hello monday…

it seems i took an entire week off of blogging.

time is going so fast.

we’ve been busy with a list of things… more posts to come on them later!

• we hosted an adults-only volleyball nite. i can’t believe that it was only our second volleyball nite this summer…how is that possible? we have usually hosted twelve or more by now!
• picked up my girls from the airport after their week of being cowgirls.
  listened to them talk for hours about their adventures.
• sela’s open house for preschool
• kj & myla’s back to school night.
• kiana’s jr. high back to school night.
• the kids actually went back to school. the alarm clock is set way too early.
• we hosted a first day of jr. high after school swim party. love those kids.
• every day the kids came home this week, we had ‘special’ after school snacks and lots of conversations filled with their first week experiences…
• myla’s soccer team had their first game, and won!!!
• i started my classes. loving 20th century art history. nervous about my digital prepress class, and what is expected of me…. eeeeeeekkks.
• had one final swim play date for sela and her cousin lilly. those two girls are too cute together.
• i’m trying to be dedicated to an earlier bedtime. oh man, it’s hard.
• home cooked two big dinners this week. one a total success. the other, i’m still trying to get the curry-fish smell out of our house. my husband was a serious champ for eating it. it was bad.
• stopped eating sweets, on wednesday. doing good. family life with a schedule makes this so much easier.

  on another note, something i’ve wanted to share here for a while…

  since having our 4th child, we decided to employ nannies almost four years ago. our nannies come and go, they change from full time to part time depending on how crazy our lives can be. you will see them pop into our life’s events quite often here on my blog. they are my saving grace on many a days. and often, i enjoy their company while my husband spends a portion of his time traveling with business.

  there is quite the tale on how we decided to have a nanny. a tale for another day, to be sure. it involves me three weeks post-partum after my fourth child when my husband suggested we get a nanny… lets just say, his suggestion didn’t go over so well. wink. wink.

  many people have sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors etc who help with many of the parenting tasks. i don’t. when three of my children need to be in the same place at 4pm, and my husband is out of town, life can be tricky.

  the thing with employing someone from a nanny agency in NY is that you don’t really know what you’re looking for in someone, even though you should do. since employing nannies, i’ve been asked often over these years, by others looking for nannies how to go about doing so… if you are in this boat, here’s a few recommendations i have.

  first of all, know what you are looking for. do you need someone to be with/care for your kids, without any other responsibilities? do you need someone to drive/carpool? someone to help with family chores? cooking? homework? running your home? you need to have a clear idea of exactly what you are expecting before you even begin the search. this will save you the hassle of hiring the wrong person. the nanny must understand exactly what your expectations are. we have had challenges arise in the past when the person we have hired didn’t know what their responsibilities were. if this happens, you may tend to spend too much time training/explaining the job requirements. or, re-hiring if you choose someone not wanting to do all of the tasks.

  the first nanny we ever hired was a girl who had literally grown-up babysitting for us, from our neighborhood. when we had the demand, she was the only person i could think of who would possibly want to fill the position, and had already spent a large portion of time with our family. so, it was easy to trust her and i already knew she loved our children. she was fabulous, and continues to help us on a regular basis.

  since then, we have expanded our trust circle to others. many others. this site has been useful to us on numerous occasions, and a handful of nannies we have chosen have become dear to our family. many of them are local college students looking for part-time work, who have or are currently working on ‘family science’ degrees. so, often, the applicants are prepared and educated for the position.

  most parents have a resourceful list of babysitters. however, i found it to be so much more comforting to have one person who completely knew and understood our family to be hired for the position rather than constantly trying to find someone every few days to babysit at the last minute. it gives me a calm, peace of mind to know that while our nanny is here, the kids are going to be taken very well care of. the nanny is also capable of completing tasks that i could be doing. so, when i return home or have taken the time to attend class, finish homework, work-out, not only are my kids happy, but things like laundry have still been taken care of, homework has been completed, etc. etc.

  the reason this is on my mind, is because our nannies have been all-over the place this summer, traveling, out of state for internships, getting married…

  and starting today, monday, they will be returning!

  if you are in a situation where you are looking to hire a nanny, i have a lot more i could say on the subject ~ send me an email, jane{at}prolook{dot}com, i am willing to offer more advice or answer any questions.

  ***

  on yet another note,
  this little cutie has always had the best eating habits.
  she loves everything.

  her current obsession:
  marshmallows.
  from here.

  she just can’t seem to remember that
  mushrooms are not called
  marshmallows!

  when sela orders, she says,
  “i’d like two orders of marshmallows!“

  her daddy loves taking her there, for one on one dates.

  if you haven’t been…
  run, don’t walk.