chronicles of nanny-a

i've moved and am still ranting!

2010-04-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

ok guys. this blog will go private in a couple of days. in the meantime, you can head over to

CURRENTLY UNDER RENOVATION

to read all my life goings on.

if you still want to read the nanny adventures, i've started a new blog over here:

OH, NANNY!

so, go and subscribe and i'll catch you on the flipside!

NEW NANNY BLOG!!!!

2010-04-26T11:17:00.001-07:00

hey kids. i am thinking of doing a blog strictly for the stuff you all still want to read. if you would like to know when i get it up and running, please email me at:

iamnannynanny at gmail dot com

i'll let you know as soon as it's up and running.

follow me

2010-04-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

on over to my blog that will be my starting over point for all things me.

a week from today i will make this blog and my "life of shoe" blog private and start over again here:

"CURRENTLY UNDER RENOVATION"

this will be an all encompassing blog of my regular life, my job (whatever that may eventually turn out to be), my weight loss, my dealing with "stuff" and just everything else that goes on in my life. i figure it will be easier to maintain one multisubject blog rather than floating all over trying to write for a handful.

i will admit that the gritty honesty of my current job may not be in the new blog. seeing that i will be looking for a new gig, it's better to um, restrain myself. :)

i do hope you'll all head over to the new place and continue on your reading. i really appreciate each and every one of you and your loyalty and comments!!

something to consider

2010-04-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

hey guys.

as i start to make a full fledged effort in searching for a new job/career, i think it will be best if i make this blog private. i have to see what i need to do in order for that to happen, but i wanted to let you know that i am thinking about it.

i'll keep you updated once i have figured out the road i want to go down. thanks!

yo peeps!

2010-04-01T16:44:00.002-07:00

i know that i gave a handful of friends the link to this blog recently. dunno if you've all come to read the insanity yet or not. but just wanted to say hello and encourage you to leave comments and let me know your thoughts! love you guys!

nanny rescues charge from fire...risks own life

2010-03-26T09:50:00.002-07:00

i watched this story on the news this morning and cried my eyes out when i saw the bond that these two had. THAT is why i do what i do.

click on THIS link to see the video. she's an amazing hero and the family is so lucky to have her in their life!

so nice to see a GOOD nanny story on the news!

shout out

2010-03-24T22:58:00.002-07:00

hi everyone! i need to get to bed, but i wanted to send a shout out to bobbie, in case she comes by and reads my ramblings!! :) kiss the kids for me and enjoy time with the p-man! xxoo

stuff my boss says

2010-03-12T11:38:00.002-08:00

"so the girls are getting pretty good on their feet!"

yeah, silicon valley daddy, they are. 'course, they are almost 2 so you would think since they have been walking and running for about a year now, that would be par for the course.

"so, let me ask you a question (as he looks at the peace sign on my shirt). if peace is this (does the sign with fingers) why does the peace sign look like this? (tries to make the peace symbol out of his fingers).

meanwhile, grandma is standing behind him shaking her head. my answer was a standard 'i don't know' since i DON'T nor do i care.

"so, tell me your 5 favorite movies!"

first off, i don't want to have some lengthy convo about movies with you, svd. you came home early, the girls are all napping and this is my DOWN time. why does every convo with you have to be some detailed exchange? plus, any movie i mention you are going to shoot down somehow, so why even bother?

there are also the lame responses to when i come to work in the morning. i walk in and usually greet the girls (whichever one comes to see me first with "hello gorgeous!" to which svd always responds "i told you that i'd prefer if you don't call me gorgeous!". it gets old.

there is also the question he asks every single day and every friday: "so, what are you going to do tonight/this weekend? party like a rockstar?" and my answer is always "i'm exhausted when i leave here, so i just dream of going to sleep".

peeking into the lives of the little ones

2010-03-11T10:56:00.002-08:00

right now i am letting the girls have some solo playtime (meaning without me involved) since it seems to be good for all of them and really helps pc learn how to get along with them better. except today it seems to be going not so well.

they are in the front room where pc has built an elaborate fortress behind the chair that now "fits three people"! she had to make adjustments after her sisters took interest in her design. however, from the screeches and squeals i am hearing on the monitor, i'm betting that the matching set are trying to stand up in the fort and are going in the "wrong door" as they so often do. i could run in there and try to save the day, but i am letting them hash this one out. as long as there is no biting or major tantrums, it's all good.

for the most part, the girls really enjoy playing together, especially the twins with eachother. often, all 3 will be playing and then the twins will be off on their own, speaking in their secret twin language and totally into whatever it is that they are doing. pc doesn't seem to mind and is learning that their attention span isn't as long as a big girl of 4. she does have to be reminded that they can't firmly grasp rules of boardgames and that at times she just needs to roll with their ever changing punches and just enjoy the time they get to play.

i have to say, the last month has been really nice with the girls. toss all the stress of the parentals to the wayside and these kids are cute, loving, smart and FUNNY. i stress the funny because they know how to specifically ham it up when needed. i believe they have a calling in either acting or performing in some aspect.

speaking of acting, yesterday when pc came home from her dentist appointment, she was in a fantabulous mood. she was in giggle fits with nearly everything i said, which resulted in me asking her if she was going to be an actress when she was older because she was so dramatic in her giggles. she enthusiastically responded "yes! i am going to be an actress!!" i asked her what would be her award winning perfomance and without missing a beat she responded:

"i am going to do the laugh/pee part".

the "laugh/pee part" is a joke we have. in the past, she has laughed so hard on a couple of occasions that she has actually leaked. and then that makes her laugh even harder. so, we've decided that before we know we are going into a giggle mode, we use the potty. anyway, after her response, mom and i just lost it. i told her that it would be academy award winning because not that many brilliant actresses can pee on command. it went off on a tangent from there, but was a hilarious way to end the day.

chipmunk and moon have really each come into their own personalities. it's hard to believe that they are going to be 2 in june. they are so different in their demeanors and their emotions!

chipmunk is into giving hugs, telling me who dressed her in the morning, telling us "i yike dis" when we go to target and hit the toy aisle, asking "why", scarfing down food like she's famished, wearing sparkly shoes and crossing her legs very ladylike when sitting in a chair.

moon is very into reading books, obsessed with my nail polish (so much so she tried to rub my fingers on her lips....perhaps thinking it would rub off like lip gloss?), "cooking" in the play kitchen, finding "tash" to throw away, asking for tickles on a regular basis and patting my back when she hugs before nap.

both girls are extremely affectionate to eachother. there are numerous hugs and kisses given to eachother during the day. if one gets hurt, they run to the other for affection. they truly love being together and are at their most confident/silliest when playing freely together. i just wish i knew what they were saying. they totally have twinspeak!

pc is amazing at the age of 4. it is SOOOOO much better than 3. i am wanting to forget 3 totally. let's not relive that momentous age. oy. but at 4 she is into dresses, hair accessories, her "best friends" at school, playing dressup and creating amazing scenarios in her imagination and getting a laugh from anyone who will be willing to become her audience. she is also the narrator of her and her sisters' life story if anyone we come across asks about them. it goes something like this:

"dees are my twin sisters. dey are I-DENT-I-CAL twins. sometimes they are a bit shy. chipmunk wears pink and moon wears other colors. i am 4 and i go to school at _____." then she throws in various other random facts and basically wont' stop talking until we practially duct tape her mouth. (ok, so we don't duct tape, but man.......she will still be talking long after the convo was actually over! :P)

the girls are back in the dining room now and all playing together peacefully. chip was crossing her legs on the chair and moon is back in the play kitchen with big sis. since they came back in, both twins have crawled up to hug me and big sis came in asking "so what are you guys up to in here?". i am thinking now is a good time to go start on lunch.

today it's a picnic on the floor. i'm sure they'll give me more fodder to report later!

attn: derek jeter fan :)

2010-03-04T12:32:00.003-08:00

Hey, I got your comment/message. Can you message me again and let me know your email? Thank you!!

two simple ways......

2010-03-04T12:29:00.002-08:00

hey there peeps! an ex-nanny mom friend of mine sent me a link to a really great article this morning. you can find it over at yahoo HERE or you can just read below:

TWO SIMPLE WAYS TO BE A HAPPIER PARENT by Nancy Schute
When Christine Carter became a parent, she realized that her work as a sociologist who studies happiness gave her a head start on being a good and happy parent. Rather than trying to solve problems in her family, she wanted to prevent them. That got her wondering what makes for happy families and children. The result of that questioning is Raising Happiness (Ballantine Books).
The book is chock-full of words—gratitude, forgiveness, optimism, and inner peace—I associate more with meditation than parenting manuals. But it's not at all woo-woo. Carter grounds her path to happiness in solid science, including behavioral psychology, which explains why praise is much more powerful in getting children to behave than punishment or nagging. Many of the findings are surprisingly simple. For instance, would you like to know the one thing that will make children do better in school, help them have fewer emotional problems, and make them less likely to become obese or have drug or alcohol problems? Eat dinner together as a family.
Science and simplicity in the service of happier families: That sounds like a winner. So I called up Carter, executive director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California-Berkeley, and asked her how I could start making my own family happier.
She said to start off by asking two questions about your life as a parent:
1. When are you happiest with your kids?
2. What part of the normal day with your family routinely causes suffering?
Then make sure your day is structured so that you get routine, habitual happiness and so that you're eliminating habitual pain.
Carter says that when she asked herself the second question, she realized that she hated getting her two daughters out the door for school. "Every single morning I was yelling at my kids [at] approximately the same time and for the same reason," she says.
So she decided to restructure those mornings so they'd be a shared joy, or at least neutral. The science of changing habits says you have to start off supersmall and build over weeks to a bigger result. So she had the kids put their shoes by the door the night before. In the morning, "I ended up setting a timer," Carter says. "It goes off twice. The first time it goes off, it means clear your dishes and go brush your teeth. The second is walk out the door to the bus." By the next morning, she says, "we didn't have such a bad morning. We had taken the first step."
Just as she changed the family's daily routine to make that one stressful period less miserable, Carter also focused on amplifying the moment that gives her the most joy in parenting. "For me, the most joy always comes at the end of the day when I'm putting the kids to bed" and they're telling me about their three good things [that happened in the day]. That's my most luscious thing, the thing I enjoy the most." To make sure that she didn't miss out on that moment when she had to work in the evenings, "we just moved [that bedtime routine] to after school. They sit on the couch with me and cuddle, and we read a book and they tell me about their three good things."
Carter says that despite her deep knowledge of the science of happiness, she doesn't always do the right thing as a parent. "It's part of the journey, an incremental improvement process. But it's amazing to me how much this stuff works when you have the intention to have a happier morning," she says.
That's my challenge for the week: Make a happy moment with my child part of our routine, and engineer out one annoying bit of parenting. And I challenge you do to the same, too. What will be your happiness moment? What suffering will you avoid?

nana banana bread

2010-03-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and the vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4 by 8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

originally found at: www. elise.com/recipes/archives/001465banana_bread.php

writing everyday

2010-03-02T15:53:00.002-08:00

hey anonymous! thanks for saying that you wish i would write everyday. i tend to think that if i wrote everyday about this job, i may just drive people off a cliff! but, thank you for your comment.

i may not write everyday, but i came to write a post right now just because of anonymous' comment. that should count for something, right?

currently, the 3 amigas are all off in lalaland and i am relishing the silence of the house. all i hear is the hum of the dryer and the woosh of the heat rising up from the vents and into the curtains to my right. mmmmmmmmmmm, nice.

today hasn't been too bad. i'm really trying to let go of what i can't control in my job as well as what i really don't have to deal with/worry about/fix/rescue. for instance, i walked in the door this morning and saw that all the kids shoes were on the floor in a pile rather than on the shelf where they belonged. normally, i would sigh, mutter under my breath and clean them up. today? i looked at them, decided that that wasn't my responsibility because i didn't leave it like that last night when i left and walked right past it. the same happened when i opened up pc's closet that i had so neatly organized a while back and realized that you couldn't even see the floor any longer. i quickly hung up her dresses from the fresh laundry and closed the door behind me. if they aren't going to work at keeping up what i am trying to help them with, then i am no longer helping. it goes both ways.

i drug the girls out in the rain this morning to mail a very important package to my niece who is turning the big 6 today!! afterwards, i suprised them with a trip to one of our favorite coffee/bakery places for some chocolate milk and a warm croissant. i had my kona blend coffee and all was well with the world. the twins managed to make the morning a bit better by watching their reflections in the mirror where we were sitting. they would stick out their tongues, wiggle their brows, make silly faces and watch themselves in complete awe. it's stuff like that that forces me to remember that sometimes you just need to be in the moment, or be silly or just enjoy yourself right then and there.

i did manage to get some stuff done today that is actually part of my job description. after sorting through the twins overflowing drawers of clothes, i managed to weed out SO much stuff that is not really their size any longer. i took note that moon has way more clothes than chipmunk. chip wears mostly pink (although i think that at this point, they can wear whatever they want since they are almost 2 and i know that i am able to tell them apart. but then again, i have been able to for over a year now.) and moon gets all the other colors. in terms of hand-me-downs, there isn't a lot of pink happening. i feel bad for chip. moonie gets all the reds and purples and greens and yellows and poor munk is pinked out. maybe i'll suggest to mom that we don't worry about colors any longer. should be fun to see if they are down with it. then they can just share clothes!

i also managed to make some homemade banana muffins before the munchkins went down for naps. the house was enveloped in the scent of banana goodness. the quote of the day goes to pc who, once she bit into one, exclaimed: THESE TASTE JUST LIKE BANANA BREAD! yeah, bingo. maybe i'll post the recipe in another post. it's simple and delicious and i've gotten a few people hooked on it. and it's simple enough where you can tweak it to your liking (i add chocolate chips on occasion........yeehaw).

speaking of those muffins, i think i am going to go and devour another one before the troops wake up. have a good day everyone!

come together....

2010-02-24T21:57:00.003-08:00

i love it when days just come together.

wednesdays are our busy days. i get into work, finish getting the girls ready so that we can take pc to gymnastics at 915 and BAM! we are out the door. if we are lucky, we get to the gym a little early so we aren't rushing in the door at the last minute.

today, i got into work and the twins were dressed and fed. pc was almost ready, but everyone was happy. i packed up the backpack, got shoes and jackets on, brushed the pc's mop and we got out the door with ample time. we rolled into gymnastics with perfect timing and the great moods of all 3 girls helped make it even easier.

the twins flirted with some of the parents (which is a HUGE acheivement!), played with their baby cousin (bigger cousin takes the class with pc), gave me ample lovins and were great kids. pc did her best at class and the smile on her face never left.

after class, we all sat in the car and discussed our plans for the day. sometimes i will have a game plan and other days we wing it. today, we were all wings. pc and i decided to hit up our favorite gourmet/healthy grocery store to make the rounds and get some lunch. all 3 of the girls love to wander through the produce section and see all the colors and shapes and variety. we all secretly hope they will have samples out. from there, we hit up the seafood section so that pc can admire the crabs that look like they are sunbathing in the ice. next, it's the bakery with tons of goodness on display. today we saw cupcakes made to look like aquariums that just blew pc away. we picked out a cookie for the girls to share and then hit up the self service area for lunch.

once we stocked up on all the necessities for lunch (chicken chili for pc, mac/cheese for the girls, black bean soup for me, vanilla milks for the chicks and sweet tea for me...and don't forget the pirate booty!) we headed to the register. there, the girls usually get fawned over by the checker and pc proceeds to tell them her whole life story. then it's time to scope out the tables and find a place big enough to spread out our goods.

all 3 girls devoured their meals today. how could they not? the mac and cheese is seriously to die for. pc's chicken chili is her new favorite (and i tasted it. she has GREAT taste!). we grooved in our seats to the kickass late 80s music they had playing over the speakers and shared lots of giggles and silliness.

the twins and i then escorted big sis to school. once she was dropped off, i surprised the twins and took them to the park to run around, hit the slide and throw sand. from there, i managed to get them home with no fuss where they played a bit longer and then we prepared for nap.

they crashed and slept for just under 3 hours. they've been waking up happy lately and today was no exception. when i left the house, the girls were animated and chowing down once again for dinner. and i left content, something which doesn't happen often.

