Aren’t you more excited about this one?

My bother met his wife while she was pregnant. Her ex-boyfriend told her to have an abortion when she found out that she was going to have a baby. She left him immediately. Her and my bother got married a few months before she was to deliver. When her daughter was born, we all treated her with just as much love as any other person in our family. We just don’t see a difference.  My sister in law is due in a few weeks with their second baby. Someone said to my mom “aren’t you more excited about this one?”  I, at first did not understand the question. My niece is my niece. I am so excited for her sister to get here. Just because this baby has my bother’s DNA and her older sister does not, does not make her loved more by our side of the family. They are both loved equally and equally spoiled by their Aunts, Uncles, and Grand parents. She is just as much family as the new baby is. She is my little munchkin and I love her to death. I hope that she never feels like she isn’t part of our family cause she is.

Sorry for the rant but I needed to vent.

Really!

4 year old today came home from school today with a two foot wire wrapped partly around her wrist and partly just sticking out. I was in shock that her teachers would let that happen! When I asked her were she got it, she told me it was from art class! It was wrapped so tightly that she had red marks on her arm for over an hour. I of course made her take it off and give it to me right away. She had a doc’s appointment right after school or I would have marched that wire right back into the school looking for an explanation. I talked to MB and she is sending the school an email tonight and I will bring in the wire on Monday so they can see what I am talking about. Who gives a 4 year old a wire to play with? It’s just not safe.

Then we went to the doctor where they informed me that their insurance ran out in December and they needed the updated card. MB didn’t know that they were need anything since it’s the same company and they did not tell us that when I made that app. They saw her anyway and we have 60 days to get them the new card. Just before they called her back they told me that I wasn’t authorized to bring her. I am authorized. MB signed paper work 5 months ago for it. I have taken the girls to the doc a couple of times with no problems. Their doctor recognized me and we called MB and she was able to be seen. Now I have more of the same paperwork to bring back.

We started Chore charts this week.Mainly because I have been having  really hard time with 6 year old and bed time. She sneaks out of bed or sneaks a book into bed and will stay up for hours. Then she will wake up cranky from the lack of sleep. I put go to bed on time as one of her shores and she has been really good about going to bed! If she goes to bed on time all week, she gets a star. She can earn up to 4 stars.; 1 star for completing each category. Each star can be traded for 10 minutes on her Nintendo DS. She is really excited about filling in her chore chart each day to earn her stickers! I am so glad that this is working! She has also done piano everyday without complaining.

In all it has been another crazy week but at least I feel like we are salving some problems and that feels really good!

The big “D”

The kids parents are now getting divorced. 4 year old doesn’t totally understand what that means. She thought that he dad would no longer be her dad when the divorce was final. She seamed pretty happy about it actually. She doesn’t like it when we travel to Austin to see him. He doesn’t spend much time with them and she isn’t really use to having him around so I can see why she wouldn’t mind. It breaks my heart that she doesn’t really have a relationship with him. The 6 years old is pretty smart and kind of get whats going on. She told MB last night that she needed to merry a nice boy cause daddy isn’t very nice to her.  They are very close to their mom and protective of her. I know that they love their dad but they are so use to not having him around that it hasn’t really been hard for them to live far away from him for so long. The last time we went to see him, the girls had stickers and were trying to give him one. He told them to go to their play room, then grumbled at me that he can’t think when they are around. He was so annoyed at just having them in the house. I felt so badly for them. When we go to see him they are either with me or another nanny for the majority of the time. He spends very little time with them. When I was little, my dad loved being with me. I am his only daughter(I have half sisters from my mom before she marries my dad). I would steal his coffee and watch baseball games with him. He would take my me and my brothers to basket ball games, the circus, fishing trips, and rodeos. He enjoyed having us around when we little. We have great memories that we share with him. The girlies dad doesn’t seem to care. I know he loves them but he doesn’t show it. I am afraid that when they get older they won’t want him in their lives. They won’t be use to having a dad that cares. I just found out that I have to spend 6 weeks in Austin this summer . I am not looking forward to it. Neither are the girls. They don’t want to be away from their mom for that long.

