This is my dream

Mahalo!

     Last weekend I found a house I would love to live in, and the kind of land I would love to live on.

The house

Just a small 1036 sq ft, but perfect space for me

The land

 

 

Long narrow strip of land, doesn't have to be on water, but the trees are a must, imagine the gardens and flower beds.

   I spend a lot of time dreaming, but generally this is what my dream  house will be like. Small and cozy, with potential to expand. I literally cannot wait.

HAPPY EASTER

Babies, babies, babies!

My world is beginning to be over run by babies! With two s.nieces, I'm already a happy aunt, but a new baby niece on the way puts me over the moon. I Cannot wait until may! Then this weekend I found out that a new baby cousin is on its way! Best part: due on my birthday!( well not ON my birthday, 3 days after, but I'm positive the baby will insist on coming out a little early!)

So, this summer is going to be a summer of baby loving for me. I'm taking the summer off work to do school full time, so I'm planning on getting in lots of time with all the babies I'm blessed to have in my life, Athena, abby, Hailey, and the two coming soon.

With all this baby fever going on, I think I'm coming down with pet fever. Though Toby is far from grown, his growing and learning has steadied out. I'm ready for a new addition to our little family. Though due to limited space, the fact that we are going away next January for 3 months, and Braden is a logical not impulsive person, I cannot get a cat, dog, or other small pet. That leaves fish! And frogs! And maybe a turtle! Oh man, now I really want a turtle. Anyways.
Hope all is well with everyone!

(missing the island like crazy)

Every second week eh?

So it has totally occurred to me that my new years resolution of writing every second week has totally failed. And then I started wondering why, I mean its not a lack of things to talk about. I have come to the conclusion that it is a combo of 2 things; I love my job tons, but somewhere inside I know that although every new word, every messy craft and whatnot are exciting to me, its probably not something y'all want to spend your free time reading about. Also, I am a night owl. I do my most inspired and well written things after 10pm, but now that I'm up at 5:30 5 days a week, if I'm not sleeping by 9:30 I am a very cranky nanny.
So that is a long way of saying I am going to keep trying to write once every second week, but it is not going to be about being a nanny, its just going to be about me being me.
I just finished reading The Help. And I was a little shocked. I know that it was worse than what was written about, but the thing that got.me the worst was how recently it was. My great Grammy passed away recently, but my sisters and mom (and grandma of course) were very close to her. During the time that story took place, she would have been in her 60's. And I cannot help but wonder what she thought about coloured people, and integration. I know it wasn't the same in Canada as it was in Mississippi USA, but that doesn't mean there wasnt racism. I plan on doing some googling on the subject whenever I get some free time. Grammy Pond was the sweetest woman I know, and the truest Christian I have ever met, so I like to think she was understanding and caring.
I also wonder how people from my life would have acted toward people of other colours if we lived then. How I would gave acted. The only thing I know for sure is children are uncaring and unjudging on colours and, having decided to dedicate myself to them, I hope I would have had some of that in me too.
And now I feel extremely naive thinking that it happened sooo long ago. When in reality, there are people all around me who were alive during some of the worst of it. Silly me. I feel like I probably should have paid a little more attention during history class.
That's all for now. Stay tuned for a tribute to my blood sistas.

My boys having snuggle time when I leave for work

Museum of Civilization, this was the highlight for the kiddies.

Alas, the return of the perpetually sick

dear readers,

 my excuses for my absence are as follows :

• the common cold
• Christmas busyness
• the really serious flu that's going around (did you know like 5 people have died from it? CRAZY!)
• the stomach bug (I will never eat french fries again)
• my dog ate my homework

That last one isn't true, but I really did spend the better part of the last month sick, which was not, as my little sisters would say, totally sic. I thought seriously about uploading something little even from my phone, but my laziness got the better of me. Then I made a new years resolution to myself (btw, B and I were both asleep before midnight because we are THAT cool) that I would post once ever two weeks. So here I am.

Truthfully, I was creeping facebook and ended up on a link to a different website for making blogs, then I started feeling really guilty for this blog halfway through making a new one. Feeling guilty for a blog, that's how exciting my life has been.

Anyways, here is a little update:

Santa Clause was great to us this year, putting us a whole lot closer to our trip to Italy next January, and Mrs.Clause was really good to Toby,  a brand new bed and a bone that lasted him almost a whole month (thanks go out to momsicle for that one).  Christmas came late for Miss Moto (as in this week), but I think she knows it was worth the wait, an awesome new cat tree!

The boys were obviously spoiled too! In a good way of course! The house seems full of trains now! After only a week away from R he was suddenly saying a buzzillion new words. He attempts to say "Jessie" now when prompted, which is less exciting than all the other amazing things he can now do. Like eat anything all by himself, and he can sign and say "More Please", which is crazy adorable. Although when hes saying "Up Please" and I can't pick him up I feel really bad. 
He has also taken to tantrums. He flops his whole body forwards and cries face first into the ground. I feel like this may make me a bad nanny, but at times I find it hilarious (when I get past how frustrating it is) and I may or may not take pictures of it. He has also realized that D gets pretty much all the attention there is to be given ( mostly because he demands it), and has decided this is not acceptable. So much fun.