SSDD

2010-02-23T14:42:00.002-08:00

yep, that stands for what you thought it stands for (Same S*%$, Different Day).

i will try and start off on a positive note. the girls have been FANTASTIC lately. loving. sharing. silly. napping well. using so many words. playing as a 3some with no problem. just being normal kids.

of course, it helps that they have been happy and we have been on a regular schedule. at the first sign of a sneeze or a cough, you can bet that my heart leaps a little and the first thought in my head is HOLY CRAP YOU CANNOT GET SICK!

but then there is the negative side. and of course, it has nothing to do with the girls. it's the damned parents. no need to go into detail but if they want their children to learn manners and how to clean up and be responsible, then they need to LEAD BY EXAMPLE. common sense, right? not in this house.

today i announced to pc that this was the last time i was going to organize her room and help her find all her missing toys. i thought we had developed an organizational system for all that, but last time i checked, it was totally out of order. over the weekend she misplaced her set of my little pony books she had JUST gotten, all the components to her doctor kit and a few other things. and she had NO idea where they were.

i came to the rescue and (while having flashbacks of my mom doing the same thing when i was little.......HI MOM!) piled all the random toys in her room in the center of the floor and began to weed through them. in the end, half the toys ended up being her sisters' and i realized she has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many stuffed animals.

from now on, if it disappears, i am not searching for it. if it breaks, i am tossing it. if they don't play with it for a while, it gets boxed up. it's a vicious cycle that always results in me cleaning, the family messing it all up, mom and dad taking no responsibility for leading the way and things then missing when we need them most. oh well.

and i swear to gawd, if i see another set of markers in this house (or actually single markers from a new set lying all over various places in the house) i am going to write on the damned walls myself. there is a new set floating around here and i have already found 4 of the markers in random places in the house.

like i said before, the girls have been great. i relish my fun time with them and enjoy how relaxed and silly they are when we get into the groove of the day. they are helpful with me and will gladly assist in cleaning up toys. they can't wait to sit down at the table together for lunch. they take naps with no complaints. they can sense when i need a hug. they give kisses whenever i need them. they show off their outfits and sing me songs.

it's in those moments that a disaster of a house doesn't matter. keep it up girls. i like it.

mommy guilt

2010-02-04T16:03:00.002-08:00

i finally truly saw mommy guilt first hand today from professor mommy. and it was pretty pitiful.

i walk in the door this morning and of course, the twins freak out that i'm there and mommy or daddy may have to detach from them. one is sitting in her high chair eating a full sized chocolate croissant (healthy) and the other is clutching at mom. mom goes to put clutcher in the high chair and she goes ballistic, wailing "mama" over and over again. instead of saying something like "it's time to eat, you have to sit down" or anything of the sort, she stands in between both high chairs so that both her babies can hold on to her while in their seats. actually, the clutcher refuses to sit down, so she is standing in the high chair. mom hesitates for a second and looks like she is going to leave them be (as i stand there waiting to take over) but then changes her mind.

so, there she is standing there with both her kids wailing now. daddy comes in and makes it worse by trying to kiss one of them. part of me wondered how long she would have stood there if i hadn't interevened and said "girls, mama has to go get ready for work. you can hang out here with me" which i guess gave her the clearing she needed to actually remove herself from them and leave the room.

and you know what? in less than 2 minutes, the wailing stopped and they were as happy as can be with me.

all 3 kids know how to work their parents. just wail or whine a little and mom or dad will drop everything and tend to their needs, even if that means running late. mom and dad also know that the kids are fine once they leave the room, yet have a horrible time doing so. guilt.

here's a lovely example of dropping everything for the kids to make them happy. the other night, mom was going to be running late, so she left dinner directions for dad. 5 minutes before i am to leave, dad has both twins in his arms (big suprise, eh?) and asks me for a favor:

"yeah, i don't know how i am going to be able to go into the kitchen and make dinner holding both the twins, because if i put them down, they will cry. so, can you make it for me?" lucky for me, the process of the dinner required a few steps, so i couldn't make the dinner in the time i had left at work. what sucked was mom walked in right as i was leaving, so there was no dilemma for dad on how to make dinner.

seriously, you can't make dinner because you are holding 2 20 month old children who won't die if they cry for a few minutes? you aren't freakin FAILING them for putting them down. that's why they have feet and legs that work.

lawd.

while we're on the subject of parents, you should really read THIS article from the new york times. muy interesante.

when the dam bursts

2010-02-01T15:48:00.002-08:00

well, you all know that i had a craptastic week last week. and on thursday, my parents found out too.

on the way home from work that night, i called to talk with my mom, as i am known to do when i need to hash out work related stuff. but that night, dad answered the phone. poor guy, he had no idea what was about to hit him. granted, i didn't plan to verbally massacre the poor guy's ear, but that's what ended up happening.

my daddy is a sweet soul of a man. talking to him on the phone always makes me happy. he gives verbal hugs, if that makes any sense. well, when he asked me how i was doing, i just up and lost it. the waterworks started, the f bombs were dropped in rapid succession and i started to go hoarse by the end of the my vent.

and my dad was there every step of the way. he listened, acknowledged and gave a piece of his mind in regards to how i was being treated. the verbal hug was huge this time. i ended up apologizing i don't know how many times to him at the end of the conversation. when he passed me over to mom i heard him say "you have a very upset girl on the phone".

mom got to hear the summarized version of what i told my dad. now, she's the type that if you mess with her kid, she wants to go and do some verbal massacre-ing of her own. i know she'd love to sit down my employers and ream them. and while it would be interesting to watch, that's for me to do or not do. but i always appreciate that mom's got my back! oh, and by the way mom? thanks for calling and checking in on me the next day. that was very sweet and gave me a little extra energy for the day.

i should have listened to her one bit of advice though. she told me that i should call in sick on monday (today) and just let them try to handle dealing with their own kids. i laughed it off, but when i woke up this morning with my sinuses raging and my throat parched and achy, i thought about it. i came in anyway, only to see that grandma next door was actually out of town for the day. imagine if i would have called in!? just that thought alone of the chaos that would have gone down made me feel a bit better.

a word of advice to anyone reading: if you are not a nanny but know of one who may need to vent, let them. you may not be able to relate, but just being willing to lend an ear when they need it is more than enough. if you are a nanny and you are keeping any stress tucked away inside, come here and vent to me. get my email and send me your frustrations. start a blog. but whatever you do, don't bottle it up. it's not healthy for your mind or our body, not to mention that if you hold it for too long, you are bound to burst. and not always at the most appropriate time. is that a deal?

thanks and hello!

2010-02-01T15:45:00.002-08:00

ok lurkers! i had no idea that people that i didn't know read my blog! so, first of all, i thank you for commenting.

second, hello there! it's somewhat nice to know that there are people out there who can relate to what i write and let me know that i am not alone. and vice versa. please, comment more often! i really appreciate the feedback.

i've been thinking a lot about the whole book idea and have figured out (pretty much) which direction i am going in. i may write something up roughly and then post it here to share with you to get some more feedback. sound good?

what's the rush?

2010-01-29T14:54:00.001-08:00

Milestones: What's the Rush?

or you can go and watch it HERE since it seems to be cut in half on my blog! there are some great points that i have firmly stood behind since forever....

employment opportunities

2010-01-29T14:13:00.002-08:00

yesterday and today i've been looking at various job postings on nanny agency websites in the area. i ended up having to stop because i was so frustrated.

i wasn't frustrated because there were no jobs, mind you. i was frustrated with what people wanted for a nanny.

there were postings from families looking for someone to work full time caring for their multiple children (usually ranged around 3 of them) during the week, but also wanted them to be available on nights and weekends.

another family with school aged children wanted a nanny for nights and weekends. so, pretty much, the time that the parents would normally be with their children, a nanny would be caring for them.

the final straw was a SAHM with a 5 month old who needed a nanny to help her with the baby. 5 months old and she stays at home! why the hell does that woman need a nanny?

i'm trying to figure out why some of these families ever even had children if they pawn them off on someone else to raise them. it makes me realize how lucky i was not to take a possible job before the one i am currently in. they have a nanny for the weekdays and a nanny for the weekends. the father uses the nanny when he wants to catch a football game on tv (just one example). hell to the no!

in all my experience, i think i have only had one completely normal family. they were the last family i worked for before moving to the bay area. mom and dad had established great careers before they had children. both wanted to raise a family and continue in their careers. they felt that hiring a nanny for the weekdays would be ideal one on one contact that their girls would thrive under. and they did. when mom and dad came home, as soon as they walked in the door, they would always tell me "just let me change out of these work clothes and you are out the door!". and when that happened, it wasn't about work or issues or stuff the parents had to get done. it was all about family and me being off and living my own life. they were fantastic. today, their girls are two of the most well adjusted, smart, active and sweet girls i have ever had the pleasure of knowing. i feel good knowing i contributed to that.

i'll leave you with an ad that just makes me wonder exactly what the SAHM does.....enjoy.

Location: Los Gatos
Schedule: Monday, Thursday and Friday, 6:00 am to 8:00 am and 5:00 to 9:00 or 10:00 pm; Saturday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm; Sunday 11:00 am to 9:00 pm; Tuesday & Wednesday off
Children: 1 1/2 year old boy, 3 year old boy and 5 year old girl
Duties: Childcare, errands, grocery shopping, cooking for the family, driving
Requirements: Must have long-term experience working with multiple children, family has a pool so swimmer required, German speaker is a ideal but also open to Spanish or Italian as a second language, able to travel 2 or 3 times per year and stay overnight when needed, comfortable teaming with an at-home Mom

they didn't ask for this

2010-01-28T15:20:00.002-08:00

i am currently sitting on the couch in the dining room (yes, there is a couch in the dining room.....) next to a little 19 month old who is once again sick. and she is fairly miserable, although she has just gained enough energy to sing a little song to me.

this is her second day of being sick. pc has been sick as long as she has and moon has been sick since monday.

poor little chipmunk. looking at her brings me to tears. she has green snot pouring from her nose and now it's also crusting over on her left eye. according to daddy who took her to the doctor this morning, it's not an ear infection (even though she is tugging at her left ear incessantly) but a virus that the doctor gave them penicillin for. um, penicillin doesn't work for viruses. i have yet to see the medicine because no one has given it to me to administer to chippie. i'm hoping she doesn't need it right now.

but she's miserable. she can't fall asleep even though she is exhausted. she can't really keep her eyes open and then to top it off, the left one is goopy. and she has a fever. and she just looks so pitiful and it's all i can do to not curse her parents name and just try to conjure some spell to make her better.

she didn't ask for this. in her 19 months she's been sick more times than she's been healthy. moonie too. i really hope they outgrow this illness stuff. it inhibits us from doing a lot of things and interferes with daily life. and seeing that i haven't been out of their house in 4 days, it doesn't do any good for me either.

she's now nuzzled up on my arm and is watching me type. i can feel the heat radiating from her little body and once again i just am biting my lip so that i don't burst into tears. i feel so helpless, knowing that she wants to sleep. knowing that she just wants mom or dad here to snuggle her and comfort her. i can do that too, but for her it's not the same. there are some things that only mom or dad can provide.

for now i'll rub her head and continue to play music for her off the pandora website. i will try not to freak out at the neon greenness of her snot, nor will i get too icked when it gets all over the sleeve of my favorite sweater.

i'm sorry you're sick again little lady. do nana a favor and try to feel better so that neither one of us feels so bad.

feedback needed!

2010-01-26T10:52:00.002-08:00

hello out there!

i believe i've mentioned it before that a variety of people close to me have suggested that i write a book about my nanny experiences. i've seriously been thinking about it.

here is my question to you: what would you be interested in seeing in a book written by a nanny? stories about past families/experiences? advice to nannies? advice to families looking to hire nannies? the good, the bad and the ugly?

i'd love everyone's feedback whether you're a nanny or not. i'm thinking that the more appealing to a variety of people the better...........

just getting some ideas in my head and would like to hear what you all think! don't be afraid to respond. i'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say. thank you!

clean up! clean up! no one ever does their share!

2010-01-21T12:53:00.002-08:00

i've realized today that i really have to stop trying to clean and organize where i work.

it lasts for a week at the most and then it's back to chaotic. a prime example this time is what i cleaned up this morning while the girls were in prime "camping in the living room" mode. back where the washer and dryer is.............has been, well, a mess. mom went and got some metal shelving so that we could put recycle baskets on the bottom and laundry baskets on the top for when we are back there. i looked at those shelves today and lost it.

the paper recycle basket was overflowing. so much so that if you walked by it, you would knock half the stuff out. so, i took a minute (literally) and went and dumped it in the recycle trash can right outside the back door. how hard is that? instead they just cram stuff in?

that's when i noticed there was a bag of reusable grocery bags crammed in next to the baskets. i took the bag out and saw that instead of folding the bags and storing them so you could actually get them out when you needed, someone had tried to just stuff as many in the bag as they could. if you went to take out one, the bag exploded (trust me on this one). so, i took them all out, folded them and voila! nice and neat. it looks like everytime mom goes to the store she buys more because she never remembers to take any with her. that's why i keep mine in the car. in the process, i then found another bag full in another location. now there are about 10 regular sized reusable bags, 3 frozen food bags and they are all neatly organized. there would be a few more, but those are full to the brim with junk that i have no idea where it came from or where it goes. and guess what? the stuff is all moms.

then i got wild and decided i wanted to see the top of the washer and dryer. i proceeded to clear things off and found about 5 pairs of dad's socks, a couple of dress up costumes for pc, random bowls filled with random things, a bunch of bills/paperwork for dad's business (bet he's been looking for those!), gifts from pc's birthday on the 17, a turbo tax disc for this year, another bag with random mom crap and parts to a portable new dvd player. once i was done, i could see the entire top of the washer and half of the dryer. mark the date, because i know this won't last.

next were all the jackets on hooks that have been put up all over the space around the washer/dryer. these girls have SO many jackets. i weeded through and only kept out each girls puffer, raincoat, and fleecy jackets. about 5 jackets i took down were no longer the right size and a few others were dirty and in major need of a wash. the too small ones have been boxed up the others will be washed and then put into drawers for when they are actually needed.

there is a shoe rack behind the back door for...........yes, you are right. shoes. but do you think any shoes are ever really there? the first shelf is crammed with mom's shoes and i don't think i've seen her wear any of them in the longest time. she's probably forgotten they are there. the second shelf is supposed to be for the kids shoes, but those are just in a pile on the floor in front of the shelves. underneath are dad's shoes, but he just takes him off a foot or so away and leaves them on the floor. granted, he has some under there, but once again, i think he forgets they are there and doesn't wear them. so, i put shoes in their proper places and now when you open the back door, you can actually open it all the way. and you can find the shoes you are looking for!

the floor was swept (lots of rain debris tracked in that no one ever cleans up) and it all looks fantastic. but i felt bad.

i know that i go and do all this and it lasts for a week at the most. and then it's back to chaos. but i can't function in a house that is shambles. they want me to do laundry and teach the girls about cleaning up after themselves yet they can't even lead by freaking example. and if i have to walk over things and squeeze my ass into a messy space to do laundry, i'm not amused.

to top it off, my house suffers. i am cleaning up after people all day long here. it's either toys that the girls take out (they help, but i still pitch in), dishes that are left on the table in the morning or aren't washed properly to begin with, dishes during the day, cleaning off the disgusting table that no one cleans after meals, taking old food out of the fridge, laundry, etc.....i do it and i do it completely. i don't half ass it because that's what mom and dad do.

but when i get home, the last thing i want to do is clean up my dishes, make dinner, put away my laundry, tidy up in general. i don't want to do my job once i'm off the clock.

so i've made a decision. i'm going to only do the basic clean up from now on here at work. the girls must clean up their own toys with my supervision. i will clean up dishes i've used during the day. i will do the girls' laundry on the assigned days. i will try not to vacuum daily, even though the carpet is beyond gross every morning when i come in. i will save the focus and dedication for my own space.

i can't wait to see what the house looks like in a month.

twin comparisons

2010-01-19T12:56:00.002-08:00

it's probably wrong to compare twins, isn't it? even though they look alike, i know they aren't ever the same personality wise. but i have been noticing things with the little beasts.

chipmunk starts to get tired around noon while moon will last until nap time without a problem. at lunch today, chip was totally getting the sleepy eye look while moon was devouring lunch without a problem.

speaking of lunch, it used to be that moon was the super eater. but in the last few weeks, chip has become super duper eater girl. she finishes her meal waaaaaaaaaaay before her twin AND her big sister. now if i only knew where it all went. probably is metabolized immediately with her energy.

that's another thing. moon is definitely the more mellow of the two. she's very go with the flow. chip is so not that way. she'll run laps around the living room. just because. she's always walking faster, talking faster, swiping things from others faster. she is also the more restless of the two and has more of an issue falling asleep at nap time. she's the one you'll find standing on the chair in the dining room doing a little go go dance when no one is around.

they both bite. but moon goes for the arm and chip goes for the tips of the fingers. i don't know what their strategy is yet, but it's very constant!

they both love to clean up. they'll both sing the clean up song and get right to work. just wish big sister felt the same way! they know where things go and will more often than not put them in the right place. wonder how long that will stick!?

chip has a shoe fetish. she will try and steal pc's shoes at least a handful of times a day. she's on her way to becoming the little imelda marcos. moon seems to enjoy accessorizing with hats more.

they both love (no, make that adore) music, but chip is the one who will be first to bust a move. i have seen moon sneekily go and break out some steps when she thinks i'm not looking.

babies. omg, they love playing babies. right now all 3 of them are in pc's room and are taking care of various babies. moon just came to show me her bowl and spoon that she's using to feed her baby. they cradle them, love them, burp them and then throw them to the ground in favor of something else. but the love is true while it lasts.