Texas Cookies

The girls have been running at a million miles an hour since Christmas break. They have been just plain exhausted all week, the constant back and forth to Austin isn’t helping either. Yesterday, after homework and  piano, we had a nice relaxing evening of baking cookies.  The other day I bought Texas and Star shape cookies cutters for a project for Go Texan Day. I thought it would be fun to use those cookie cutters and the girls just loved it. After dinner, I let them each have a star and a Texas one. We spent some time decorating them and then eating them.  I think the relaxing evening was just what the kiddos needed. They were much easier to get up this morning and in better moods.

 

Live-in nanny plan B.

As a live in nanny, you rely on your employer for your housing needs. What happens if you suddenly find yourself out of work? As a live-in nanny myself, I have a plan in place if I lose my position. Here are a few steps you can take to prepare yourself in the event that you lose your position and housing.

1. Your Contract needs to state that you need a month’s notice before termination or the employer must provide living expenses for a month. I know that it’s more common to have two weeks notice but as a live-in you need to find a place to live which usually takes more then two weeks.
2. You need to have two-three months worth of living expenses in the bank. You will need to account for living arrangements, food, toiletries, gas ect.
3. You need access to car. It’s common for a live-in position to provide a car for work, you also need one for yourself or access to one. If you have to leave in a hurry, you won’t want to leave your stuff behind.
4. Know what local resource there are in your community for crises situations. Here in Houston there are several crises centers for women who suddenly find themselves with out a home. They help women to get back on their feet.
5. Have a plan C. No one likes to admit that they need help but the situation may escalate to a point where you need someone to just come get you. You need to have someone( a family member or close friend.) that you can rely on to come get you in the unlikely event that everything else fails. For example, my brother lives about 8 hours away and is able to drop everything and come get me if needed.  We discussed this before I came to Houston

It will take you time to build your saving to where it needs to be. Do some research on extended stay hotels in your area or even the neighboring areas. Neighboring area may be cheaper if you live in a large city. If you don’t own a car, estimate the cost of a rental. You will need a car to drive to interviews. Plan on having it for a few days at a time to keep the cost low. Estimate how much you will need for gas, food , and other things in a month. Multiply that number by three and make a plan to build your account to that number. Make sure you have the address and phone number of a local crises center handy.  Talk to someone about being your plan C. It’s important to always ” hope for the best but plan for the worst.”

My computer died :(

I have had it for years but it will no longer turn on. I went out today and got a new HP. It’s not an expense that I wanted right now. I just paid for the INA conference. I still need to buy my plane ticket. I also pay my brothers phone bill and his school bill. He is in an intense pastoral internship program and really doesn’t have the time to work enough hours to pay for it all. After all that and Christmas, I am pretty drained. I need to start building up my savings account again.

Beside the fact the I really didn’t want to buy right, I am excited to have a new toy! It runs a whole lot faster then my old computer did. It also weigh half as much as my old one did. Now I just need to figure out how to get the files off of the hard drive so I can put them on my new computer.

Sorry for the non nanny related post. I will update on my nanny life today or tomorrow!

My life is CRAZY

I took the girls to their dad’s in Austin for the long weekend. I don’t like being there personally but at least they get to see him. I usually have a terrible internet connection and I don’t have any friends there. Their house is out in the middle of nowhere so you have to drive at least 5 miles to even go to the grocery store. It’s just not me at all.

I was able to finish my February planning for the Houston Nanny Society website but some of my links aren’t working. I have to contact my web host and maybe even redo some things

I got an email from a nanny who was just fired. She was looking for a new position anyway because the family was very difficult to work for. They found out she was looking and fired her on the spot. She was a live-in and is new to Texas. I honestly am not sure how to help her. I want to but I am at a loss. Because I am a live-in nanny myself, I can’t even let her crash with me until she can get back on her feet. I feel so badly for her. I hope she is able to bounce back pretty quickly from this.

I was asked to take over a meetup.com nanny group. I have been posting their events to my site and facebook. I just honestly don’t want to pay the fees. I already pay for HNS out of my own pocket. I want HNS to be a resource weather or not people can pay for the service. I hope to get sponsors in the future but for now it’s all on me. I don’t know if I want to take on another project like this.

This week is going to definitely be a crazy one. I am so glad that my charges are in school full time or I would never be able to do all that I do. I am so looking forward to the weekend!