Jesse and Apple accompanied me on an afternoon nanny gig today. As you can see from this picture, they both did a marvelous job of helping me keep order with three little ladies and their four (yes, FOUR) playdates. For those of you who aren't quick with the math stuff, that is SEVEN children in my keep this afternoon. The fourth and final one to wander over proclaimed, "My dad is watching that green jacket golf thing. It's boring. Is it OK if I play here?" Of course she asks this as she walks through the door, kicks her shoes off, and runs upstairs. Um...sure? What's one more, right? Hey, and at least this one remembered to take her shoes off.
I love my job. I suppose that's pretty obvious considering I am willing to babysit seven little ruggies on my day off (the bonus is getting to bring my hottie boyfriend future husband and our cute dog-ter along with me). I love it even despite the youngest one getting a skinned knee, followed by an Oscar award worthy meltdown performance. It's all in a day's work for this modern day Mary Poppins. And I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.
It's a rather long story as to how I got into my current gig of nanny extraordinaire. I will try to keep it simple. In short: I quit a very secure job at mother Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota, moved to Georgia for a guy (who does that?), got a ridiculously cute puppy (pictured above with the guy I did not move to Georgia for), decided to move back to Minnesota a short six months later (oops!), applied for a nanny job after discovering a posting for it on this little, unknown (to me) website, and got hired by a fabulous family in Minneapolis. Boom. I became a nanny. The extraordinaire came later. After lots of trial and error.
Exactly how fabulous is this family that hired me? They didn't officially meet me face to face until the day before I started working for them. Of course they checked my references and interviewed me extensively by phone while I was still in Georgia. But I still think they took a mega risk having not met me in person first. However, I am so forever grateful that they did take that risk. Working for them opened up my eyes to what my passions are. I love children, and seeing life through their eyes. It's such a gift. And to think, they pay me to do this! And they let me bring my dog to work with me! Could it get much better than that? I continued to work for them for over two years until they no longer needed a nanny (insert sad face here). Their three daughters will forever and always be my first nanny loves. It was them (and their four playdates) that I sat with today, and I relish in every opportunity I am given to see them. After I finished with their family I used some sweet networking skills (I truly believe it is sometimes all about WHO ya know, and not WHAT ya know...ya know?) and was able to make a smooth transition to another amazing family in Minneapolis. I stayed with them for a little over a year until they, like my previous family, no longer had a need for a full time nanny (insert another sad face here--are you seeing a trend here?). I still work with them once a week and in addition have snagged a gig with yet another great family. They have a sweet ten year old daughter, and a delightful, ever changing baby girl. And in a few weeks they will welcome a little baby boy as well. Baby girl and baby boy will be a year and a few days apart in age. It's sure to be a crazy show, but I think we are all ready for it. Or about as ready as we possibly can be.
Photos! We all love photos, right? Sorry that they are crappy mobile uploads. Feel free to buy me a new fancy camera, ok?
Oh, and these little kiddos are all taking part in our wedding day. Five kids in our wedding party!??!? Are we crazy? Probably. But we'd have it no other way.
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| My first loves back in 2009. |
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| Same uptown girls in March 2011. |
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| Bringing Jesse to work is the equivalent to letting the kids drink 17 cans of Mountain Dew. Jesse loves it. |
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| This one right here... |
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| Is now this one. |
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| Love. Her. |
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| Love these two little sassy pants too. |
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4 comments:
Yay. Well done!!
I need a full-time nanny. However, I despise Mary Poppins. Maybe you could model yourself more after Maria from the Sound of Music? I really liked that Brittany Murphy movie too...the one with Dakota Fanning. Wow. It is really sas that Britt
What a wonderful job you have - and adorable kiddos!
Hey Lauren, I found your blog through Carla's blog and have been reading your archives all night. I came across your nanny post and I know this is a little odd, but I have to ask and can't find an email address for you so I guess I'll just leave a comment (which you can delete once you've read.) Do you know of any families looking for a part time nanny this summer in Minneapolis? I've been a nanny in the past and now I'm an Early Childhood Special Education teacher in Chaska/Chanhassen and although I know quite a few families there, I live in South Mpls and would love to have less of a drive this summer. I'm not looking for a ton of hours, just a little something to keep me busy and some extra money to put towards a couch (for our basement remodel that will hopefully be done this winter!) If you know of anyone, I would really appreciate their contact information and can give you references and a resume.
Thanks!
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