it seems that every set of twins i have known have been like these two...similar yet very different. and i think that's good. i wouldn't want my closest sibling to be JUST.LIKE.ME. but it does make me curious as to why it works out the way it does. how does one become so outgoing and one is so reserved? what happens in utero to decide their fate? anyone know of any sites or any readings about this sort of thing? i'd love to find out!

nothing too exciting

2010-01-19T11:21:00.002-08:00

there's really not much to report here from the work front at this point. everything is pretty much the same.

the house is a mess.

the parents don't know how to say no.

we have no butter.

there are more toys than last week.

the carpet really disgusts me.

on a good note, the twins haven't been sick in a few weeks. i know i just jinxed it by putting it out there, but it's been so nice to have them in good, normal toddler moods.

pc just had her 4th birthday. the urge for costume changes throughout the day seems to have taken grasp of her and not let go. she's back in the first costume she had on this morning. we'll see how many more take shape.

we're all slightly waterlogged due to the nonstop rain we've had since about saturday evening. i'm looking forward to tomorrow when we have to be out of the house for the greater part of the day. today and yesterday were stay at home days (i'd love to get out but with 3 kids and rain and puddles, it's easier just to stay in) so i'm chomping at the bit to be out and about.

i'm sure something will happen soon worth venting/bragging/complaining/swooning about!

it was good while it lasted

2010-01-12T10:48:00.002-08:00

no, i haven't left. yet.

remember all the rules and organization and the motivation to get stuff worked out in the house? yeah, that's so over it's not even funny.

to sum it all up without going into gory details, i arrived monday morning to a house that was a total disaster. the floor in the living room crunched under my feet and things stuck to the dining room table because it hadn't been wiped clean. high chairs were crusty, breakfast dishes were all over the place and pc's room look like a cyclone hit it.

now, if i was to LEAVE the house in this condition, i would be reamed. but it's ok for them to leave it like this? whatever. respect should work both ways.

i took some video of the house this morning and will edit it all together later if i get the chance. i want you to see what i actually deal with every single day. i don't know if the video will do it justice, but at least you'll have some idea.

and hearing the comment from pc after i told her the house was a mess and we needed to clean up to make it healthier and safer "yeah, mommy and i don't like having a messy house" just about drove me to the brink. mommy doesn't do jack. she tries to look like she's keeping it all together, but if that was the case, the floor would be vacuumed, clothes would be put away, the couch wouldn't be stained with a variety of things, etc. i am the one that keeps this house together with any sort of order.

i'm about to have my head explode from pc's room. she has so much CRAP and there is nowhere to put it. who needs hundreds of stuffed animals? who needs a giant stuffed pony AND a giant stuffed dog in an already overcrowded, unorganized room? SERIOUSLY?!

i just walk in and can feel the chaos that floats around in this house. and it drives me batty! my head feels cluttered the instant i step foot in the door. all of a sudden i'm surrounded by missing socks, opened packages going stale on the counter, a drawer full of storage containers that goes unused, plates of leftovers covered with a too small sheet of saran wrap, toys with no place to go, stained and mismatched clothing on children, a bathroom that i know is growing mold, a carpet that could feed a small country if you squeezed out the contents........oy.

at least the kids are healthy! (and you KNOW i just jinxed that, right?)

things that make me go hmmmm

2009-12-16T15:06:00.002-08:00

on the work front....

the twins are obsessed with the bathroom. if you close the door to use it, they will freak out and wail at the door until you open it. then they will stand right at the door jam and just watch.
mom and dad must not know how to close a box. every box of anything in this house is wide open, which means that everything inside those boxes is stale. same with bags of chips. nothing tasty about a stale tortilla chip.
what is the point of having storage containers for the fridge if you just put leftovers on a plate and put a sheet of plastic wrap on it (not even sealing the plate. just on top)?
as far as i have seen, the twins refuse to eat any sort of meat unless it's in meatball form. and most days they refuse that too. they also aren't fond of milk. could be because mom and dad feed them mac and cheese most nights.
what good are the millions of bibs you have if you refuse to use them? ruining small children's clothes ends up costing money. and i'm not having them look like orphans.
will the twins ever grow out of crying at the drop of a hat? i will reprimand them in a very non threatening tone (oh, be careful moon! you don't want to hurt your foot!) that verges on super happy and they will just bawl inconsolably. and when that starts, there is nothing i can do to stop them.
where the frack are half of the girls' socks? the missing sock box is stuffed full and i have yet to find their matches.
if you fired the gardeners so that you could tend to your yard yourself, when are you going to actually tend to it?
do you really think it's ok to use a disgusting dish sponge over and over again?
i'm really trying to figure out what professor mommy saw in silicon valley daddy to make her fall in love with him, marry him and bear his children. cuz i'm not seeing it. she gripes about how absent minded and irresponsible he is and won't leave him alone with the kids, but she's crazy for him. whatevs.
what would they do if they didn't have a nanny 5 days a week for 40 hours and a grandma next door that covers the time i'm not here?
why do i even bother asking?

this morning's chain of events

2009-12-16T11:14:00.002-08:00

text message while getting ready for work from professor mommy: is there gymnastics today?
me: yes.
her: ok, where is her leotard?
me: i thought it was in the drawer. (um, where it's supposed to be)
her: found it.

i get to work and find that pc is still eating breakfast (and in a super full pull up from the night before). moon, who got sick yesterday with a virus that pc had over the weekend, is still looking haggard. even more haggard is chipmunk, who came down with it in the middle of the night. i tell mom that i don't feel comfortable taking the twins with us to gymnastics for fear of spreading the virus, let alone that they should be at home getting better. she agrees and tells me they've been up (and so has she) since 4 am. grandma, who has come over to help, leaves for work. dad had to leave at 6 am to head farther up the state for a meeting this morning.

i go to get clothes for pc so that we can get ready to go to gymnastics. i am under the assumption that since mom is home until she has to leave for a meeting in the afternoon, that she will stay with the sick twins. as i gather up pc's stuff, mom asks me:

mom: so, is she going to gymnastics? what's going on?
me: um, you don't want her to go?
mom: so you want to stay home and you want me to take her?
me: so you don't want anyone to go?
mom: that was my plan. were you thinking otherwise?

she had mentioned something about getting a quick nap in before her meeting, but i assumed that she would do that after i got back with pc from gymnastics.

no. instead, she is going to nap and then go to her meeting and be gone all day. i find it interesting how she HAS to be out of the house on a day like this. it always seems to be the case. yesterday, when i could handle it all myself, she demanded she stay home and work so that she could be there if i needed help. funny, help never came.

i felt very belittled after our conversation. her tone was so snippy that i wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but i just clammed up and went into the other room. i know she's tired, but c'mon. she should be very appreciative of the fact that she has a mother next door who is at her beck and call and a nanny who puts up with constant illness. and wtf would she do if she had neither at her fingertips? she'd have to keep her ass awake and deal with her sick kids. all. day. long.

supposedly, her meeting is at noon and it's now 1128 am. she's still asleep. i'm not going to go and make sure she's up. *shrug*

then yesterday she made jokes about how she would probably get sick after the twins and then i would. i flat out told her that i cannot get sick yet again and be with my family. i was sick at thanksgiving and i am NOT going to be sick for christmas. if i start to feel like crap over the weekend, you can bet i am calling in on monday.

also, on monday i came into work and she was telling me how pc was sick over the weekend. she then tells me that dumb daddy took pc out on the bike in the cold to go to the coffee shop. ok, if your kid is sick, keep them at home. do not spread a virus by taking her to a place where a bunch of people gather.

right now the twins are crashed out for an early nap. at 10 am neither one of them could keep their eyes open, so i put them down with little complaint. yesterday, moon slept for 3 hours in the late morning due to being sick and tired, so we'll see what happens this go around.

wish me luck.

goings on

2009-12-09T15:12:00.003-08:00

greetings from the land of nanny snot!

i am on the last bits (knock on wood) of the cold that i got from the girls right before thanksgiving. i think if i blow my nose anymore, it just may fall off. all the girls are still snotty but seem to be feeling 100%.

i did spend my trip to my nephew's baptism feeling like utter poo. i don't think it helped that i was on an airplane 2 out of the 3 days either. nothing like recycled air to bring you down! but, the baptism went off without a hitch and i got to squeeze the little man until he could no longer be squeezed (and at 17.5 lbs at 3 months, there is a LOT to squeeze!).

things have been going well with the organization. the girls all love to help clean up before nap and at the end of my workday. i think moon may be destined to become a professional organizer because that girl gets on task and gets it done! either that or chipmunk is going to be able to bribe her into doing HER chores as well. we shall see!

i have to admit that i did cave and cleaned out their freezer on monday and their pantry on tuesday. i was just tired of opening up either and having things so haphazardly tossed in that they would fall out. in both cases i found food from back in 2005, 3 packages of fish sticks (all opened), 5 packages of chocolate chips (half expired), more meatballs than one could ever need and a load of taco seasoning. let's see how long it takes to all go to pot once again. i'm giving it a month.

pc has been having some potty issues lately. she turns 4 in mid january, but is all of a sudden "forgetting" that she has to pee. she has 1) peed in her carseat on the way home from school with mom 2) peed in the stroller while out for a morning walk with her family 3) peed herself and lied about it to me, going as far as to hide the pants and the underwear and then blatantly lie to my face and tell me that she changed because she was hot and that she put her pajamas away where they belong. #3 happened just yesterday and i was pretty amazed with her technique. i asked her if she had put her jammies away and she said yes. when i asked her if i was to go in her room, would i find them where they belong? and she answered YES! so, i believed her. silly me.

dad, as always, is a lost cause. we've (me and mom) been giving him rules to follow about barging into the house in the middle of the day and how he handles the kids when he comes in. basically, he walks into the house to use the bathroom before heading off again, while on a business phone call. the twins cry as soon as they see him and want to be picked up. he'll either try to carry both while on the phone, or just pick up one and leave the other in the dust. then 5 minutes later, he is out the door again, leaving them in shambles. i am left to pick up the pieces. so, long story short, mom and i gave him rules to follow (if you're coming in, be ready to be dad and not work guy) and he's failing miserably. he messed it up again today. yay.

i haven't done anymore research on school vs. new job yet because of thanksgiving/sick/travel/work/still sick/prepping for xmas. i want to get on task with that soon so that i can be ready for whatever may come my way!

i'm hoping you're all doing well. rebecca, i'm so excited that you got the loan and the apt. sarah, you're new gig sounds great! just remember to communicate as soon as you feel the need and save yourself all the issues i'm dealing with!

take care, everyone!

those faces!

2009-12-09T15:09:00.001-08:00

moon in one of my favorite pictures of her currently

chipmunk giving her token look (and yes, that shirt is WAY fitting for her)

all eyes and smiles

2009-12-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

moon flashes the baby blues

chipmunk bats the lashes

hanging out and happy

2 sides of pc

2009-12-09T15:02:00.002-08:00

modeling the latest fashions

casting spells just like harry

it's official

2009-11-24T14:01:00.002-08:00

i have officially decided to start looking for a new gig of some sort. it may end up not being a nanny position and i am ok with that.

i had a revelation yesterday in the middle of yet another day filled with sick twins and a whiny big sister. i was in the minivan and had just driven the twins around for over an hour to get them to sleep. they were so congested and the snot was so thick in their throats/noses that they couldn't breathe when laying down. they were miserable and so was i. i thought about how this more than likely means that i will be getting sick again. and then i thought about how i am going to meet my new nephew this weekend and cannot afford to get sick. this led me to think about all the times in the last year and a half that i have gotten sick because the babies have been sick. and i decided i was tired of paying the price with my health.

so, i sent a text out to all the people i knew that had ties in the bay area. it said "please keep your eye out for any great nanny gigs or some other job that i would rock at. i am officially looking". the most amazing part was that out of the 8 people i sent it to, 5 of them replied immediately with support and/or suggestions. with that, the weight was lifted and i actually felt relief.

what harm will there be in seeing what is out there? i am not obligated to take any job, but i can see what is available. if nothing pans out, then at least i am secure in this job. but, if something comes up that is bigger and better than where i currently am, i can leave. i've given about 3.5 years to this job and the last 1.5 years have been filled with frustration, illness, lack of energy and lack of respect. i love the girls, but i have to love myself more at this point.

wish me luck.

mix and match

2009-11-09T10:43:00.002-08:00

am i the only nanny out there that has employers who can't match their children's clothing to save their lives?

i get to work today and both the twins are dressed. pc picks out her own unmatched clothes, so i can't fault her. she's 3.5. but when i see what one of the twins is wearing, it just slays me. moon is wearing a velvet, long sleeved top with green, light blue, yellow and orange stripes and a lion on the back. her pants are a hot pink base with a wild flower pattern on the legs and striped flares at the bottom. i'm assuming daddy dressed her because i know his theory would be "well, they have the same colors in them!"

lucky for me, her pants were wet from the milk she poured into her lap from breakfast (that no one noticed but me). so, i got to change her pants and put on the ones that actually came WITH the top. call me crazy, but i am NOT going to take out 3 children that are all dressed like little mismatched hobos. instantly, people assume that i have no skills when it comes to dressing small people. like i said before, with pc it's ok. she's 3.5 and doesn't know any better. but with 2 small creatures that can't dress themselves yet, well.............

i wish i would have taken a picture before i changed her pants. i think i may have to start making that a feature on this blog. perhaps i'll call it "little miss matched". stay tuned.

small miracles

2009-11-03T15:39:00.001-08:00

i convinced mom to get organized.

so far so good! we've organized dressers, we've weeded through toys. we've labled. we've purged. and it's SO nice. we are far from done, but it's such a great start that i need to keep pinching myself to see if it's really happened.

however, silicon valley daddy has come back from his latest business trip and has already managed to screw it up a bit. when it came time to clean up the massive mess he made with pc last night, he just threw the toys into random places, leaving me and mommy to pick up the pieces.

my response.

2009-10-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

ok, i thought i'd check email while the girls are all totally engrossed in building with blocks (and not arguing over them! yay!) and i read this email and laughed and nodded my head in agreement with you on almost everything. i feel you. i really do.

let's see if i can go through point by point and let you know my feelings too......

i know when i can't find something i go look in the minivan and then i look in the garage (strollers). i will look in bags in the house and under the bed in pc's room and under the couches. usually they turn up, but on occasion (such as the stuff i've listed) i can't find it anywhere and it drives me batty too! you're right. where could it go?

i asked ____ about the broom a few weeks ago and his answer was "oh it's probably out on the deck". i have looked and i think the squirrels took it because it's NOT there. i'm thinking i may have to go look in his cave at naptime. with the scissors, i've only seen them in one place (the drawer in the kitchen) and then they weren't there. good thing those were finally found. i actually bought a new pair and hid them in the rat closet on the left side up on a shelf. they are still in packaging and figured they could hide out there if we ever needed them. :)

here's what i've noticed about things moving location and what i've tried to do about it. the kids play with play kitchen stuff and bring it into the front room. at cleanup time, it gets tossed in the baskets rather than back in the kitchen play area where it's 'home' is. i've gone through the house trying to find all the missing pieces to something one time and found pieces in every single basket in the house, as well as stuck in alyse's bags/purses and in her bed. i've tried to ogranize things into various bins in the past but you've told me that you just want to have places to toss stuff in and that you're not good at organizing the stuff (paraphrased, of course...).

in regards to the fridge, i have tried various things with the girls and most stuff they will NOT eat for me. i've tried the ham and the turkey and some of the other things you've mentioned at lunch time, like the meatballs and they just won't eat it. i end up sticking with things that i know they like just to get some food in them. so i'm sorry that stuff ends up going to waste, but i'm trying on that end. of course, it seems their tastes vary from week to week so it's always an adventure.

i'd love to help you organize stuff. i feel i work much better if things are organized. i've tried in the past to get stuff organized here, but then it ends up only lasting a few days. for example, i went through the kids drawers in the kitchen and organized all the cups, lids, straws, bowls, etc. the twins had one drawer and pc had the other. 2 days later they were totally destroyed and i couldn't find any of the pieces for pc's camelbak sippie. i've tried organizing baskets, but after a day that's shot because stuff gets randomly tossed into other baskets. alyse and i have organized her room and after a few days it was back to being chaotic again. i've tried to get the girls dresser drawers organized so that outfits are in one pile, shirts in another, pants in another. but when someone else puts laundry in or goes to find clothes for the twins, it gets disorganized.

so, here are my ideas:

things need homes. shoes go on the shelves. blocks go in the block box. dolls go in the cradle. bibs go in the basket on the new table/shelf thing, etc.
we need to keep a running list of what we are in/out of stock on. that way you aren't buying too much of something and not enough of another.
things need to get brought in from cars by the end of the day.
if we find toys are missing pieces and/or are broken, they are gone (either donated or tossed). we definitely don't need more toys.
i'll start a cleanup with the girls a half hour before i go home everyday. we'll also get cleanups before naps.
do laundry for the girls on certain days. that way the washer/dryer will be available and i can get stuff put away by the end of the day.
get the girls involved in all of it. pc feels better when she helps out and knows where her stuff is and the babies like to 'help'.
work together to establish basic house rules of where things go and what we do with them. formulate some routines that get the girls involved.
make sure that leftovers/food are properly sealed and put away in the fridge/freezer to extend their shelf life.

those are just some ideas i shot out there. i know that it will basically come down to you and me instilling them in the house and i am ok with that. i have no problem with reminding ___ when he doesn't abide. :)

if you want, i will gladly get started on things. i'd like to start with pc's room since a lot of random things end up in there with her squirreling habits.:) and then i'll move on from there.

you don't need an organizer since you've got me! we may be able to weed out toys that aren't played with, clothes that don't fit, broken toys, toys with missing parts, etc. we'll find homes for everything and work on keeping it that way. i know that if you and i are on the same page it will work.

so, let's do this. thanks for letting me know how you feel about it all too. i know i've been wanting to get stuff organized since the twins were born to help everything run a little bit more smoothly, but honestly thought i may be the only one enforcing it so i stopped trying so hard.

email me back or we'll talk later when you get home. in either case, i'm on board with you.

correspondence

2009-10-27T13:05:00.002-07:00

so, the other day i emailed mom and grandma because pc was missing all her shoes. there were 2 single shoes from various pairs on the shelf and i couldn't find the mates or any other shoes anywhere. she's also been missing a couple of jackets and the broom has vanished from the house. there are also about 10 pairs of socks that have missing mates.

this is the response i got from mom today....enjoy! the _____ is referring to daddy. my response will be in the next post.

