and I all played makeovers scary edition Tuesday night and had so much fun!! The reactions I got from the girls when they finally got to look in the mirror were priceless. I was sick of being in bed and decided that a makeover was just what I needed ha ha but maybe next time I will consider the makeover artists :) I let Reilly do one half of my face and Lyndsey do the other side. It was very entertaining though and we had so much fun!

I think I look dirty like an orphan or something

Lydnsey after she looked in a mirror :)

reilly after she looked in the mirror

Oh the joys of being a nanny!

We have been trying to get Shaylen to crawl she is learning to move around a room without crawling ha ha so these are her attempts

Today is Shaylen's birthday! So that was really fun! Jennifer had a party for her and we came over ate cake and played outside. I got to sit in the warmth with the kids which was fun and got to watch Shaylen play in cake :)

Reilly and Lyndsey and their other cousin

Connor on his bike

Brayden rolling down the hill on his bike

Shaylen's Cake

Avery and her aunt G (Jill)

Brayden with his cousin Savannah

Connor eating his cake and loving itSisterly love

This is the finished version of Shaylen eating her cake before I leftThese past couple weeks have blown by but have been so much fun!! I hope that it continues to be this good. I'm glad I am finally feeling adjusted and have a schedule to follow and know what is expected. It really has been life changing moving so far away from home but it has been so much fun and I wouldn't change a minute of it so far.

Good days vs Bad days who will win?

Yesterday = Stress

Today = Awesomeness

Yesterday

I had barely slept the night before so that will add dramatically as to why this day was stressful to me. Avery cried and cried I held her she cried I put her down she cried well then she fell asleep. Shaylen would not eat I kept trying I knew she was hungry and yet she wasn't eating. She wanted her bottle but I would hand it to her and she would knock it away. I would set it where she could get it but she had to reach for it if she really wanted it and when I started getting busy doing something else she would sneak the bottle and start drinking it, little booger ha ha. I think about it now and it is so funny but yesterday it was so frustrating. Brayden was climbing on me all day and while at first I didn't mind it started getting old especially when I was trying to do other things. Like I said I had barely slept so it wasn't even that big of a deal.

Today

Well I barely slept again last night but I woke up and laid in bed and thought of the best things I could do this morning to make it a better day. I took a shower, I wore comfy clothes, I didn't wear make up, I was just easy going this morning without worry. I went to work and I got Shaylen out of bed and got her giggling and laughing. I put her down with some cheerios while I went to go get Avery who also smiled at me when I got her. I fed both of them and they both ate so well and had Shaylen laughing and eating. Got on the floor and played with Shaylen while Avery fell asleep. Brayden came home from school and we played knights and pirates and got him to lay down because after knights slay pirates they need to take a rest and lay down in their bed from such a long hard days work. I told him some made up stories and he started to fall asleep! No arguing, or demanding he go lay down. He went to lay down willingly and started to fall asleep all while pretending he was a knight and to gain his strength back he had to rest. I went and checked on him a little later and he saw me and cried because he didn't want to lay down anymore but man was he tired and fell right back to sleep not much later. Then we went out to dinner and I got to sit with the little kids and we played a mystery eating game and I got to hold Avery until she fell asleep only the best feeling ever!

Man what a difference in days huh? I need to try to always remember to only think of the good things because I believe your attitude rubs off on those around you and these kids can tell you are having a bad day and will react to that. Now I get to go to bed with a smile on my face I love these kids so much. Reilly and Lyndsey have been super sweet today and did things the first time I asked so that rocks!!!

One month already!?!

So this wont be a very long post but I wanted to post anyways. It was a good weekend probably one of the best. Less homesickness and cooperative kids! We went to mesa to run some errands and Brayden and I had a fun time in the car pretending we were in Mario kart and having thumb wars. 

We went to a birthday party and the instant Connor and Brayden saw me they ran up "Jessica!" and gave me a huge hug. It was so sweet and made my whole day that much better. I really do have the best job off and on duty ha ha.

