Hope Skinner, founder Nanny Shecando

My Battle With The Bedtime & Bath Routines

The Mum Experience

I got a taste of ‘The Mum Experience’ last week. As in the REAL mum experience. Not just the 8am to 6pm shift that I usually take on. Not even the occasional 6pm to 11pm babysit either. I’m talking the real deal mum experience, the evening shift complete with bath times and the dreaded bedtime routines.

My cameo as Army officer was so that BossMum and BossDad could go out to celebrate their anniversary. We’d discussed the evening routine and I had it down. Nothing I hadn’t done before. Nothing I couldn’t handle. Oh those famous last words! Early on I decided on a plan. I would tire them out in the pool and the rest of the evening would go by with an easy transition of sleeping kids. How wrong I was! It went a little something like this..

5.25pm
I thought it was 5.15pm

We came in late from the pool – the clock was wrong (off to a good start) to find the mother of Miss Charlie’s friend, Fiona*, waiting to pick her up. I frantically gathered all of her clothes, school bags, hats, blazers, pens, lunch-boxes and other random items that were scattered in the usual walk-in-the-door-drop-my-bag-and-run. It was an effort to look as though I was in fact seriously organised and not at all fazed by the fact I’d forgotten her imminent arrival. #Fail

5.35pm
Game On.

Leaving the rest of the kids (Miss6 and The Twins) in front of the tv homework station, I set my sights on Viv. I wrestled the crawling, wriggling, naked baby back into a nappy and into something that had once resembled a clean bib. I then dumped her into her high chair so that I could shovel some lovingly prepared organic baby mash into her mouth. This was in-between tired pac-man style swipes of her arms and angry protests as though to imply she no longer wanted any part of this mundane feeding process. #Win, I think

6.05pm
Right, doing good.

Holding the baby at arm’s length so as to restrict the inevitable transfer of dribbled food onto my clean clothes, we relocated from kitchen to the bath tub. Waiting for the temperature to right itself (over zealous with the hot tap) I once again disrobed the baby and called to Miss 6 to join us in the bath. I called, again. And again. And again. #Fail

Letting Bub babble to herself in the bath, I half angled myself out the door, the eyes in the back of my head watching for fear she should decide to ‘inhale the water and go swimming’, and pulled out the old: 1…2… don’t make me get to 3 Miss Charlie! You. Bath. Now. Tout de Suit! She promptly joined us. #Win

6.30pm
This is awesome. I’m rocking this! Miss 6 in pyjamas. Baby in clean, baby-vomit free jumpsuit. Night bottle done. Miss 6’s school readers done. Off key lullabies happening. Baby on the way to peaceful sleep. #Win

7pm
Mission accomplished – baby asleep!

I descend the stairs to find Miss6 and The Twins have emptied the entire contents of the pantry into the lounge room. I announce that dinner will be ready soon. They’re not hungry – see empty wrappers everywhere. Awesome. ‘Too bad, you’re going to have dinner too’. #Win

I cook the chicken nuggets (here’s one I prepared earlier) throw in some broccoli and corn and start on the school lunches for tomorrow. Suspect grunts and a frown at the ‘foreign looking green thing on my plate’ tells me I’m doing my job right. I mediate an argument over Tomato sauce v BBQ sauce and throw some green veggies into a pot for my own dinner. #Win

The monitor lights up and cries are heard in stereo as Bub starts up for the night. #Fail I turn my pot of veg off and go to check on Bub. Giving her back her dummy, she soothes and I think, ‘she should settle again now’. Wishful thinking!

7.10pm
She doesn’t settle. I pick her up and cradle her to me, gently rocking her. She screams. I sing to her. She screams louder. I ‘shh’ her. She screams more. I do all at the same time and get a half giggle, half cry. #Win I breathe a sigh of relief (too soon!), she starts crying again. I sit on the floor of the dark room and rock her, improvising lyrics to lullabies I can’t remember. #Fail

7.20pm
Phew, that wasn’t too hard!
Bub is asleep again and back in her cot. I head back downstairs to the rest of the kids. They’re glued to the tv. My questions about how their dinner was fall on deaf ears. I repeat it again. A grunt and a quick glance answers my question. #Fail I turn my veggies back on, load the dishwasher, clean the kitchen and keep going with the school lunches. #Win

7.25pm
Bub starts crying again.

8.10pm
I finally get Bub back to sleep. Baby nurofen was employed. Kids singing was employed. Pacing the house was employed. A whole lot of silent prayers were employed. Some silent naughty words may have been employed. #Win, I think

Back downstairs, I warn Miss6 that she’s only got 20 mins left before absolute lights out. She says she’s fine with it. I know she’s lying. She knows I know. Realise I forgot to turn my veg off. They’re now cooked grandmother style (boiled the life out of them). I throw them out.