Hi --

-- Converse shoe was sadly lost on Sunday when it fell out of the stroller on the way home (was taken off at playground due to sand), and could not be found even by my friend who was with us and went back to search the way we had walked again after wwe couldn't find it. Those were such great shoes, I've ordered another pair in the next size up, since those were just starting to get snug.
-- Nikes located, along with pink and purple crocs
-- Have not seen the gap shoe or flip flops, but I hate the flip flops because she trips in them if she tries to walk any distance and insists on wearing them to the playground where they are NOT safe
-- Have not seen sweaters
-- Have not seen broom

I mean, where could that broom have gone? Or the scissors (which ___ produced from the garage when I complained that all the scissors were gone)? I know I didn't take them anywhere, but I have no idea who/where/how these objects were moved.

This stuff drives me ****nuts****. I feel like nothing is ever where I last put it. Sometimes I'll even see something in the morning (e.g., ____'s toothbrush yesterday morning), but when I look for it at night, it's no longer anywhere to be found. Or I'll put a toy in a particular place and then the next day, the toy is somewhere else and I can't even find the container it goes in. Or the container now has something else in it. I'm not sure why this is such a problem. Do the kids move things (yes, sometimes)? Do the cleaner's move things? (yes, sometimes)? Do things get left in cars and strollers (yes, sometimes -- just last week, I was going batty looking for the twins striped hoodies and then found you had left them in the minivan -- and of course, I often leave things there, too, sometimes since there isn't always a free hand to carry everything)? Do things get dropped in the park (yes, sometimes)? Is it the problem that there are at least four adults regularly in the house (me, you, _____, my mom) who may put things back in different places, each thinking that the place they put things is the "spot" for a particular thing and not realizing that someone else thinks somewhere else is the "spot" for that thing (yes, probably)? Like, my mom and I put the twins' plastic plates with the big people plates on the shelf, while you and _____ typically seem to put them in the sippy cup drawers. I don't think either place is the "right" place for those plates in some abstract Platonic sense of the right and the good, but they keep getting moved because each of us thinks there's a natural spot but we don't all agree on what that natural spot is and we have no system for communicating the organization! (Okay, I think you, me and my mom may each think we're putting things back in their "spot", albeit in different spots, while it's possible that ____ doesn't have a system he's trying to follow.)

I've thought of getting a label maker and sticking labels all over the house indicating where things "go", but I'm not sure it would help. A professional organizer? Do we need less stuff? More room to put it? I mean, I never had five pairs of shoes as a kid -- I had two at any one time (sneakers and dress shoes) and I never lost them. The refrigerator is a nightmare, too -- everyone puts things like leftovers in, but then isn't quite sure who put something in and therefore doesn't throw it out. I keep trying to institute sticker systems so we know when to throw things out, but no one else understands or follows the sticker systems, or PC randomly stickers everything when I'm not looking. I buy so much food that never gets eaten. I just threw away perfectly good turkey and ham that was overlooked, and there are all kinds of vegetables for the girls -- a squash, sweet potatoes -- that are about to go bad, because you don't see them to cook for lunch. I feel like I organize the fridge every other week and it deteriorates within days. Not to mention the sippy cups and the difficulty in reassembling them once a straw assembly is separated from its cup. And the freezer, which is loaded with kid lunch food that never gets served -- chicken nuggets, three types of meatballs, trader joe's risotto and gnocchi that the kids like -- because it's too hard to get it out.

I'm not, by the way, blaming you for any of this -- I just can't figure out how to get control of it. Hire an organizer? Have a labelling day where we all agree where things go together? Get rid of excess stuff?

AAAARRGH. Sorry to go on so long, but you have hit on one of the MAJOR aggravations of my daily life. It drives me bananas.

venty vent vent........you've been warned

2009-10-20T13:28:00.003-07:00

silicon valley daddy is getting on my last nerve. it is all i can do to even stand talking to him anymore. i would rather sock him in the neck. i don't know if i'm having another sinus headache or a stupid headache from him.

today:

he is doing some work on his computer and phone at the dining room table. when he gets on the phone, everything around him ceases to exist. and he paces. all over the house. so, 8:30 this morning he is talking and pacing and ignoring everything around him.
mom brings pc in to the room i am in with the babies and tells us that daddy is on the phone and she doesn't trust him, so she brought pc in so that she'd be watched.
i close the door to the dining room and keep the kids in pc's room in the hopes that daddy will be done and heading to work in a few minutes.
20 minutes later, daddy comes barging out the dining room door, swings it open without looking to see if a baby is nearby, heads into the bathroom and shuts that door. when he comes back out, he throws open the dining room door that i had just closed and doesn't bother to close it. all the while he is talking on his phone.
10 am? still working. he's on the phone, has his stuff all over the dining room table, is pacing.
11 am. still at it. meanwhile, we are now sequestered in the front room where the door actually closes and latches so i know that the kids can't get out and i get a little warning of him coming in.
finally at 11:30, i take all 3 kids into the dining room because it is lunch time. he is still on the phone and as soon as we come in, he leaves the room.
halfway into lunch, pc starts the whine and moan about how she didn't get to play with daddy at all that morning and wants to play with him right then and there. i tell her she has to finish her lunch to which she starts crying. right after saying he's running late and needs to get into the office, he changes his mind and decides he's going to take her for a walk after she eats.
i tell him it's ok as long as she is home by 1 for a nap. at 11:50 am he says he is going out to the back office to print out something and will be back in in 10 minutes and for pc to pee and get shoes on so they can go.
30 minutes later he still isn't back in the house. pc has been dressed and ready for him and has been sitting by the door waiting. i have her go out to ask when he'll be ready.
the next thing i know, they are gone. i can't find them anywhere. not only does he not tell me they are leaving, but i find her jacket laying on the floor by the back door. she's got a cold and a cough and it's cold outside.
12:30 i hear the door open and shut. i go to see what's going on and he is strapping her into his seat on the bike with no jacket. i ask why she isn't wearing it and his response is "the weather isn't too bad" to which i reply "but she is sick". he says "well give me it and we'll bring it if she wants to wear it. " whatever, fucker.
she comes home at 1:10 (so much for being home on time) and has scrapes on both her elbows. she tells me that daddy made that happen and he says something about it is from the slide. in either case, i clean them up and bandage them and he then decides to make her a pb and j sandwich. it's now 1:20.
finally at 1:30 i get her into bed. she's a big sobbing mess because she doesn't want to leave daddy and wants mommy home RIGHT now.
if he had just let me do my job, she'd be zonked out by now and there would have been no tears or injuries.

i'd just like to say THANK GOD for hulu online. i let the girls watch a couple of episodes of the electric company and harold and the purple crayon. it kept them happy and quiet for a good amount of time. this will be my new go to when nothing else works. they said i can't watch tv, but they didn't say anything about stuff on the computer!

sick again

2009-10-16T13:27:00.001-07:00

well, at least they were healthy for about a week and a half.

the twins are sick again. this time, chipmunk has a raging cold that has so much snot, it actually makes me nauseous to wipe her nose. it's in her hair, all over her face, down her arms.....you name it. moon isn't too bad yet, but she always gets it second, so i'm just waiting.

it really makes me wonder what the real reason is behind them always being sick. they are 16 months old and have spent the majority of their lives with some sort of illness of another. is it their immune system? is it because they don't eat well and that affects their immunity? is it because sister is in preschool and brings home germs? is it the dirty house? is it their crappy sleep? or is it just a combo of everything?

pc was never sick like this. she got one bad bout with a tummy bug and has had several bad colds. but she was never like this. THEY. ARE. ALWAYS. SICK. and my health is suffering because of it.

what can i do to help boost their immunity? or am i just screwed?

nightie night!

2009-10-15T15:26:00.002-07:00

everyone gets home from music class (for some reason mom feels that she needs to take them without me. she has her mother go along. pc kept asking her why nana didn't go along anymore and all mom could say was "well, grandma just thinks you're so cute in your music class". ok)

anyhoo, everyone gets home from music class and the babies are just about asleep. grandma comes in and is holding one. "should i just put her down to sleep?" to which i respond yes. second one comes in with mom looking just about passed out and they go into the other room. next thing i know, pc is running after them, so i go after her.

we find mom nursing again (it's only been an hour). this is how she calms them down, soothes them, shuts them up and gives in whenever they even eye her chest. i know right then how the rest of the moment is going to go.

a few minutes later i hear mom trying to put the girls down for their naps. they are screaming so loud that it makes me wonder if the neighbors can hear. they are just wailing at the top of their lungs. i hear mom trying to shhhhh shhhhhh them (which doesn't work btw) and finally just closed the door and tells them goodnight.

she then comes to me (they are still screeeeeeeeeeaming) and says "can you go in there so they think we're serious?" once again, i am the nap nazi. so, i go in and they are both standing up just beside themselves.

first i pick up moon who is easier to get to bed, check her diaper, take off her pants and socks and put on her sleepsack. i tell her what i am doing and what is coming next. she calms down immediately and helps me get her sister's sleepsack ready on the changing table. we snuggle for a minute (by this time chipmunk has calmed down hearing me tell moon what is going on and waits patiently for her turn), i have her turn the music on on her mobile and i lay her down. next, i do the same things with chipmunk and get her into her crib. i sing them a few verses of "you are my sunshine" and the next thing i know, moon is out cold. it takes chipmunk a little longer to fall asleep. if she gets too wound up before a nap, it's hell to get her to sleep. she will fidget and fuss and totally sabotage her nap.

i ended up holding one of her hands gently so that she would stop flailing them anytime her eyes drooped. 5 minutes later, she is out cold too. all it took was our regular nap routine to calm them down and zonk them out. duh.

i can imagine what nap time and bed time are like at this house when i am not around. if this is how mom tries to get them to go to sleep, i can see why i often hear that naps were so miserable and nonexistent over the weekend. and if she actually weaned them, i think it would be a helluva lot easier for her to get them down.

it frustrated me to see how the girls were when i walked in. i was also extremely grateful that they are as good as they are with me when it comes to napping. i've got it easy and have no right to complain when they fuss for a few minutes. what i saw today was the total other end of the spectrum.

what would they do without me here? if and when i leave, how will they ever find someone who will stick around as long as i have? seriously.

quote of the day

2009-10-15T15:21:00.002-07:00

professor mommy comes in from working out in her backyard office to take the girls to music class. all 3 kids great her with either screams or cries at the back door. the babies are like pavlov's dog and as soon as they see her, they want to nurse. we've gone over that part before.

so, she tells them that she will let them nurse and proceeeds to go sit on the couch. they climb up on either side of her and claw at her shirt until she lets them at her boobs. this time they are actually somewhat curled up on either side of her rather than standing like they are ordering drinks at a bar. anyhow, the convo goes as follows:

(mom) ok girls, mommy is going to let you nurse now so that you won't be asking to at music class. that's embarrassing.

(pc asks) why is that embarrassing? why do they want to nurse at music class?

(mom) it's embarrassing because if mommy wants to nurse your sisters, she has to lift up her shirt in class and no one wants to see mommy's boobies.

meanwhile, i am thinking that this is MORE than enough reason to want to wean them. also, how about using the word NO when they claw at you like famished beasts. she NEVER ever tells them no....even if it's only been a short amount of time since they last nursed.

these girls are 16 months old. they are drinking cows milk. they are eating regular meals. if they can walk up to you and order milk on demand, i think it's about time to cut them off at the pass.

rained in

2009-10-13T10:44:00.002-07:00

it's pouring, which means me and the beasts are indoors today. perhaps if the rain calms down any, we may venture out for lunch, but i'm thinking it is a totally in the house day.

of course, the day couldn't start off smoothly. i rush to get into work (traffic was horrible) and no one is home. of all days, mom has to get into work and dad decides to take all three kids in the minivan to go to coffee. honestly, he doesn't know how to stay home and just play with them when he has them all on his own. so, when they get home a few minutes after i get in, the girls come in. soaked. the babies heads are soaked and their clothes are wet. they aren't wearing jackets. they've just gotten over colds. hmph.

i take chipmunk and change her clothes. i trade her for moon and do the same. once the girls are all warm and cozy, i realize daddy has vanished. i'm guessing he went to work although his car is still in front of the house. so, i decide to make sure the minivan is locked since he never locks car doors. i click the button on the key fob and the car won't honk. obviously something is wrong.

i put on shoes, grab my umbrella and go out to find the minivan with the middle doors still wide open. yay. go figure. so, i lock up the car and head back in to call dad and figure out wtf he is. only, i can't find the house phone. i press the find button, but it lets me know that the battery on the phone is dead and can't locate it. i have no idea where it is. i fish out my cell and give him a call, only to find out he's hiding out in his office in the garage. i let him know he left the doors open and would like if he tells me next time he's leaving the house and get back to business.

once i turn the heat down, the girls get to work on playing. they've been all 3 playing together for the last hour or so with only a break for a snack, which they devoured. i love days when they all get along so well. i like to lay off a bit so that they have that time to be sisters and learn to play together and figure out how to make it all work. i know when dad comes home all he does is hold the babies, so i want them to be mobile and active as much as possible. plus, their appetite increases, so it's all good. not to mention it frees me up to relax a bit here and there. :)

moon just brought me some sort of imaginary concoction she made in their play. i'm guessing it's soup, as that's what they all are experts in pretend making. i can hear them when they venture into the front room on the monitor and big sis pc is taking the lead "reading" to them and singing songs and making music class. of course, the beasts just eat up any attention she gives them.

next on the agenda is lunch and a possible after lunch dance party. they have taken to reggae music, so i may have to go get that B is for Bob cd out of my car. let the good times roll.

a helpful hint

2009-10-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

if you give your toddler a stick of string cheese in the car, make sure you clean out the car when you get home so it doesn't reek of old milk when your nanny goes to use the car on monday. thanks.

the little people

2009-10-09T14:40:00.002-07:00

i have to admit something.

when i am home with just the twins, i am so stress free it's not even funny. they even act different and it's so obvious. today, mom took pc to school and is heading to the office. so it's just me and the little beasts. i meet up with mom and said beasts after their playgroup and we switch children and cars. she takes off with pc to school and i take off with the babes to have lunch.

the babes fall asleep in the car (as usual) and are a bit out of sorts when we get in. but i calmly wake them up, suggest that we have lunch (which when they are actually hungry, excites them) and get them into their highchairs with little fuss. today they chowed down and were filled to the brim when lunch was over. then the fun began.

chipmunk and moon LOVE to play with eachother. it's one of the dynamics of twins that amazes me. they are totally in sync with eachother and have a blast together. i have never heard moon chortle as much as i did this afternoon. and she was making herself laugh! i turn around and she is piling magnetic letters into a play pot and cracking up as they go in. meanwhile, chipmunk hears her and starts giggling too, strictly based on hearing her sister.

from there, i am bombarded at random moments with strong puckered kisses, pats on the leg and hugs. they share their toys with me, bringing them to me and placing them gently in my hands. they then tilt their head to the side, comment to me in baby speak and go about their business. it's like they are having a good time, but they want to make sure that i am kept happy as well.

then it comes time for nap. all i have to do is say "girls, let's head to your room for diapie changing" and we are off. we get diapers changed, sleep sacks on, songs sung and lights out. now when i walk out of the room, they don't cry. they say "bye bye!" and wave as i close the door. yeah, hi cute.

and they hug. oh, how they hug. before nap, they will snuggle up on my chest and shoulder and really squeeze. and that alone makes the crap all worth it. nothing is better than unconditional love from a child.

so yeah, i am enjoying my 1 on 2 :) time with them. i look forward to it, even if i do feel a bit guilty that i would rather share time with them than pc at the moment.

they are at the stage right now that is so fun. 16 months and full of new knowledge every single day. they love that they wear big girl shoes. they want to volunteer to get a diaper changed first. they LOVE music. they ask for it by doing a little dance/hand motion thing and get so excited when i put on a cd. chipmunk has even started tapping her foot to her favorite songs. they play instruments and dance. they sing with pretend microphones that make their voices echo.

