Down to Business

For those of you who don't know already - I took a position a few months ago as a full-time nanny for a wonderful family with two girls, ages 4 and almost 6. Well, 5 and 3/4 to be exact, and if she hears you saying otherwise, watch out! Anyway, this is a more than full-time position, live-in for 5 days, and ranges anywhere from 100 - 120 hours/week, including while I sleep. Yup, I signed up for this, willingly, and with a smile on my face. I made a 2+ year commitment to them (and myself) and intend to keep this as true. The mother and father of the girls work full-time and are minimally around, though I hold no judgment. They love their kids and also have careers and I get that. And in my opinion, if they hired someone like me, then they must really have their heads on straight. ;)

Anyway, for the past two or so years, I have suffered from what I felt was a writer's block. Every few months I would get an overwhelming desire to write and out would come the words, but it wasn't a daily thing. And when I took this job, I had a feeling it was for a deeper purpose, though I couldn't put my finger on it. And in the last few days, it has occurred to me that the burning feeling deep inside my stomach is not in fact heartburn, but my body telling me something. And in the middle of the night last night, it hit me. I have to write about this experience. My blog is about my life, and all the adventures that occur. Maybe this isn't the most deeply moving and spiritual thing I am experiencing, but it is damn close. And I find myself wanting to share these things - in confidentiality of course (meaning no names or places will be used) - and give my writing another go; a test drive if you will. And so here we have it. For the next 30 days I will share parts of my life as a "full charge" nanny, f I will record the good, the bad, and the dirty. I know that one day I will read this and the memories will be invaluable. And in the meantime it can make myself laugh a little. Here we go.

My schedule is such that I work early Tuesday mornings to early evening on Saturday. I live-in on these days and then go home to my apartment from Saturdays to Tuesdays, where I fall on my bed and sleep like a dead person for anywhere from 4 to 28 hours. No, not joking. My job is to handle everything - childcare, grocery shopping (I do this one by choice), anything related to the kids, driving, appointments, cooking, packing lunches, wipe butts, cater to a 4 and 6 year old's ever-changing fashion preferences, read princess books, wipe more butts, wipe noses, change socks 40 times a day, try and fail at shoe-tieing lessons, bribe them with dessert so they eat their dinner, give more baths a week than I care to count, and then, at the end of the day, I put them to sleep. Once, then twice, and then again 4,567 times between 7 and 8pm.

So forgive me if these posts make less and less sense every day - but I am running on little to no sleep here. The one thing I do have going for me (aside from a pretty supportive and patient boyfriend) is my sense of humor. Definitely important when dealing with kids!