8.20pm
The girls want a fruit bowl for desert. I cut up all the fruit I can find. Discover an entire bag of too soggy peaches at the bottom of the crisper. Try not to gag as I throw them out. Eww. I clean the kitchen.. Again. I remind Miss6 that she’s now only got 10 minutes left to brush teeth and go to bed. She says she knows.

8.30pm
Not loving this!
Bed time. Miss 6 complains. Cue major-scale tantrum! I pick her up and carry her to bed. She grumbles. I shush her and in my best ‘angry whisper voice’ tell her to shut it or she’ll wake the baby. She whines. Bub wakes up. Bub cries. Then screams. #Fail I down tools and rock Bub back to sleep.

8.50pm
‘But I’m not tired’, Mis6 whines. She did this on purpose the little rat. She just wrangled 20 more minutes out of me. I tuck her in and lay down with her. She starts to discuss the meaning of life. Seriously, just got to sleep. please!

9.15pm
Miss6 is asleep. Finally. But she’s on my arm. And in my bed. Awesome. Carefully I extract myself. 2 down, 2 to go. #Win I descend the stairs to find The Twins fighting over the tv remote. I’m fairly certain they have homework they should be doing.

9.35pm
‘I’ finish doing ‘their’ maths homework. #Fail Bed time for them. Yes!

10pm
The Twins are finally in bed and asleep. No more kids. #Win I clean the house, again.

10.30pm
Realise I didn’t wash the school uniforms. Realise I didn’t finish making the school lunches. Realise I didn’t have any dinner. #Fail

11pm
I find myself eating a bowl of coco pops on the couch and watching Disney channel before noticing that no kids were around and I could actually watch something that didn’t flash bright colours at me at the risk of an epileptic attack!

11.45pm
The Bosses come home

They ask, ‘How was your night?’

‘Oh fine, it was a breeze. We had so much fun. They were angels’. Yes, I know, I lied. #Fail

Midnight
BossDad is asleep on the couch. Bub starts crying. Boss mum gets it. Miss 6 wakes from bad dream, I get it.

1am
Eyes are drooping. Bed time. Remember that Miss6 is in my bed. I gently relocate her. She doesn’t wake. Oh thank god! I lay awake in bed suddenly not tired thinking about all the things I was going to do that day that I didn’t do. #Fail And then I realise that it’s already another day and we’re going to do it all over again. This was the evening shift, at it’s best. I battled dinner wars, bath times and bed times to fulfil the evening routine with kids.

In complete seriousness, I give full hats off to Boss Mum. With an intensely demanding 9-5 corporate job, a hobby side project business and 4 and a half kids (Boss Dad) she manages it all and still juggles the overnight stint on the foreign trade markets. She’s one talented lady. I don’t know she does it! Sweet dreams everyone, tomorrow is another day and we’re going to do it all again!

What’s the worst part about your evening routine with the kids?

Do You Know Your Enemy?

I’d be a whale

#Disclaimer: reader’s discretion is advised – this post contains potentially offensive material

In the Summer School holidays I took Miss Charlie to the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium. Similarly as to when the BF came to the zoo with us, thankfully my mum was in town and came along for the ride also. Meaning she could toddle on behind with Viv leaving me to be able to give my 110% attention to Miss Charlie. We raced around the Aquarium, stopping briefly to read the sign posts and to complete the quizzes. But mostly, we just couldn’t wait to see all of the animals. It was a great day out and we all learnt something new. Always a bonus!

We were sitting by the water having an ice cream afterwards when Miss Charlie posed an interesting question: If you could be any sea animal, what would you be and why? (Although perhaps she should have said, do you know your enemy?)

DIY Up-Cycled Photo Frames

DIY Up-Cycled Photo Frame Art

This is a really easy, cheap and fun artsy DIY activity that I did recently with Miss6. I made them as a gift to celebrate the boyfriend and mine’s anniversary. We’ve also been working on decorating our apartment over the last few months. It’s a very slow progress because we are going very slow and thinking about every little piece before we buy it. Whilst we share so many interests, ideas and perspectives it seems that we don’t always agree on decoration. Bummer! Where I want to do very clean lines with a mix of french country and classic (lots of white, wooden materials and simple designs), he seems to be a little more into the “geek” side. Our taste is proving to be so different that I keep threatening (promising) to make him a designated ‘man cave’ where he can keep all of his toys and collectables that he loves so much. So I decided that this little gift would be the perfect excuse to get some more art up on the walls, sans lengthy deliberations!