**warm fuzzies**

living with autism

2009-10-09T12:53:00.002-07:00

watched this video on youtube today and was amazed by how this woman describes what it's like to be autistic.

food and the finicky twosome

2009-10-08T11:37:00.002-07:00

these twins refuse to eat most foods. give them grilled cheese, peas and strawberries and they are good. give them just about anything else and they spit it out or throw it. they also aren't fond of drinking cow's milk. they will sip at water throughout the day, but don't even really drink that. i have some theories on why they have issues with eating:

the family rarely eats together. the highchairs are on the other side of the dining room and on rare occasion are brought over to the table. basically, if the whole family is eating at once (which is a RARE event), the babies are on one side of the room while everyone else is at the table.

these babies have never been given any variety. they are plied with tons of fruit, but haven't been given a lot of variety in terms of any other food. when it comes to grocery shopping, they buy the same things over and over and over again (if they remember to buy them at all). so there's a lot of shredded cheese, a lot of yogurt (which they don't want to eat anymore) and tons of fruit. i've been trying to get them to get chicken tenders, more vegetables, basically VARIETY and they won't. so, the girls are used to a handful of foods.

it just kills me to see these girls are now 16 months old and still wearing 9 month old clothes. they haven't hit 2o lbs yet. as you know, i could go on and on and on. but i guess i'll just continue to feed them grilled cheese and peas.

fail.

2009-10-07T14:51:00.003-07:00

another reason why i've given up the fight. these drawers were organized by me yesterday afternoon. this is what i came into this morning:
i was in a super hurry to leave for gymnastics and since no one was ready when i got here, i was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. in those drawers i had to find pc's camelbak bottle, lid, straw and sippie spout. you can imagine how that went.

thanks for nothing

2009-10-06T15:09:00.001-07:00

you know what i love?

when i come into work sick (because of the kids, thanks) and find out mom is going to be home all day. what makes it even worse is when mom finds out how i'm feeling (and that i pulled a muscle in my back, didn't sleep at all the night before, etc) says "oh that's too bad".

what makes that even worse is when mom who is home all day makes her sicker than sick nanny work ALL day even though mom isn't doing anything of any importance.

that was my week last week.

picking and choosing battles

2009-10-06T14:57:00.002-07:00

i've chosen.

i am no longer going to clean out the refrigerator, no matter how impossible it is to find anything.
i am no longer going to try to pare down the freezer. everything is in open packages with freezer burn, so i'm not going near it.
i am no longer going to search high and low for missing sock pairs and mysteriously disappearing shoes. mismatched? oh well. it goes with the outfits dad chooses.
i am no longer going to try to organize the girls' dressers. i'll just throw in the clothes like everyone else does.
i am no longer going to search the house for sippie cups that vanish after a week. i know they are in the various strollers and/or cars, but that's not because of me.
i am no longer going to try to organize toys into any sort of system. i'm the only one that uses it.
i am no longer going to try and scrub stains out of the kids clothes. if mom and dad decide to not supervise and/or use bibs, then who am i to stop them?
i am no longer going to offer suggestions when asked. they never take them to heart and i just waste breath.
i am no longer going to try and get the children to understand rules. it seems that i am the only one that enforces them.

i've decided.

i am going to come to work with a smile on my face and not worry about the chaos that lives in the house.
i am going to start trying to remember to take my vitamins on a regular basis since these kids are always sick and now on the second week of a cold.
i am going to try to always pack a lunch because i can't rely on them to have food of any sort that is appealing.
i am going to continue to zone out when dad starts talking and/or doing his typical dad stuff. it's not my worry. i didn't marry the man.
i am going to stop arguing with a 3.5 year old that is used to always getting her way. zoning out may work there.
i am going to get through the day with the least amount of stress as possible.

translation

2009-09-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

Baby girl babbling about some hilarious topics - Watch more Funny Videos

finding the good

2009-09-28T13:29:00.002-07:00

pc can now write her name as well as just about any other word you spell out for her. she is now sounding out words and tells everyone she comes in contact with that she's "learning how to read".

on friday, she and i had a solo lunch date as mom took the twins to a playgroup (bet i know where the cold came from!). we went to our favorite mediterranean place and had shwerma, hummus, rice, pita and cucumber yogurt salad. the sisters that work their love her and she soaks it up. she was already on her best behavior because she was excited to be out without her sisters, so she was in rare form.

she saunters right up to order and the sister at the register asks her how old she is and the basic questions. turns out that she is going to be teaching preschool and is cracking up at pc's antics. pc proceeds to tell her "you know i like to talk a lot because i know a lot about harry potter". she tells her that we have to eat sort of fast because "you know i am going to a new school and we have to eat fast so i can get there and not be late".

pc picks a table for us and i go to get our drinks. i notice her talking to the girl that took our order when she brought our food over to the table. when i sit down, pc tells me "nana, i asked for an extra plate because i didn't want you to have to do all the work". well, thank you darlin.

we eat and have a great conversation. at the end, we have some leftovers, so i ask pc to go and ask her new friend for a small box. she hops right out of her chair and runs over to the girl. "excuse me. could we please have a small box?" she uses her pleases and thank yous and makes the girl swoon even more.

as we leave, i decide we'll go get a cookie at the bakery next door. we go and i order and when the lady asks if there is anything else, pc tells her "No, and it's TO GO!" and smacks her hand down on the counter with authority. nice.

THOSE are the times that make this job worthwhile. also, the little moments i get one of the babies by themselves to change a diaper or put their clothes on or something. they are precious. they are silly and sweet and bombard me with baby chatter, kisses, snuggles and just general cuteness.

luckily, the 3 sickies are all sleeping now. i've cleaned up the house and laundry is being finished. only a few more hours.......see? finding the good. :)

mondays.

2009-09-28T12:42:00.003-07:00

it figures. the monday after i go away for a weekend always results in being craptastic. always.

let's just make a basic list of what i encountered in my first 15 minutes back on the job.

pc pouring syrup on the babies high chair trays because "they like it".
babies then running their hands through the syrup and all over themselves rather than eating.
being told all the kids were sick all weekend and so it may be a rough day.
pc whining and crying and throwing a tantrum because she can't go to school because she is sick (i've seen no signs of her being sick but whatever).
pc then conning her daddy into letting her sit on his lap and have him feed her breakfast.
daddy cracking his lame ass jokes that i've just started to ignore. maybe he'll get the hint.
a new children's table and 4 chairs in the center of the dining room where there is not enough room for them.
said table has a surface you can write on with markers.
crammed into a corner of the dining room is a high table with shelves and baskets. it's wedged in between the dining room table and the loveseat. i am guessing this is a new station for stuff, although it just takes up more room and will be filled with crap in about 2 days time.
daddy gives babies markers to write on the table with and leaves the room. they then proceed to put them in their mouths, write on their shirts and run their hands through the ink on the table. when one starts writing on the chairs, i curse the table and put the markers away.
the fridge that i refuse to clean out anymore is even more crowded and i can't find a place to put the solitary pepsi i brought with me.
the hose that lets water from the washer drain into the sink next to it is spraying all over the laundry area of the back of the house. the floor has a pool of water on it which has leaked into the propped up ironing board pad and a basket of just dried clothes.
there are so many shoes and stuff by the inside of the back door that i have a hard time opening the door. most of the shoes are mom's.

happy monday!

the perfect nanny

2009-09-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

little bookworms

2009-09-23T14:19:00.003-07:00

one of the things i am so grateful for is that all the children i have surrounded myself with LOVE books. they straight out adore books.

currently, the twins will sit and "read" out loud. they sit a book in their lap and speak their secret baby language and tilt there head from side to side. the love is starting. they are very fond of sitting in a lap and listening to stories being read to them and pointing out the things they like in the pictures.

the pc has always been fond of books (even if that meant trying to eat them when she was a wee one) and can't wait to learn to read. she "studies" (her word) and is learning more and more everyday.

i devoured books when i was younger. i don't get a chance to read as much now, but i always have a stack of books at the ready. when i was little, i was all about richard scarry books and babar books. i can remember going to the local library with my mom when i was a little one and babar seems to stand out in my memory. as i became a little older, it was all about little house on the prairie. my mom's best friend would send me the next book in the series as a gift and i would tear into them as soon as i could. i read and reread them until the pages curled and the covers fell off. i recently bought the box set for myself and haven't had the heart to tear off the shrink wrap. it's like a preservation of a little nugget from childhood. i was also a fan of the wind in the door series by madeline l'engle. as a matter of fact, i bought those as well recently!

of course there were teen romance books and sweet valley high (now that is so aging me!). but regardless of what i was reading, i LOVED reading. my sister and i would hit up the library during the summer and come home with bags bulging with books. i'd take books everywhere with me and get lost in the stories. to this day, reading is a sweet retreat from reality for me.

ok, now that that tangent is over, i'd love to share with you a book i came across in pottery barn kids today. it's by one of my favorite children's authors: AMY KROUSE ROSENTHAL and it's called SPOON. i was with the girls on the way out of the store when i recognized the cover art. we sat right down and read it there and i fell in love with it.

basically, it is the story of a little spoon who feels his life is boring. knives get to cut and chopsticks are exotic and he's just a spoon. meanwhile, his cutlery friends are raving about how cool spoon is to their parents and wishing they were like HIM. at the end, he ends up "spooning" with his parents as they snuggle him up before bed. A-freakin-dorable! the story is sweet and the humor is something that adults and children will enjoy.

i've put it on my list of things to order the next time i hit up amazon. i think my niece will absolutely love it!

she also has some books called LITTLE OINK, LITTLE HOOT, and LITTLE PEA which just make my heart swell. i think i'll be getting the boxed set for my nephew as soon as it is released. check out the video below for LITTLE OINK:

i hate ikea high chairs.

2009-09-22T11:48:00.004-07:00

if you're not familiar with the ikea high chairs, go check them out HERE.

they are the root of all evil. in most regular high chairs you can adjust the tray so that it sits closer to the child and things don't fall through onto the lap. you can adjust the back on most high chairs. and most of them have contoured seats so that there aren't huge gaps and spaces so babies can put their feet up on the tray and such.

yeah, not the ikea high chair. this thing has a tray that isn't adjustable. there is about a 6 inch gap between the tray and the child's chest, leaving ample room for food to fall right into their laps. there is no 5 harness straps, only craptastic lap belts that don't do a damn thing. both girls have so much room that they are able to take their feet out of the leg holes and put them up on the tray. you can imagine how delightful that is.

here's a view from the top:
now i'm off to clean up the left over lunch carnage. :)

they won't nap.

2009-09-21T14:26:00.002-07:00

ever since pc started at her new school in the afternoons, the babies have been paying the price with their naps....or lack thereof.

pc needs to be at school about 15 minutes before the babies usually take their nap. now that i seem to be the one taking her all the time, i have to load everyone in the car and drive the 15 minutes to school. in the meantime, the babies either fall asleep on the way there or crash out as soon as we start to head back home.

problem with that is once i get home with them and take them out of the car to put them in their cribs, they are wide awake and won't sleep, only to crash and burn earlier in the evening. today has been the worst day yet, though.

mom asks me to bring pc to school and she will meet us there and take her in. but then she wants me to get there even earlier than normal so that she can nurse them since she won't see them until after dinner. (yes, still regularly nursing them at 15 months) i get there and both of them are asleep. she wakes them up (and they are not happy about it) to nurse them. then, she puts them back in their carriers and they lose it. one falls back asleep on the way home.

when i get them in the house and give them a few minutes to wind back down before putting them down, it all ends up in disaster. they are WILD and refuse to even lay down in their cribs. this was an hour ago. now i have one in tears at the slightest thing and one that is even more wired. fun.

looks like we will attempt a nap yet again and see what happens. pray my head doesn't explode.

it takes 2 to wrangle

2009-09-17T14:52:00.002-07:00

thankfully grandma did go with us to music.

as predicted, the babies fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got to music class. i wanted to let them sleep, but grandma said to wake them since they had just fallen asleep. we did and went to class.

pc was very mature and introduced herself and her sisters to the teacher. both the babes were somewhat unsure of the goings on and stuck close to either myself or grandma. that is, until chipmunk realized there was a door on the other side of the room that led out.

she tried for a while to go out the door and leave the room, but finally gave into dealing with class. then she noticed the teachers keyboard being unused in the other corner and proceeded to spend almost the rest of the class trying to go over to it and play it. grandma had her hands full chasing her down for 45 minutes while i had moon sitting peacefully in my lap not wanting to interact at all.

the last 10 minutes of class, chipmunk finally calmed down enough to play with some instruments on her own and actually sit down for more than a second. man, if this class didn't prove to me that my gut is right about her being possible hyperactive, then i don't know what could prove it.

pc loved class, of course. she does everything she's supposed to and is a great helper to the teacher, regardless of whether the teacher wants it or not. :) but no, really, she was great.

it makes a HUGE difference when a class is in the afternoon as opposed to the morning, as all our previous classes have been. my energy level isn't nearly as high as it is in the morning, so i am already straggling when we walk in the door. and bless the teacher's heart. she's amazing, but way too peppy for me. has anyone else ever done "music together" classes with their kids?

all in all it was successful. the girls are all crashed out now and i hope they will stay that way for at least another hour and a half. i am going to attempt to eat some lunch and cure the headache that's snuck into my brain.

bad

2009-09-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

i'm so tired today that i'm being bad. i'm letting the 3 girls interact pretty much on their own while i rest my brain. so far so good.

they've really begun to enjoy playing together, so i'm just encouraging it even more today. also, i'm dreading having to go to music class in a little while. found out last night via grandma that mom had originally planned to go with me but then forgot she had to work and grandma is going. i had no idea ANYone was going and would rather do it by myself. i know that we are going to have 3 kids fighting over grandma's lap. it would be even worse if mom goes. she's planning to go with me next week.

what i love is that i am expected to do it by myself for the most part, but mom won't say anything about "why don't i take them myself this time?" and it's because she isn't capable of taking all 3 kids outside of the house on her own. she's never done it. ever.

while one one side i am hoping that the girls actually lessen their stranger anxiety with this class, i am also being realistic and thinking that probably won't happen right away if at all. it's been BAD and i am now at the point where i am never sure which of the twins will be the one to freak out.

is it bad to cross my fingers that they fall asleep on the way there? i mean, it is RIGHT at their naptime. we shall see..........

update to follow this afternoon.

little man, photographer

2009-09-15T15:55:00.002-07:00

pictures taken by the little man of latifah and myself en route to logan airport. what's great is that the one of latifah was taken with the little man just putting the camera out and shooting backwards based on what direction i told him.

self portrait taken by the little man

2009-09-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

i dunno. i kind of like it.

i feel satisfied

2009-09-15T13:37:00.002-07:00

at least for the day.

yesterday i started on the task of sorting through the girls' toys. i had managed to get through all the baby toys yesterday and left pc's piles of fun for today.

lucky for me, all 3 girls were feeling very helpful and actually assisted me in putting things in their proper places. hearing pc say over and over again "nana! i am so happy that we are organizing my toys! i have so many boxes and i never know where anything is!" made me feel that it was actually worth it, even if it does last a day or two at the most.

i made a big point of telling pc how we will have time at the end of each day to put toys away in their proper places. that way she won't have to ask me where things are in order to play with something. she liked that idea and was excited to know we would have a place for everything. she did get a little militant at one point and didn't want the babies playing with anything that was put away, but once i let her know we could just clean up after they were done, she was more at ease. :)

i can't believe the difference it makes. pc actually was content to play in her room without a fuss and play with toys she hasn't seen in a while! the babies were so excited to have a whole box of musical instruments at their disposal, along with all the play food for the play kitchen, that they played and interacted with eachother all morning with no fights or issues. thank you!

not to mention that the house looks and feels so much better! it just sets my already over frazzled mind at ease. i told pc that once things are organized we can focus on just playing the rest of the day. i apologized for having to take time to clean up, but showed her that the end result was a good thing.

now, anyone want to place bets on how long it lasts? i'm saying that since today is tuesday, it will last until friday. then on monday when i come back to work, everything will be effed.

the ladies

2009-09-11T12:38:00.001-07:00

chipmunk, pc, moon
15 months and 3 years 8 months

stranger/separation anxiety

2009-09-10T13:57:00.002-07:00

it's not very consoling when i read things on the internets about stranger anxiety starting to wane in kids around 15 months of age and then i see how damn PARANOID the girls are of anything with eyes. they've actually become more anxious around strangers lately. it's so fun.

for example, i mentioned in a previous post that chipmunk had a meltdown at gymnastics on wednesday when she was freed from her stroller and realized that there were other people in the gym. she lost it..........screaming, clawing at me to pick her up and refusing to turn towards any direction that had even a glimpse of person in it. i ended up having to put her back in the stroller and have her face the wall. she was happy that way. if i even moved the stroller a centimeter, she freaked out.

moon isn't so bad. she warms up much faster and doesn't really ever freak out. she got right out of the stroller at the gym and toddled around pretty much the entire time. she would even smile at others if they smiled at her. but it still does occur with her from time to time.

ask anyone that has met them. my friend brenda can't look them in the eye or they both just crumble. their cousin's nanny can't either. i'm so excited to see what music class is going to be like when we start it up FULL of strangers next week.

i know this fades after time (at least to some degree if not completely). has anyone ever dealt with kids like this? honestly, this is the first time i've ever dealt with shy children, so it's all a totally new concept to me. i'm used to having kids that love to talk to everyone and everything and i have to ask them to stop so that we can carry on with whatever it is we were doing. and being that i'm not a shy girl, i can't really grasp the whole deal. and no, pc was never shy.

and please tell me that the one site i read that said it could last up until about 5 years of age was wrong. please.

i won't even go into detail on the separation anxiety with their parents. let's just say that if mom goes any farther than 2 feet away, they freak out and won't stop until she picks them up.