One more story before I end but Reilly asked me one day awhile ago why my hair was different colors at the top and bottom and I explained about hair color and the subject was dropped. Well Jill and I did my roots and while it was processing Reilly asked me what happened to my hair and why it looked funny and I told her what it was and what was happening. Then I told her I needed to go wash my hair and it would look all the way better and I would only have 1 hair color again. Then she told me "If you get out of the shower and that happens then we have magic water". 

I love this whole thing and can't believe I have been here for a month exactly today. Wow a whole month! Its so weird that time goes so fast and at times seems so slow.

Full of Emotions

So I think I have passed through every emotion known to man in the past week. Ending it on a good note though always helps. Watching the boys was rough but at times was so sweet like when I was doing dishes and Connor walks up and tells me he has a secret for me and told me he had to whisper it in my ear. His secret what "Jessica", know this Connor always forgets my name and so the fact he remembered my name made me so happy "I love you" oh my gosh it was so so so sweet. 

Reilly has been sick and had a rough night last night poor poor girl. Also Brayden was sick while I was watching him as well. I have decided that watching sick kids is the most heartbreaking thing ever because you just have to sit there and watch them not feel good and not be able to do like anything to help. Its so sad! 

Another way cute quote by Brayden "Jessica why don't angels wear pants?" ha ha ha I started to laugh and he looked at me with this I'm totally serious expression. Jennifer just got some new angel statues and is shows their little fanny and Brayden made me turn them so he didn't have to look at it while he was eating. Makes me wonder how many naked angel statues he has seen ha ha so funny!!

I made dinner on Saturday and Lyndsey still tells me how good it is. If that doesn't boost your self esteem what else would? She is so sweet and does everything she can to make others happy. She will be such a good mom one day :). Today I took a bath (one of my weaknesses) and ate graham crackers with nutella and I told the girls I was indulging myself tonight and they asked what that meant and I told them it was like you do what you really want to do even if it isn't the best thing to do (like eating nutella probably wasn't my best choice) and Reilly looks and me and says " I want to do what I want!" ha ha uh oh...

Each day I'm learning to cope with the homesickness a little more and more. There are some times where it still seems to overwhelm me but then something happens to make me know that I am where I need to be and that it is so worth it to be learning growing and loving. They are so sweet and I really enjoy being here. I still get phone calls of people asking me again if I will be their nanny and I am so happy I got the families I did they are so awesome and exactly what I needed.

Crazy Weekend

So while Jennifer and Jason were out of town I was watching Brayden and Connor. They went home tonight and now I feel kinda weird to not be listening for them. One thing I learned is that kids go through emotions faster then any other human being. One minute they are throwing a fit the next they are cuddling up with you and telling you they love you and the next they are totally ignoring you and not listening to things you say. Talk about a whirl wind of emotions. I was so excited to have the boys be excited for church and have Brayden nap so he wasn't so tired later. They are such sweet boys! 

I made cookies tonight with the help of the boys Reilly and Lyndsey. It was a lot of fun and they weren't even sad when they had to stop eating the cookies because they were having so much fun making them! It was a good night. Then Jennifer and Jason came and got the boys and now I don't know what to do with myself ha ha. I have a day off tomorrow well a half day off anyways and I am not really sure what I am going to do with my time. 

While waxing my eyebrows tonight Reilly came out of her room and asked me if my eye was ok because I already had the wax clothe on my eyebrow ready to rip. She thought it was a band aid. I told her what it was and she asked if she could watch. After I pulled it off she went to her sister and told her all about how I put a paper towel on some juice and it pulled all my hair out ha ha I love it!! 

I am amazed at how much energy is put into these kids. It is so fun but it definitely takes a lot out of you by the end of the day. It helps so much that for the most part they are such awesome kids. They have their moments but tell me what kid doesn't ha ha. Well time to finish up my laundry and get to bed to enjoy my full nights sleep! I'm so excited!!

Day two of blogging, cute quotes.