Not On My Watch: Preventing Children’s Injuries

It’s a huge thing this Nannying gig. Really huge. In some cases, it can implicate life and death situations. Especially when concerning the care of babies and small children. The care provided by an adult or someone deemed responsible for children is hugely significant.

Recently I had a traumatic experience. A child placed in my care was injured, and I couldn’t have done anything reasonably foreseeable to prevent it. The ordeal once again called to mind the significance of my job as a nanny and made me question something.

>>> Preventing Children’s Injuries: What to do when something goes wrong?

The Incident + Injury

Bub banged her nose quite severely on the arm of the couch one day not long ago. She was bouncing around excitedly and face planted the couch. The result was some severe carpet burn, some blood and a whole lot of crying! It looked worse than it was, and once we had calmed down I was able to stop and think and assess the damage. I could see that she didn’t have any immediate bruising around the nose and eyes.

After a good half an hour of consoling my poor little munchkin, some serious off-key lullabies and a warm bottle to send her off to peaceful, I just cried my eyes out and now I’m exhausted sleep, I turned on myself. The full weight of criticism came attacking and self-doubt was rife in my head.

How could I have let this happen! Her mum leaves her entrusted in my care and look what happens! This is not good enough, imagine if it had have been more serious! This is my first day back at work after having four days off over Christmas. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a nanny. Clearly my motherly instincts are desensitized after having time off. Maybe I’m not a natural after all.

After this I called MumBoss to tell her of what had happened. I filled her in on the details and let her know that Bub was fine save for a large red bump on her nose. I then divulged my anguish, telling MB that I was so sorry to have let this happen, On My Watch! To which she said:

This kind of thing happens all the time. She’s getting more and more mobile these days. She’s not aware of her spacial distance just yet. If it wasn’t you, it would have happened to someone else! Don’t blame yourself! I’m just glad you were there to do some first aid and give her cuddles. You’re her other mother you know! Don’t feel bad. I accidentally left her sitting on the couch the other day and walked off to the kitchen to put her nappy in the bin and next thing I know she’s fallen off the couch and face planted the carpet. There was a deafening thud! So I know what it’s like.

After some reflection I went back and just sat watching Bub sleep in her cot, checking constantly to make sure she was still breathing. So I guess I do have all the motherly instincts after all. The ordeal got me thinking of the heavy responsibility we take on as nannies and other child care providers.

The responsibility we bear to care for other people’s children:

1. When driving them in the car.

2. When giving swimming lessons in the pool.

3. When taking them out and about in busy places.

4. When walking them to school.

5. When overseeing all education and developmental milestones.

6. Even down to the ‘feed them responsibly, bath them safely, provide emotional and mental support effectively’.

So I state again, with strong conviction, and with 110% dedication to do my every bit to make sure that my little children do not experience hurt. I say: not on my watch! For I attempt to be Superwoman, or at the very least, Super Nanny.

Are You Siri-ous?

A Friend To Talk To: Are You Siri-ous?

Miss Charlie and I were in the car the other day en route to a play date with some friends. They were going sailing out on the Harbour, now that’s some play date! I had programmed the address into Google Maps and Siri was guiding me. Miss Charlie piped up from the back and says,

“Why don’t I have series? Mummy and Daddy have series on the iPads but I don’t.”

Not sure what she was on about, I sad something about how they might watch tv and have lots of series on their iPads but that she only uses her iPad for games. There, done. Sorted. That’s that.

“What? I watch tv too! Why would that mean I don’t have series? I really want to have series. I want to have a friend I can talk to.”

OK. I’m pretty sure she’s too young to have seen that episode of Big Bang theory but maybe I’m wrong…

Finally realising that she was actually talking about Siri, that annoyingly monotonous voice in my phone that mispronounces street names, sends me the long way to the milk bar on the corner and calls my ex semi-mother in law instead of the boyfriend on voice call.. awesome.

Getting back to topic, I still wasn’t sure how to answer her question. I began to explain that different iPads have different models, that my iPhone was a newer model than her sisters and that Mummy’s iPad was even newer than Daddy’s. Then I began to explain how lucky she was to even have an iPad to call her own. Mercifully she was spared my ‘back in my day’ speech as we arrived at our destination, and with only three unexpected detours thanks to Siri and her affinity for sending us around the block, I’d say Miss Charlie got off lucky.

Still if I were her, I’d be rethinking that desire to have Siri and just elect to go more for the Scarlett Johansson in Her. Now she’s a person worth dreaming about when you’re in need of a person to talk to.