**breathing in again and releasing** this too shall pass.

the chocolate finale

2009-09-10T11:18:00.002-07:00

hi all!

first off: to jenn....

yeah, i agree with you that i should have left the job to dad. however, i didn't get a chance to go and check the car until about an hour or 2 after he had already left. if i would have noticed it when he was taking her out of the car, you bet your ass i would have said something to him. i also didn't know when he would be home and i didn't want mom to have to end up with the brunt of her husband's stupidity, considering she has to deal with it most days. :)

when mom was finished with her work, she came into the dining room where i proceeded to tell her exactly what i found and how disgusting it was. i also let her know now lame i thought it was that her husband gave a 15 month old a milkshake in a regular soda cup with a regular lid and a regular straw. aces.

the poor thing then turned various shades of red and was rendered speechless. she covered her eyes and looked like she was about to just burst into tears. i left it with "so i'll let you deal with him later".

i know i do way too much for them. but it saves my sanity for the time being. however, today i went to look for something in one of the twins dresser drawers and once again they look like a bomb went off in them. so, as i tried (once again) to organize them) i realized that whoever put laundry away last night has NO idea where the clothes of any kids go. there were about 8 pieces of pc's clothes in the babies' drawers. half of moon's clothes were in chipmunk's drawer and vice versa. i was left scratching my head and wondering if and when they will ever get it.

afterwards, i went to put pc's clothes in their proper places and her drawers had exploded as well. it was then that i decided i am no longer organizing clothes. it's not worth it, nor is it appreciated by anyone. i am also thinking that i will no longer by organizing toys, since we are once again at the point where we can't find any of the pieces to anything because they are all over in various containers in the house. why waste my energy when it only stays clean for 2 days tops? sure, it keeps me sane, but then i just end up getting more INSANE when i see how long it takes until it's all a mess again.

**shaking head** argh.

the chocolate

2009-09-09T15:56:00.002-07:00

as i mentioned in the previous entry, one child came home covered in chocolate today. i just got back from checking the minivan to see the damage, since both babies are napping.

HE LET A 15 MONTH OLD BABY HAVE THE CUP WITH THE FREAKIN MILKSHAKE IN IT! it was all over the seat of the carrier, the straps, the base, the seat of the minivan and the floor. and he just left it there. not only that, but the car smelled of old milk when i opened it.

i am glad that i went and checked it out because it would have sucked if tomorrow when it is really time to go to the doctor, they opened up the car to the lingering scent of funky and a seat covered in chocolate.

yeah. needless to say, the cover of the carseat is in the wash as we speak.

oh COME ON!

2009-09-09T13:40:00.002-07:00

today was supposed to be a very big, busy day.

it's pc's first day at her new school. she had orientation at 1230. the babes had their 15 month checkup at 11 am. gymnastics was at 915. we actually worked out a gameplan to make it all go down smoothly. i guess that is when i should have figured out that something that easy had to go wrong somehow.

ok, first of all, why would you schedule your kids doctor's appointment the first day of your big kid's new school? it should be all about pc today, in my opinion. but i digress.

we get to the gym and are successful with gymnastics (except that chipmunk didn't want anyone remotely looking at her or she burst into tears. yeah. i'm serious.). dad comes to pick them all up to take them to meet mom at the doctor. so far so ok.

it's now 145 and dad dropped off the babies about 15 minutes ago. i hear one baby screaming outside, so i go to help. seems daddy's friend from work is trying to help get her out of the car. yeah, does daddy not realize how much his kids don't like strangers? she's scared to death of this guy. so i get her out and she is just beside herself. then daddy brings over moon.

she is covered (and i am not exaggerating) in chocolate. "guess who had some chocolate on the way home?" he says. i ask if they've slept to which i get "oh, about an hour" but no more information as to when or how or where. "and they've had lots of milkshake and mom nursed them, so they've eaten". yeah, ok that's healthy. "oh, and by the way...the doctor's appointment wasn't today. it's tomorrow". ?!#(&%)(#*! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

i take chimpmunk into her room to change her diaper and calm her down. dad comes in with the chocolate covered moon and gives me the "ok, i have to go" speech and "i don't want them to cry" speech and then hands over a messy kid while i am mid diaper change with the other. i have to put chocolate kid down which results in a stream of tears and wailing. daddy leaves (good riddance at this point).

so, here i am with no idea where they are in their day. i've texted mom but haven't heard back. i tried to feed them but they just shoved food under their legs in their highchair (my newest pet peeve, btw). now they are playing together and happy as can be. and i'm frustrated.

as always, mom will be hearing about this from me. yesterday i had to talk to her about the way dad comes in after a full day gone, says a quick hi to the very clingy babies and then leaves the room without saying anything. they lost their shit yesterday. it's like "OH DADDY! we've missed you so much!" and then he just walks out. to top it off, he took pc with him, which royally irked the little beasts.

i'm afraid to go see what the minivan looks like. if moon ate something chocolately and looked like she did, i can only imagine what the carseat and the rest of the car looks like. btw, did i mention that they are 15 months old and still in infant carriers? yeah. don't get me going.

oh yeah. then yesterday mom tells me that she signed up the kids for a music class like they've taken before. it will be on thursdays at 1245. this is RIGHT at the twins nap time. "oh well, i figure they can just nap after". this is coming from the nap nazi. ok, so they will just be miserable before class, then their stranger anxiety will kick in and they won't leave my lap which leaves poor pc stuck doing all the stuff in class by herself. good times. i can't wait.

i need a drink. thank god for the red bull i stashed in the fridge. it's going to come in VERY helpful soon.

it's not so hard to make life easier

2009-09-02T13:11:00.002-07:00

seriously.

please bring the monitor and the babies' sleep sacks out from your bedroom in the morning so that i don't have to go through your blankets and pillows and sheets to locate them for nap time.
after the sippy cups are washed, please put the right pieces back together. that way we all know where they are when we need them. or at least put them all in one place. it's no fun trying to locate missing pieces when you have two very thirsty little girls.
if you leave the house when we aren't here, please close the baby gates that you always make such a big deal about having. that way, i don't have to worry about how the house is when i get home.
i know that when the trash is full, i empty it and put a new bag in. how about next time you see it full, you empty it rather than pulling up the top of the bag so that the overflow won't fall out.
food will stay fresher in the fridge (or in cabinets) longer if you seal the packages correctly and put the correct lids on tupperware. a sheet of cling wrap just laid over a plastic container isn't going to cut it. and i'm really tired of finding funky food in unsealed ziploc type bags.
grocery shop for your children for pete's sake. they need protein and aren't getting it. and honestly, do you think they are loving having the same thing over and over and over and over again. i'm guessing that the horrific diaper rashes they had from having too many peaches over the weekend didn't let you know that maybe they need some variety. i feel horrible giving them basically the same meal every single day.
once again, can we do some toy organizing? i have found pieces to one particular toy/game in 4 different baskets in the house. your oldest child would be a LOT less frustrated if she had some idea as to where to find her toys.
do you really need to keep putting toenail polish on chipmunk so that you can tell who she is? i haven't looked at her toes in months, yet you still fret if it starts to wear off. they are 15 months old now.
if you want me to do the kids' laundry in a timely manner, please take yours out of the dryer and make sure not to forget to transfer yours from the washer. and could you not leave them in a huge pile in front of the washer, so that i could access it? thanks.
the reason your oldest isn't eating breakfast anymore is because no one ever sits down as a family and eats together. she has to ask one of you to sit with her to have some semblance of an organized meal. if you all took the time to sit (even for a few minutes) in the morning while the kids ate, i think it would make a HUGE difference.

too good to be true

2009-09-02T12:50:00.004-07:00

today has been crap.

if yesterday and the good vibe was heaven, then today is surely hell. nothing has gone quite right and i just haven't had the patience for it. the best part of today is that all 3 girls are currently napping and the house is silent. i'll take it.

this morning i found out that professor mommy doesn't know how to iron clothes. she was in the kitchen with a towel over the cutting board trying to iron wrinkles out of her dress for work. daddy had to actually go out to the garage (guess they really don't ever iron anything) and find the ironing board and DO IT FOR HER. "i never learned when i was younger. my mom wasn't a believer in ironing things". yeah.

i then manage to get all the girls out the door (gymnastics is now earlier in the morning) and we head out. the babies are so dang shy that they won't even look at any person who is anywhere near them, yet they both want out of the stroller to walk around. i take them out, only to have them bury their heads in my shirt and cry if i try to remove them. after about 45 minutes, class was over and the girls had JUST warmed up to being a bit independent. i don't know what i would do if i ever had a child and he/she wasn't outgoing or at least not so horrendously as shy as these two are.

after the gym, i thought it would be nice to go take the girls to coffee and get some milk and and a muffin for them. the babies loved it, however i had to deal with pc groaning and complaining and rubbing her arms frantically because she was SO COLD. hi, it's hotter than hades today.

we got home and once it was lunchtime, the babies refused to eat anything. this is after they were ravenous yesterday. hmph. then pc complained because i didn't make her a hotdog for the millionth time. instead i gave her cute little crackers with peanut butter and raisins and she lost her shit. "i'm just going to leave the food on my plate that i don't like" to which i responded "well, it's this or you're going to be awfully hungry". she ate every last bite.

i put the babies down first for their nap and i swear to you, i think that one of them (chipmunk) is hyperactive. she does not know how to calm down to go to sleep and will sabotage her own dozing over and over again. in the last 2 weeks i have had to go in after about 15 minutes and put my hand on her back so that she stops constantly moving and chattering. i do this and she is out in about 5 minutes. otherwise, she would never fall asleep on her own. moon, on the other hand, goes down and doesn't complain and is out in a matter of minutes. polar opposites, i tell you.

and then there is this:

that is the top rack of the dishwasher. how the hell are things going to get cleaned properly when they are all half-assed loaded? this picture doesn't even do it justice. there were cups completely underneath the bowls and plastic containers. so, i took everything out and rearranged it. it now looks like this:

seriously, how hard is it to load a damn dishwasher? it's things like this that make my job more complicated than it needs to be. i'll save that list for another oh so joyous post. :)

day 2 of a good thing

2009-09-01T13:00:00.002-07:00

i'm freaking out a little bit.

today is tuesday and it is the second day of the week that has been a good work day. to top that off, i actually had a good monday, which is a HUGE deal! yesterday the girls were all happy and playful and ate well and played well. they napped better than usual and were full of hugs and kisses for me and their other siblings!

pc was full of polite words and assistance. the babies didn't bust out into tears when i gently would tell them not to close the door or not to throw their food. they LISTENED!

and to top it off, i came to work and the house was actually CLEAN! i was nearly bowled over in astonishment. seems that professor mommy had a group of students come over on the weekend and they needed everything cleaned up. i think they should have visitors more often, because this is NICE!

today i cleaned out the fridge a little (there was half the stuff i usually end up tossing) and made the girls meals that they wholeheartedly devoured! i've never seen the babies eat so well and at lunch time, pc told me that she loved the fried rice i had made for all of them. HELLO!

the babies have been (at least i believe) progressing towards a one nap day. it's been getting later and later and i've been letting it happen. today, they were having such an amazing time playing together with big sister that i let them go even longer. they even made it through lunch before going down for a nap. and when they did go down, it only took them a handful of minutes to crash out.

pc gladly cleaned up her toys before her nap when i asked her to and made no fuss about taking a nap. so, right now all three girls are asleep, the dishwasher is running and i am in a good mental zone!

yay!

6 feet of girls

2009-08-27T14:42:00.002-07:00

are walking all over the place these days.

yep, moon finally decided (after a month) to walk like her sis, chipmunk. she's still not as fast or as graceful, but she has pretty much given up crawling. it's so nice to just ask them to come with me into the other room and THEY DO!

they are currently taking every sock pair out of their basket in their room and bringing them into the back hallway and putting them in interesting piles. i don't know what the piles mean but they seem to have some sort of method. it's very cute.

they have also become quite the little sweethearts. chipmunk is always willing to give hugs and snuggles at any time. moon always snuggles up when i pick her up to put her in her seat or change a diaper or whatever. we play the "bye bye" game where they walk away yelling bye bye and blow kisses to me as they leave. i could do that one forever.

speaking of loves, moon just came over to give me a little sugar before going to attack her sister. sadly, chipmunk is already out of the room and running through the hall before moon even gets a few slow steps in. she'll catch up. :)

i watched one of them (moon i think.........sometimes they mesh) try to figure out the safety gate into the kitchen. she rattled the gate and put her foot on the little latch step you use to unlock it. she would hit it with her foot in the hopes that it would miraculously open, but to no avail. they've figured out how to close doors and moon has figured out how to lock them. so yes, the doors now have tape over the little locks so she can't lock herself in a room. smart little beast!

pc starts big girl school on the 9th. she'll be going mwf in the afternoons and i'm rather excited about it. :) i don't know how she's feeling, but i think it will be good for ALL of us. she's been huge into imaginative play with her toys lately. sometimes she even incorporates her sisters:

pc: (playing with wooden animals in a pail) hello girls! my name is joy. these toys used to belong to my children when they were little. now i am letting you play with them because they are just SO COOL!

i questioned her about the name joy. come to find out it's her "pretend" name. the full name is joy flowers, in case you were wondering. :)

and speaking of the pc, it is about time for the little 14 month old alarm clocks to go in an screech her awake.

until the next spare moment......

respect

2009-07-16T14:48:00.002-07:00

one of the things that i wish more parents would teach their children is respect. not just respect for others, but respect for THINGS.

there is a door into the living room of this flat that will not stay open. so, you must gently close it or it SLAMS! every single time someone opens or closes it. pc will go in and out of the room numerous times and every single time, the door SLAMS! and shakes the house. (yes, there is a door stopper, but we need the door closed because it is one of the two rooms the twins can play in and be fairly safe.)

i have tried to tell pc that we need to be careful with the door because if it slams too hard one time it may break or the glass could break. of course that resulted in me being told never to talk to her again and she ran off crying. but when she is with mom or grandma, they never once remind her to be careful with the door. so 20x a day i hear SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

she doesn't respect her toys. she has playdoh that has sat out at home in the back yard on the deck and dried up. rather than mom and dad reminding her that she needs to close it or she can't use it anymore, they just toss the old stuff and buy her more. she's gone through i don't know how many cans of playdoh in the last few months. she doesn't worry about it ever because she knows she will get more.

they go to the library and take out books. she loses them around the house and can't find them after reading them once. they end up being late and/or lost for good. but it's no biggie because mom or dad will just pay the fine and deal with it and they will then take out more books.

i could go on and on with all the things she has no concern for. i know she is 3 but i also know that she is smart enough to realize that things will not work or will be broken if not treated properly. so why not emphasize it in a positive way now and get her in that frame of mind?

oh wait. i guess when parents are in the same mind frame it's hard to break out and teach your children something different.

rage on, 3 year old.

2009-07-16T14:34:00.002-07:00

today, pc had the worst of her tantrums yet. and it was directed right at me.

grandma has been coddling her and allowing pc to spend as much time soley with her as she wants. this leaves her getting exactly what she wants and i pretty much am left with no leeway in dealing with her. if i even look at her the wrong way, she goes running to grandma or mom and they immediately find a way to negotiate with her or give her what she wants. i end up, once again, being the bad guy.

anyhow, grandma came downstairs and said she would take the babies out for a walk. i thought it would be good because that way pc would have to spend time with me. however, as soon as pc caught wind of what was going down, she wasn't having it. so, grandma tells her that she'll change her plans (she was going to run an errand while walking the twins) and allow pc to go for a walk with all of them first. i told her it was ok to leave her with me and to go get out of the house with the babies. pc jumps in the baby stroller and refuses to leave. she screams, she kicks, she cries, she flails.

grandma once again says it's ok and that pc can go with her. i nearly bit my tongue off in order to be polite. i told her that it's ok that pc doesn't get what she wants all the time and she'll live through being here with me for an hour. i am her nanny and will be with her when she returns so she'll have to accept that i'm still around. grandma says ok and i take pc up to her room for a a bit of space.

in the process, i am hit, kicked, screamed at and knocked off balance. this turns to her telling me to leave the room, that she doesn't want to be with me, that she wants to go with grandma and that she doesn't want me looking at her or talking to her. i go through the whole spiel of how i am her nanny and i take care of her, blah blah blah. in one ear and out the other.

that's when i lost it. i started crying and couldn't stop. for a split second it got to her, but then she went right back to her rants about how i was being mean. so once again told me to get out, so i told her i was leaving her in the room and i was going to read my book. she could join me when she calmed down.