On the other side of the ring, D is making incredible progress as well. Manners manners manners, he is getting so much better at using them. And time-outs come less often, and with a whole lot less fuss. After the first few days of getting back into our routine, he was like a little angel! But his sharing skills leave something to be desired.
 Today he was playing with cars on the floor and R picked up B's bear, to which he responded to using his most babylike voice to say "I wannnnttt myyy bearrrrr" (with a huge fake sad face)
I said " Your brother has the bear right now because you weren't playing with it, why don't you play with your cars?"
B got up, walked over to the toy box and held up a car and defiantly said " I play with R's car now, we share."
I know it sounds cute, but you could see he was just pushing me, to see if that would make me give him back his bear. I smiled sweetly and said sure.
He was grumpy for a bit after that.

Next week we adventure to the Museum of Civilization (which also includes what I'm told is a children's museum). Look forward to that update, I'm sure it will be a whole lot more exciting.

A $50 Christmas

This year I have taken on a challenge. Mostly because with school and our trip next year I don't really have more  than that to spend. I was inspired by my love of Pintrest, and after finding tons of things I thought would be fun to make, I thought "Why not actually make it?".
My challenge is "$50 or under". This means lots of homemade gifts, and hopefully a family photo of all 4 of us if I can find my little camera (if you have seen it btw please let me know!).

So there also may be a few very pretty IOU's also because it's a lot more work than I had thought. And also I need to get a cord for my swing machine  because in our move apparently I lost it (if you haven't noticed, I misplace things a lot).

Here are a few examples of my hard work (I'm not worried about the receivers seeing them because they are  the employers and a two year old)

Elmo looks a lot like he is on drug but they are all a work in progress still.

The babies were, as per usual, ridiculously adorable the week. Exceptions of that being poor D's backslide in toilet training, stemming from R's recently growing ability to communicate effectively. I learned this week that not only is potty training crazy hard, but without very immediate results is very discouraging as a caregiver. I left work nearly in tears  more then once this week. But alas, a little progess left me with a little bit of a lift of the spirits by the end of the week.
Listening to a one year old cry for two hours, with nothing, not singing or tv or playing or drinking or eating or anything at all cheering him up, is very discouraging. Makes you feel very crappy about about yourself.

Some day I might write a very bad novel.
Sorry about the lack of enthusiasm today readers, aside from being exhausted, my house is probably haunted.

Happy  December 1st!

Melmo! Apppsauuusseee!!

It was a week of talking for this nanny this week! R is just starting to talk. And I honestly had no idea how adorable it was going to be, or how quickly and spontaneously it would happen. When I started he had the basic "dada" and "anana" and the occasional "mama". This has now grown to "ckocks" (socks), "cucks" (trucks) "caaaarrrk" (car), "meeemoooo" or "melllmooomelmo!" (Elmo), and most impressively "Apppsause" (applesauce).

He loves talking, not that D is taking to that much. This 2 year old is used to being the only one able to communicate, and I can feel the beginnings of the "terrible twos" coming on. Smashing his fists against the table, I ask him " What are you doing buddy?" and I get what resembles a demon stare. His chin is tilted down almost touching his chest, his eyes looking up at the scariest angle at me. It is really quite terrifying. "Are you trying to make Jessie sad or mad?" and still banging on the table he smiles and nods his head. "Is that a nice thing to do?" and suddenly he stops, shakes his head and his face is suddenly frowning.

Other memorable turn of events this week, he has started peeing his pants a little and saying "oh well thats okay". Don't get me wrong. At 26 months he was fully potty trained, which took at total of 3 days, and he hasn't worn a diaper since, not even to bed. He is very smart. But when he peed on me, as he was getting dressed one morning. No that is not okay.

Also Braden turned 21 this week!! So a very happy birthday to my wonderful amazing partner in crime and life! He is now old enough to drink anywhere in the world!! Oh how I love him.

the first gift , for the boss

If you don't already know, this years christmas theme is " Under $50 Altogether", and mostly completely homemade. If you have any requests do not hesitate to make a request. Only a month and a half to go!!!

Home again Home again Jiggity Jig

Long time no see blog readers. Of whom there may be very few, but I decided to go back to writing because I know I have at least one reader, my beautiful little sister Maggie. So for her, and the others who randomly happen upon my page.

Now that we have safely arrived home (yay!), moved into our apartment (perfect), and started our lives here in Ottawa there are not many travel stories to share. But fear not! Being a nanny for 2 of the most adorable boys I have ever met leaves me with many many many stories.

The boys are 2 (D) and 1 (R), and very handsome. D is speaking in almost full sentences, can count up to 13, can sing more songs than I can count including the abc's. We are about to start working on recognizing the ABC's. R is at all times either laughing or crying. Mostly laughing. Say the word stinky. HAHAHAHAHA. Put a stuffed animal on your head. HAHAHAHA. Tries going into his tent with guitar and can't get it in on the first try, and you have nonstop crying for 5 minutes. It is both the best and most exhausting job I have ever had.

Being a first time nanny, I have a new found respect for every mother, stepmom, and childcare giver in the world. It is not always an easy job. Not that I thought it would be. But we have fun finger painting, making crafts, and going on trips to the library.


Badadada badadada It's Elmo's World!