Second day I was here Reilly and Lyndsey were in the shower which is right across the hall from my room and were talking and I think that is the day Reilly figured out that I am the nanny. Reilly "Wow sissy look at all this stuff!" (talking about my shower stuff) "can we use it?" Lyndsey "no that's Jessica's." Reilly "Is Jessica our new nanny?" Lyndsey "Yeah she is." Reilly "She doesn't look like a nanny. She is really pretty. She must be hiding glasses somewhere huh?" ha ha Jill told me later she loves the movie Nanny McPhee. 

First time playing trains with Brayden he told me that I had to be the giraffe and that I loved to get dirty and he was Thomas the train and that his smoke stack was a cleaner and that he would wash me off every time I got dirty.

Brayden was talking to his grandma and told her that when a girl gets married she has to wear the wedding dress and boys have to wear the boy dress. He also said that when boys get married they need to be quiet and not run around. He was told that if he knew those things now he has all the answers in life ha ha. He then said that he wanted to marry his little sister Shaylen.

Brayden I've decided likes to say cute things last one and I'll keep better documentation of future cute quotes and do another post of them! Brayden was eating lunch and we were talking about Shaylen and Avery his two little sisters and he says he wants 5 babies! He wants 2 of his babies to be named after his sisters and the other 3 to be named Snowman, Cup, and Chicken. Hopefully he grows out of that but until then it will go on my cute blog post ha ha. Love it!

First post here I go!

So I was writing my facebook status and it was extremely long and Jill told me awhile ago that I should start a blog, I asked her what I would do a blog about and she said it could be on anything so here I go. My life as a nanny!
First off I am a nanny of 6 kids two families so never all of them at once. I nanny for 2 sisters Jennifer and Jill. I live at Jill's house and watch her kids at night when she works and watch Jennifer's kids during the day. Jill has two daughters, Lyndsey and Reilly. Jennifer has 2 sons Connor and Brayden plus 2 daughters Shaylen and Avery.
The thing that actually got me to start a blog was my mile long facebook status update today so I am going to copy and paste that.

 

wow this whole taking care of kids thing around the clock is tough... definitely an eye opener. It is the funnest job I have ever had but at the same time the past couple nights I go to bed with tired feet (I hate flat feet they make things so much more miserable grr) and completely exhausted.

It's definitely one of those things that no one really understands until they have to do it I've decided. No one can appreciate it unless they have been through it or even tried it. I don't even understand it all but man I really appreciate parents so much more!! Best job ever though because then there are the moments when you are walking through the grocery store and one of the boys walks up to you and gives you a great big hug and just wants to hold your hand. I love it!




To make a little bit more sense of what I'm talking about Jennifer and Jason are in New York the little girls are with their grandparents and I get to watch the boys. I have been with them since 6:30 Wednesday morning and will be until Sunday night. So far so good :) they are so sweet. All the kids I nanny for are the sweetest! Reilly coming in and already after being here a total of 3 weeks has given me about a million pictures she has colored for me I love it so much and have kept them all. Connor the first time we ever met came and gave me a huge hug making me feel so welcome! Brayden loves to cuddle and we took a nap the other day cuddling and watching Bob the Builder. Lyndsey loves to help out and talk about things that we like to do. She is old enough to start getting into good conversation with. Shaylen is such a happy baby for teething way bad the amount of times she has actually cried I can count on my hands she is so sweet. Avery is the size of a newborn when she is almost 6 months but when you start to talk to her she gives you the cutest little smile she also loves to rub her face when she is trying to sleep, so precious.


I love this job and think it will be a year that will always stick out in my memory. I have made life long friends with these amazing people and get the opportunity to work with them and be a friend as well as a nanny. Who could ask for more? It already has been a life changing experience. It is so rewarding and full of surprises.

Pictures in order are first Shaylen. Second from left to right Reilly, Lyndsey, Me, Brayden, Connor. Third me and Jill. Fourth me and Connor. Fifth Me and Brayden. Sixth me and Lyndsey, Seventh me and Reilly. Eight and last Avery.