10 minutes later she's still whimpering in her room. i go in and ask if she'd like to join me. she then goes to the window and says she is going to watch and wait for grandma to come back. fine kid. enjoy yourself.

10 minutes after that i go in and tell her there is a nice warm seat next to me on the couch. for some reason, she decides to join me. and from that moment on, we had a great day. she was perfect.

what kills me is that mom has clearly seen how pc has been towards me and how i don't take it. i don't give in like they do. so, when she gets home this evening, i proceed to tell her about the day. she looks at me like pc's actions are news to her and actually asks "why do you think she does that? she tells me that she thinks she doesn't get enough nana time!" to which i wanted to reply "because i don't give in to everything she wants" but instead just said "oh well, she has to find someone to get her aggressions out on and i'm the lucky one!"

i just can't believe that mom actually sat there and acted like she had no idea what has been going on. so does that mean she is just totally oblivious or is she trying to say that i am the bad guy? i don't know, nor do i really care, but c'mon! she's been witness to numerous tantrums and fits directed at me not letting pc get what she wants.

i should have figured it wasn't going to be such a great day when, upon her leaving the house, professor mommy casually mentions that she won't be home until an hour after i am supposed to be off. thanks for the 1 minute notice!

the first good day.....

2009-07-16T07:34:00.001-07:00

the sun was shining and the babies were happy.........and the pc was in the house throwing a tantrum where i couldn't hear it. :)

girls in the garden from shel b on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/5613537

what's next?

2009-07-13T14:35:00.002-07:00

so far, in the week we have been here, many things have gone down:

professor mommy almost gets in an accident trying to stay on the correct side of the road
professor mommy vows to never drive in the uk again.
the children have had mcdonald's more times than i would ever give it to them (and it was never my choice when they have had it here).
pc has bitten her tongue so hard at the playground that she cut it, bruised it and made it bleed.
pc is having trouble hearing and at times will put her ear right next to your mouth and say that she can't hear what we are saying. i'm worried about it and mommy is just assuming it's water in her ear. she seemed to be having an issue with it right before we left to come here as well.
pc didn't listen to me today and decided to slide down a rope at the playground that you are supposed to work your way down hand over hand. this resulted in her losing the top layer of skin from 4 of her fingers on her left hand. she screamed and almost hyperventilated all the way home.
pc decided to pee in her already full pull up from overnight this morning while standing in the dining room. needless to say, she made a nice size puddle on the floor.
the babies have gone back to needing someone to hold them until they fall asleep. 5 more weeks of this and then i get to get them all back to normal. yay.
i have heard what it's like in the middle of the night with these screaming twins and i am very glad that i am not there after 530 pm.
i was so worn out today that i almost fell asleep at the dining room table as i was trying to read a magazine.
as much as i love grandma, i've noticed that she disappears as quickly as she can at times leaving me stranded in a room with the twins where i cannot leave. (there are only 2 rooms that the girls can actually be in/play in) so, i have been left with tired or hungry or poopy or wailing twins on a number of occasions and there is nothing i can do about it but wait until someone comes to rescue me.
i can tell mom is on her last nerve with all 3 children and i am just waiting for her to break. but instead, she just gives in to their demands and once again........everything goes down the toilet.
i have a blister on my right big toe from my keen strappy sandals. they are good for nonserious walking, but 5 hours can do you in.
the bed i sleep in is craptastic. i feel like i am about 87 years old when i wake up in the morning.
the floors/stairs creak like a mofo in this place, so if you have to walk anywhere in my room in the middle of the night, it sounds like i am waking the dead.
silicon valley's mother may be coming early to visit (oh hells no).
silicon valley daddy is still incompetent. his question via skype with the family: "so, have you guys gone into london on the train yet?" to which we all answered "oh sure, it's just a breeze to get all 3 kids onto an hour train ride with 2 strollers and everything else!"
i've heard via latifah that our dogface isn't eating well and it started the day i left for this trip. i have a feeling she thinks that another woman in her life abandoned her and it's killing me.
i can't freakin wait to go home and have time off until august 12.
speaking of august 12, professor mommy wants me right back to work on august 13 so that everything will "get back to normal as soon as possible". yay.
i have decided that when i get home i am going to start planning my strategy for exiting my current job. i don't know how or when yet, but i feel it's best for me....if there is anything else out there.
i haven't had coffee in over a week, but i have consumed mass quantities of tea. and yet i still crash out every night with no problem.
i'm 99% positive i will never have children of my own. i've done my time over the last 10+ years.

yes, we have no pictures

2009-07-12T15:14:00.002-07:00

because:

i realized i already have over 200.
blogger is being a bitch and not letting me even upload 1 for now.
hmph.

1 week down

2009-07-12T08:01:00.002-07:00

and one to go! it's sunday afternoon, oxford time and i am about to head downstairs to work for a few hours while mom goes to a welcome dinner for the college. if all goes well, i should be able to give a full and complete update and get some pictures up later on in the evening.

cheers!

it's late but i need to vent

2009-07-08T15:02:00.003-07:00

hey all. yes, we are in england and have been here for 3 days now. and i'm still alive. barely.

the flight over was hell. the babies cried most of the time (until they fell asleep, but if they were awake they weren't happy). the amount of crap that they brought along is amazing, considering there are virtually no toys for the girls to play with and i don't know where anything is. but i digress.

the house is nice, but not really kid friendly. there are only 2 rooms the babies can be in and even then we have to watch them like hawks so that they don't bang their heads or escape or fall on hard floors and crack their heads open. the house is also 3 stories and of course we have no safety features.

the sleeping arrangement is making me scratch my head. mom and pc are sleeping together. the babies are in a separate room on the same floor. gramma has her own room, but has yet to sleep in it because she is laying on the floor of the babies room all night trying to keep them from screaming. she said she had to go in and out so many times she just decided to sleep on the floor. now, in my humble nanny opinion, i would have put the babies in with mom and pc in with gramma. that way no one is disturbed other than the source of milk. (don't even get me started on the nursing thing). but what do i know?

of course it is going to take time for everyone to adjust to the time change, but they really aren't helping matters. they babies are up at random times at night and then are allowed to sleep in until 9. now, these are girls that usually are up at around 6 am every morning. the sleeping in is throwing the whole day off. naps are happening in the stroller again and feedings happen when they can. this results in the babies being off kilter and on different schedules as well as not eating nearly as much as they should or drinking. i am thinking they were dehydrated last night because all they did today was guzzle water.

the only thing for the kids to really do here is go to a park/playground. and that's not happening because it's been raining. every. single. day. so, even if it does clear up, everything is soaked and therefore unuseable.

the grocery situation is just like at home. they want the babies to eat more, yet we are relying on yogurt, fruit and cheese pretty much since there is nothing else here. mom just gave me money today for myself but as far as i know, it's not for use for the kids. i may end up using it just so that they have some protein in their diet.

pc has become the devil. it was already happening at home, but has gone into full swing here. the other day she threatened "if you say that again, i am going to kill you!" which just sent me over the edge. i reprimanded her in a very serious manner and broke out the "police will put you in jail if they hear you say that" spiel. i wake up every morning to hearing her break out in a tantrum over some minor thing. she accuses us all of being mean to her when she doesn't get her way. she has tried to bite her sisters. she has thrown things at grandma. and to top it all off, i have a feeling that there is some hyperactivity going on in her little body. yay. not to mention that mom and gramma sugar coat all her doings, so the repurcussions aren't really affecting her.

i hear the babies wake up at least 3-5 times at night. their wails shoot through the floor and up the walls and wake me out of a sound sleep. they cry if gramma doesn't pick them up. they cry if gramma leaves the room. they can only last about 10 minutes eating at the table and then their attention spans just vanish. they are now both fond of throwing food and spitting it out after chewing it up.

pc's new phrase has become "i want some attention". nuff said.

on a good note, oxford is a great little town. i have yet to fully explore on my own, but plan to do that as soon as i am able. i found an amazing thai restaurant and am addicted to their food. i have a list of little shops i want to hit up and a mental list of things i want to photograph. and i'm actually loving the rain and the cooler weather.

as of tonight, i am seriously contemplating seeing what else is out there on the job front. i'm open to non nanny jobs too. i dunno. my beliefs and their beliefs in child rearing are no longer meshing. i end up sounding/acting like the dictator while they coat everything with a nice candy coating. i don't feel like even exerting any energy because it feels wasted. whatever i do just gets pretty much trampled by all the nicey nicey that everyone else runs with.

so yeah. sorry i can't rave about all the good things going down here. but i promise i will make my next entry a bit more positive. i have pictures and video to share if i can find the energy to put them all together.

**breathing in**

**releasing**

diva and clingy

2009-07-02T14:35:00.002-07:00

those are the new names for the babies. diva was previously chipmunk and clingy was previously moon.

diva wants to have everything her way all the time. she wants that toy. she wants you out of her way. she wants you to come across the room and put her in the highchair because she doesn't want to crawl. she wants to climb things, no matter how high. and if you don't do what she wants, she will fall to the floor and wail for about 10 minutes. in the course of the day so far, she has melted because her big sister asked her not to touch the ukulele while she was playing it, because i asked her to put her foot down and not try to climb up on top of the craft box and because her twin wanted to actually take a turn on their push train. as i always say to her "oh NO! the world is ending AGAIN?"

clingy is just that. she wants to be held. she wants you in the room. don't go out of her line of sight. don't you dare put her down for at least 1o minutes after she wakes up from a nap. don't make any sudden movements because it may mean that you are going to leave again.

both girls hate strangers. they will cry if someone looks at them longer than a second. and forget trying to talk to them. that will cause the flood gates to open and the hyperventilating cries to consume their little bodies. diva will turn her whole body and try not to let a person see her. clingy instantly demands to be held so she can bury her head in my shoulder and cling for dear life.

there are times when they are adorable and kind and sharing and funnier than hell. but, lately they have just not been the most amusing. and what kills me is that this is the first time in my entire career that i have had to deal with such um....dramatic personalities. i've never had kids have such severe stranger or separation anxiety. and the crying for just about everything? yeah, that's new to me. and when it's double the amount, WHOA!

to top it all off, the better the girls sleep at night, the crankier they are during the day. they get tired sooner and wake up even crankier from naps. the majority of the time, they will wake from a nap crying and distraught and then i end up having to sit with both of them on my lap until i try to peel them off of my arms.

someday the clinginess and the drama/tears will cease. anyone want to place bets on when? i'm guessing around 19?

now that otta make you feel good!

2009-07-02T14:31:00.002-07:00

there are days when i come to work and i actually make myself look presentable. i'll put on a little face and maybe not just throw my hair up in a pony (although most of the time i have to because if i don't moon freaks out and cries until i do). if we are going to be out in public or if i just feel like taking the time, then i'll gussy up a bit. but a lot of the time i've just started going without makeup. what's the point if i'm just going to have it rubbed off by little hands?

i'm guessing that maybe i should wear it all the time. everytime i go sans makeup i get the same comments from my employers:

"Are you alright? You look so tired!"

no folks. i'm just a haggard beast apparently when i don't put on a little foundation. thanks.

if you haven't already guessed

2009-07-01T16:53:00.003-07:00

naptime has been VERY successful today. 3 girls down for 2 hours is sheer heaven in my life these days. and to top it all off, they've slept through the night for the last 2 nights.

it could also be because we went to "chips and salsa" today (aka CHEVYS) and loaded up. pc had refried beans, tortillas, chips, salsa and milk. the babes had black beans, spanish rice, tortilla, green beans, cereal puffs and loads of milk. i had their new "grilled fajita salad" with chicken and it has become my new favorite thing there.

the babes sat big girl style in high chairs and behaved remarkably well! they flirted with people a bit and ate way after pc and i were finished. SUCCESS!

they are now up from their naps and having leftovers. DOUBLE SUCCESS!

the 3 little chickens

2009-07-01T16:34:00.002-07:00

the ever popular moon face

chipmunk's senior portrait

pc grows up way too fast

a new song

2009-07-01T16:13:00.002-07:00

"hey doctor doctor! put the thermometer under the arrrrrrm!"
"hey doctor doctor! check the patient's arrrrrm!"
"hey doctor doctor! give the patient meeeeeedicine!"

*sung by pc with the ukulele while playing hospital with moon who was chillin out in her carrier

hide and seek

2009-07-01T16:12:00.002-07:00

nothing is more fun than running around the house trying to find a certain something when i need it. today it was the monitor, the twins sleepsacks, their sippy cups and my sanity.

updates on the 3 ladies

2009-06-30T13:02:00.003-07:00

chipmunk has decided to really make a go of walking. she's been doing a step here and there, but nothing really serious. however, today she's been adventuring across the living room and being very brave in her attempts. moon just watches and cheers her on. she has no urge to walk and has just recently taken to standing by herself for any length of time.

both girls love drinking from straw sippies and think that cows milk is pure deliciousness. they love to feed themselves and actually prefer it (so do i) and area always willing to try new things (when they are actually in supply).

the pc still favors going to have "chips and salsa" when asked if she would like to go out and eat. that girl can shovel refried beans like nobody's biz. and don't even think of trying to get your hand in on the chips and salsa. she's all about it.

speaking of the pc, she is OBSESSED with harry potter these days. she pretends that she is "her-so-my-oh-knee" and tells me that ron and harry and hermione come into her room at her nap time and talk to her. obsessed.

i got to work this morning and was introduced to "hersomione" and was told she had something to show me. they pop on the dvd player and there is a video/movie that pc and her entire family made of turning voldemort into a plant. pc was hermione, mom was some character that i can't figure out and chipmunk was ron weasly. daddy was voldemort and grandma recorded it. moon didn't make an appearance this time, but she will make her debut in the next installment.

professor mommy then suprised pc by dressing up in her gown for official functions at the university and pc proceeded to tell her it was the wrong color because it wasn't green. details. it's all about the details.

the twins obsession is dancing and "singing". they both have a great sense of rhythm and love to groove to music, especially the beatles. chipmunk tries to snap her fingers like me and moon has a stevie wonder sway that just kills me.

moon also puts her hands up to cover her eyes and slowly lowers them down and whispers out "boo". chipmunk's talent seems to be throwing her sippie over the edge of her high chair.

the babes are still sleeping in their cribs for at least an hour and a half at a time for naps. they are going down easier and realizing that it's not so horrendous. one still sleeps longer than the other (chipmunk, the spaz, is up before mellow moon). last night they actually slept through the night (i'm guessing because they had AWESOME napping yesterday, which for a monday is pretty rare).

and speaking of all of them, pc is done with her snack and needing some assistance in the potty. the babes are finished with their lunch and are now putting their feet up through the holes and onto their trays (damn ikea chairs!). i think it's my time to wrap this up. :)

when you get your kids on finger foods...

2009-06-30T12:57:00.003-07:00

it would be nice if there were finger foods around to actually feed them.

i mean, that makes sense? right? i've asked for a number of things for the babies to have stocked (potatoes, turkey meat, avocado, banana, tofu, etc) and yet it's never around. i have to scrounge around the kitchen trying to find something that they can eat on their own that is safe and fairly healthy. this usually means they get a lot of frozen peas, shredded cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs and blueberries.

and don't even get me started on food for the pc. she's living on hot dogs with ketchup.

the countdown begins

2009-06-30T11:56:00.002-07:00

we leave for england on july 5. nothing says "america's independence from the british" like leaving for the homeland the day after july 4th!

i've got my guidebooks (btw, the "Let's Go!" series of guidebooks for travel are my bibles. i LOVE them!) and i'm starting to mentally prepare myself for the journey. i really won't know until i get there what all we can and can't do. i know we are staying in a flat, but i don't know how grand it is, nor do i know how safe it is for the kids. i'm hoping we will be able to hang out there when we need to wind down.

since oxford is a college town, i don't know how much there is going to be as far as entertainment for the kids. i'm seeing a lot of park visits in the 2 weeks that i am there. i do know that i plan to spend my evenings at a local pub enjoying some very unhealthy food and soaking up british accents!

of course, it's now tuesday and mom is finally getting to work on all she needs to do for the trip in terms of work related stuff. a list has been made of what to pack and what to buy, but neither has been started.

wish me luck!

dear lauren and christine

2009-06-23T13:03:00.002-07:00

first of all, thank you so much for leaving comments on my blog. i really appreciate hearing from those that pass by to read what i have to say!

lauren, you brought up a really great question: where do you draw the line? while i have thought about how to answer you, most of this is going to be off the cuff as i type. granted, if the field i am in had a lot of opportunity at the moment, i would be off and running, looking for another position that has less stress and frankly, less children. there is no question there.

however, like you said, that isn't the case right now. the economy sucks and people are laying off their nannies left and right. i know my job is secure right now because (and i am not saying this to sound conceited) they can't do it without me. so, the stress of having a secure job vs. the stress of being unemployed and trying to find a new job in this day and age wins out.

now, you may want to get back to me after i go to oxford with them for 2 weeks (july 5-20) and then they don't come back until aug 12 and see how i am then. i am sure that there will be a lot of overhauling i will need to do once everyone is home because i am the only one that is going to keep them on any sort of normal schedule. :)

but seriously, i do think everyday about what the line will be and if/when it will be crossed. i can't pinpoint exactly what will do it, but i will know when it happens. i know that's vague and random, but my gut tells me when to fight or flee. and yes, i know i put myself through way more than i should in this position, but i choose to do so. part of it is because i do have a secure job and part of it is because i can't imagine leaving these kids in the cold. i'm their stability most days. yes, i know that's not healthy for me, but try telling my heart that.

and christine? gawd girl, i feel you! after i posted my list, i had a day that should have totally been added. i came to work and they were in a feeding frenzy with all 3 kids. nothing is ever done in a relaxed manner here in regards to meals/transitions/outings, etc. i had to take the kids out for pc's gymnastics class, so i didn't have time to clean up after breakfast (nor should i have had to since they were the ones feeding the children). when i got home, after i know for a fact that both mom and dad had been there for at least an hour after we left for class, the house was in the same disasterous state in which i last saw it. the high chairs were covered in dried up raspberries, the floor was covered in what the babies spilled (and that's on carpet, people) and all the other breakfast dishes were still on the table. and they get mad at me for not cleaning up properly?

i am paid well (thank you, buddha!). :)

thanks again for commenting, ladies!

venting list time!

2009-06-12T12:50:00.003-07:00

about a week or so ago i was having yet another stressful day on the job front. to release a little aggression, i decided to make one of my ever popular lists. it ended up taking 2 pages in my little moleskine notebook i carry with my everywhere. wanna hear it? here it goes!

no one ever closes the baby gates. (defeat the purpose much?)
the dishes are never hand washed properly (i am so grossed out by food still on plates)
food is not properly stored (leftovers not covered in fridge, boxes/bags never closed so food goes stale/hard, food goes bad and isn't cleared out of the fridge)
the dining room table is so covered with crap that in order to eat you have to push stuff out of the way (there are things that have been sitting on this table for months)
they leave the laundry in the washer for too long and it starts to smell musty and has to be rewashed.
they leave their laundry in the dryer when i need to use it which means i have to go and try to find a laundry basket to toss their stuff in.
they don't feed the kids enough.
they wouldn't get bigger bottles for the babies (i suggested 6 oz rather than 4) because "well they never drink that much anyway" to which i responded "they would if it was in the bottle to begin with".
everyday i find at least 1 bowl of goldfish crackers or snack and an old cup of milk on pc's floor or on the nightstand in her room.
they buy clothes for the kids that don't mix and match. it's insane how many things they have that don't go with anything else.
if you could only see the carpet. oy. and the kitchen floor only gets swept if i or the cleaners do it. nothing like random bits of food crunching under your feet.
their cars are disasters. toys, food, half empty water bottles, kids clothing, trash...all scattered about on seats so that pc has to climb over all of it to get into her seat. ew. i try to clean them out only to have them back to disaster in a weeks time.
their strollers are disasters. see the above comment.....imagine strollers the same way.
they never put bibs on the babies. i don't know how many outfits have been permanently stained because of that.
they put the stained clothes in the laundry without spraying them or telling me about them. so, 3 days later, i find crusty clothes in the bottom of the hamper.
whoever puts clothes away puts them in the wrong drawers. i have found pc's stuff in the babies drawers and the twins clothes in the wrong drawers. really?
we are never stocked on food. i'd love to feed the girls the best i can feed them, but when you have nothing to choose from, it's hard. right now there is no fresh fruit or veggies, no deli meats, no tofu, nothing that the kids like to eat. except pc's hotdogs.
there are never easy transitions. they will come home from their coffee walk 2 minutes before one of them needs to leave, which means all the kids freak out at the drastic change in events. fun.
they are almost always late to everything including when it is time for me to leave. pc has never gotten to school on time with them...for the record.
after 1 child, they still don't know how to properly put on diapers. i'm not joking. i don't know how many times i've found diapers on them super loose or not connected at all.
there is NO organization. so when pc asks "where is the missing piece to this toy?" i can't tell her because i'd have to dig through random bins scattered throughout the house looking for it....if it's even in there.
i hate their high chairs. now i know the ikea ones work for some people, but these girls really need a 5 point harness type of seat so they don't attempt to get our or turn around fully in their seats or stick their legs up onto the top of the trays......
things vanish in this house (big shocker) half of pc's clothes are missing. we just found her camera that has been missing for months. it was wedged in the sofa sleeper. i found it by luck while looking for something else that was missing.
we can't play in the backyard because it's a mess. they don't have their gardeners anymore so the once gorgeous "english garden" backyard has turned into a jungle. it's a double lot so there is a lot of ground to cover. also, dad has about 3 projects going on back there at once, which means stuff is out and crazy.
no one puts shoes away. they have shelves in the back of the house to put shoes, but they are always either in random places in the house or on the floor in front of the shelves.
there are cords all over this dang house. it's an old house so outlets are few and far between. this means they have surge protector strips at outlets with like 2 trillion things plugged into them. hello hazard.
daddy lets pc do whatever she wants. this includes things like climb trees that can't support her. if he doesn't give her her way, she throws tantrums and claims "you aren't paying enough attention to me!" so he gives in.
it's getting so crazy trying to nurse twins, that mom will nurse them sitting on the floor while they stand on either side of her. to me, that's a sign to wean.
no one ever brushes pc's hair. it's naturally curly, so it gets tangled in minutes. i'm the one who always has to do it.
there is no real schedule in this house. no matter how i try to tell them that the kids need a bit of structure in their routine and should be napping at said times, they don't abide by them. and since there are also no transitions, you do the math.
everytime the babies cry, they either pick them up or nurse them.
they won't ever say NO. they skirt around it.
they have a pack and play in the dining room (a playpen for you old schoolers out there) that is supposed to be to wrangle the babies in when everyone is in there. it never gets used, yet if i try to put it away (it takes up 3/4 of the floor space available) it gets put back out. not to mention the twins hate it.
no one ever clips the nails of the babies. i have had to get in on toenails that were starting to grow over the top of the toe because no one has taken the time to do it. their fingernails get so sharp, i am left with scars and scratches.
pc has gotten into the habit of waking in the middle of the night or the very early morning and demanding "a fruitbar, goldfish and milk". she never eats any of it, but since she's asked they always get it for her. hence the bowls of food in her room.
mom brings the babies into their bed if they won't sleep. because of this, she has taken the bed off of it's frame and surrounded the bed with all the pillows from the couches in the house so that "just in case" they fall, they won't hurt themselves. meanwhile, we sit on couches with no back cushions.

i'll leave you with those for now. discuss amongst yourselves.

backup...night nurse style

2009-06-12T12:45:00.002-07:00

on sunday, the twins had their first birthday party. i was lucky enough to finally meet the night nurse who helped out in the first month or so of their lives.

i am SO glad we got to talk. mom had been asking her about sleep issues with the twins and so we chatted a bit about it together. night nurse backed up the fact that the babies have never learned to soothe themselves and were relying on mom and nursing to do that. she came right out and told mom that until mom stops nursing it will be this way. i LOVED her for that. i truly feel that is the case...seeing how everytime they are sad or crying or tired, mom will nurse them to soothe them. they've never had a chance to learn how to do it themselves.

now, at 1 year of age, it's getting old. fast. however, all mom seemed to hear was that they are about to hit the walking milestone, so that is riling them up as well. she just assumes when they walk the sleeping will get better. yeah, it may, but there are more things in the way here.

mom left the convo and night nurse and i continued to talk. it was just really nice to know that someone else felt the same way i did in regards to the issues at hand and supported me there.

what a week

2009-06-12T12:27:00.003-07:00

i can honestly say that i am so glad for this week to be over. ok, who am i kidding? i'm glad for every week to be over, but this one is super sincere! :)

monday was actually a really good day. the girls were in good moods and i managed to get them to take 2 naps in their cribs with little fuss. tuesday i was off for the day (i took a personal day sort of. latifah and i had a concert in the city that night, so i asked for the whole day off. so needed!). wednesday was interesting. pc had gymnastics and mommy informs me that the babes have a doctors appointment at 10 which is right at nap time. ok fine, we'll deal with it later. she tells me she is coming right back with them after the appt so that she can get to work (which i find interesting that now that she is done teaching for the summer, she's at the office MORE...but i digress). ok, so that means we're sort of stuck at home. if the girls crash out in their carseats on the way home, they should sleep fairly well and all will be good.

well, they ended up having totally different sleep patterns that day. one napped well and the other didn't. that meant they ate at different times and then chose that day to start protesting food (which is something that they've never done before since they usually act like ravenous wild wildebeasts at mealtime). pc ended up with some timeouts for sassing and tantrums and i was fairly scatterbrained. in a normal day, when at least 2 of the kids are napping, i can get stuff cleaned up and done. but not that day. i could barely keep up. so, when mom got home, she walks into the kitchen and the first words out of her mouth were "COULD THIS HOUSE GET ANYMORE FILTHY??!!" silicon valley daddy replies "well, it wasn't me, since i wasn't here all day. i've been out of the house!" to me, this basically points the finger at me and accuses me of making a mess. now, no one knew how the day had been and there was just the assumption that stuff was left out.

let me point out the fact that some of the stuff WAS indeed dads from when he came home at lunch and when he "did" the dishes. his version of doing dishes is to sort of wash them and leave them all out on the counter to dry. i know i'm not going to move them, so that's his deal. yes, there were some items in the sink i didn't get to and yes, there were some remnants of the meal i had just tried to feed the girls on the sink.

so then mommy starts banging around the kitchen making a big deal about cleaning up the place. pc looks on the table and sees the bowl with a few scrapes of cereal left in it and makes an "ew" comment. to this i reply "yes, i have to put that away. it's been a crazy day and i haven't had a chance to clean up until now" hoping that mom would hear me. she kept banging away. i tidied up my stuff (making me late leaving, but i wasn't going to leave it there, no do i ever do that) and left.

i was tired from the night before and slightly hormonal, so driving home was a mix of cussing and tears. i took it VERY personally and was highly pissed at the comments dad made. it was like he was pointing out that i was the cause so he wouldn't get blamed. granted, mom could have been stressed and took out her stress on what she saw first. but how unprofessional is that? and if she really did have a problem with my cleanliness, she could have talked to me in a mature manner about it.

to top it all off, i got home and our new pooch had chewed up my new book and eaten the remote. it was like the last straw. i sat on the couch and cried like an idiot. in the end, i let it all pass and made note to myself to say something if anything goes down like that again. but man, i didn't need that.

yesterday wasn't bad. i actually took the girls out of the house and had pc help me with pet errands. the babies slept as soon as we took off and ended up with 3 hour naps. pc got to see dogs and we all got some fresh air. however, moon still protested eating and was super separation anxious once again.

this morning i get to work and the house is silent. all the strollers are in the garage so i know they are home. i find dad laying on the couch with pc watching harry potter while the babies wreak havoc on the floor. i find out pc has been up since 5 am and daddy rewarded her by taking her to starbucks and the park that early in the morning. he had no idea when the babies got up and couldn't answer my questions as to how their morning was. i assumed mom was still sleeping since i hadn't seen her. dad then up and vanishes with no word, leaving me with a harry potter movie on (a no no in the am once i am here) and 3 children. i bring the babies in the dining room for breakfast and all hell breaks loose. moon sees daddy and loses it. chipmunk joins in since she likes a good cry. mom comes out as i am fixing them breakfast (dad hightailed it to work) and she is on a conference call which no one told me about. so there are 2 wailing babies and 1 clingy 3 year old. rather than just leave the room to finish her call, she stands there touching the crying baby who is now crying louder because of the contact.

in the end, moon eats nothing, chipmunk has a few bites and pc has a tantrum. when it all calms down, i tell mom that i had no idea what was going on, so all hell broke loose. would have been nice for dad to give me a little info, but i think i was expecting too much.

now though, the babies have been sleeping in their cribs for 2 hours and pc went down for an early nap since she got up at 5 am.

**breathing in**
**releasing**

meet missy

2009-06-10T16:05:00.002-07:00

the newest addition to our family. more to follow.

1 year!

2009-06-10T16:00:00.002-07:00

hello there! i've been away for a bit, due to an extreme case of the busies! not only is work swamped, but my boyfriend and i recently adopted a pooch from the humane society. so, the kids are taking up all of my time!

i will post soon in detail, but the twins celebrated their 1st birthday this past week. hard to believe that much time has already flown by!

also, i am getting them to sleep in their cribs again! it's almost like they gave a birthday gift to me! :)

they went for their 1 year checkups and are only like in the 6th percentile for weight. both are around 17 lbs (but for their heights, that's good....the rolls on their legs prove it). however, i have been trying to fatten them up for a while now. now mom knows that they need more to eat as well. um, duh. 1 baby yogurt between the 2 of them at breakfast is NOT enough.

the pc is out of school for the summer which gives me mixed emotions. while it's nice to have a little more freedom, it was also nice to have her out and about doing her own thing. the 3 year old tantrums are amazingly um.................severe.

so much to share, but not enough time to do it. will get back to biz soon!

personalities

2009-05-05T23:07:00.002-07:00

well, i have survived the first 2 days back to work. barely.

i think i mentioned that the twins caught yet another cold once they got to their destination. and now that they are home, they are still sick. chipmunk is worse off than moon, but yet again, they aren't healthy. the pc seems to be on the tail end of her millionth cold as well. i didn't have to wipe her nose at all today, so i take that as a good sign.

to top it off, mom is sick with a killer sinus infection. she's downing amoxicillin to get rid of it. i know that her resistance is way down (and has been since they babies were born) and she's getting sick as much as them.

let's just hope i don't get sick. there is no way in hell i can take the time to be sick for the next few weeks at least.

something that i noticed once we were all back on track is how DIFFERENT the twins are continuing to become. they truly are polar opposites. from the way they play, the way they interact, the way they eat, the way they react to situations, the way they sleep, the way they show affection, the way they crawl, the way they 'talk'....it's all different. the pc still can't figure out why they don't do things the same at the same time. for example, chipmunk is standing on her own now and moon isn't. pc thinks they should both be doing it since they are twins. i love her brain!

another thing i've noticed is that mom does as much as she can to make sure she is out of the house or out of commission when it comes to caring for the babies these days. for someone who is done teaching for a chunk of time, she sure suddenly has a LOT to do at the office and so many more meetings than usual to attend. she is also travelling a lot more than she did when pc was the only child. in a way, i don't blame her. i'd schedule as much as i could so that i could have some time to myself. when she cares for 3 kids and a husband that is pretty much like a big kid, it's understandable. but i'm also noticing that her sense of humor is fading a bit and she is short with answers and zoned out a bit more than usual. part of me wants to ask her if she's feeling ok, but then another part of me doesn't want to overstep my bounds.

and as for dad? still oblivious. did i mention that on april fool's day mom and i changed the babies outfits (chipmunk wears pink and moon wears all other colors) and he NEVER noticed? he has no idea what the daily schedule is. i found out that when they got back from their trip, he went straight to bed (after a few days of mom flying solo while he travelled and her getting only an hour of sleep at a time).

tomorrow is another day and since i need to be on top of that day, i need to go to bed. i'm betting i'm the only one who will sleep all night.

the latest from d.c.

2009-04-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

the babies have colds again. go figure.

there's a heatwave and humidity sucks there.

they survived the flight.

i'm SO glad i'm home.

Twin Chat

2009-04-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

moon is a total conversation hog! :)

Twin Chat from shel b on Vimeo.

Twin Toy Fight

2009-04-24T23:47:00.001-07:00

watch them duke it out!

Twin Toy Fight from shel b on Vimeo.

The Adventures of the Pirate Princess

2009-04-24T23:33:00.001-07:00

Adventures of the Pirate Princess from shel b on Vimeo.

A Foggy Walk

2009-04-24T23:22:00.001-07:00

A Foggy Walk from shel b on Vimeo.

a way late porkchop video

2009-04-24T22:49:00.001-07:00

i finally had time to go through footage and make some videos. this is from a few months ago or more (for the most part) but i couldn't NOT share it!

A Few More Bits of Pork from shel b on Vimeo.

on their way

2009-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

the family should be on the east coast (given they didn't just can the whole trip and decide never to travel with 3 children)! i will be quite interested to see how it all went down, seeing as it was only the two parents travelling with the 3 children.....and this being the first time they've travelled with the twins.

place your wagers now? :)