Am I Ready For This?

Hello blogger friends!! Look at me blogging so quickly after my last blog. It's like old times, eh?

**Darn you Dan for introducing the "eh" into my v

ocabulary**

The reason for such a quick update is because I am finally free from Evie's mom. Well, only for a day or two. She is still on maternity leave until the end of forever, she just had to fly to Florida for a wedding. This means...I have Evie until grandma (Oma) comes to watch her tomorrow. Until then, Evie and I will be hanging out for 32 hours. Mostly catching up on episodes of The Office and 30 Rock. 

I'm kidding. 

It's almost like the old proverbial "when the cat's away, the mouse will play" type of scenario. I feel like with mom out of town I can go crazy! I can blog. I can bake. I can make a mess! I can be out of control! 

However, if this morning's outing was any indication of the time to come, I may want to crawl in a hole and cry.

Today I took Evie to the library. A normal day. A normal outing. A normal Evie. Until she turned into a crazy person. In a nutshell, I told her "no" and that we had to go home. She screamed. She cried. She yelled for her mommy. 

Her new trick is to lay herself out on the floor, ever so gently. She goes boneless. When I go to pick her up and set her on her feet, she lays back down. 

There is one way to get me all sorts of angry and this is it. Children have been pulling this kind of junk for years. I dealt with them a lot when I was a preschool teacher. Heck, I was still dealing with them when I was the director of the preschool.

No matter. 

Needless to say, I carried her to the bathroom where I gave her a little encouragement and out we went. 

Let's not mention that the express checkout was giving me a lot of extra trouble and I forgot my sunglasses at the counter. 

Don't worry Dan, I remembered about the time we had already walked to the car and turned around to go get them. :(

Pictured above:How I felt upon arriving home today. (From Mo Willems Knuffle Bunny book)

Heather Oberle=Supermom

Has it felt like 8 Forevers since I last blogged? It has to me. Sorry for being MIA, but between two kids at work, nice weather, busy weekends, and practically living with my boss...things have gotten a bit crazy. 

It's not for lack of things to blog about. For sure, I am always finding something I would like to share with you all, it's just lack of time anymore! What I would give to have no life again...

Ok, totally kidding on that. 

Anywho, so I am now here to ask you to vote for my sister in Richmond's "Supermom Contest"!!! She was nominated by a neighbor friend and my brother-in-law has asked that I "work the internet like it's my job" to solicit votes.

All I can say is she really is a great mom and I hope I can be just as good some day. Between all the class projects, library time, driving to soccer practice, cheering on the sidelines, being her children's advocate, wiping noses, making the best homemade applesauce this side of the Nile, and even teaching her children about Jesus, she is a hard working woman!!

So, if you know her but at all, I implore you to send in a quick vote to richmondmom.com

Not sure what she wins, but I am sure it's great and much needed.

Thanks!!

A Conversation With Evie

Evie had a huge blowout in her diaper (I will spare you gross details) and this was the conversation that ensued:

Me: What did you eat last night???? EEEWW!!

Evie: I had mexican.

Nuf said!

Top Five Worst Babysitting Experiences

As I was thinking back on how long I have been a nanny (pretty much straight out of college, I know I had lofty ambitions), I was remembering some of the better times. And while I was reminiscing, I was trying to keep the worst memories out of my brain. And then it struck me, how many awful/awkward experiences there have been. So without further ado, I give you:

My Top Five Worst Babysitting Experiences

*Before we begin, you must know that I was employed by an agency that would often times send me to a family's home only once or twice (it was on an as needed basis). I knew the families were safe and vice versa as we all have to go through a bunch of applications and such.

1) One time I was at the home of a kid who was the biggest bully ever. I was literally scared of him. He as older kid and wanted to be home alone on his Saturday, rather than stuck with me. I actually let him watch TV all day (I know, how wrong of me, but if you saw this kid you wouldn't want any altercations with him either). Some of the highlights from this day include him stapling his finger, throwing rocks at squirrels, and watching his dog throw up blue play dough.

2) One time I was sent to a hotel room. YES. A hotel room. To watch a toddler for an evening while his parents were at meetings and parties down in the lobby of said hotel. He was a cute little guy. I wasn't expecting too much of an issue (besides where to put him down to sleep as they did not have a pack-n-play). I was told to feed him Teddy Grahams if he was feeling sad. He also liked warm milk. His mom had just finished feeding him rice pudding when I arrived. With a tummy full and fresh diaper he was ready to go. It only took the kid 1/10th of a second to realize his parents had abandoned him. The wailing begins. So. I feed him Teddy Grahams. Doesn't seem to do the trick because now he is wailing AND has a mouth full of food. He chokes. And then proceeds to projectile vomit all over himself, the bed, and the floor. What's worse is we are in a hotel and there are no paper towels or cleaning supplies around. He kept wanting to walk towards me and scream, and I (like any self respecting sitter would do) hid myself on top of the dresser for two hours so he wouldn't throw up on me.

3) One family I sat for were regulars. They had three boys (ages 4, 2, and a few months). I enjoyed working with them. Most of the time I would be there for a lot of hours. Both parents worked as ER nurses. One day, the baby was in his bouncer seat and the older two were off playing. I went to the next room to put a toy away and when I came back, I saw the baby was choking. His older brother (the two year old) decided to feed him a goldfish cracker. Since the baby was not on solid foods, he choked. I had to flip over the baby and the entire bouncer seat since he was strapped into it. He was fine after I removed the foreign food from his esophagus.

4) Evie fell once and clocked her head against the bottom step at the perfect angle to create a golf ball sized bump on her head. The worst part was watching it swell up in a matter of seconds and then fill with blood. Oh, she never actually bled...or cried for that matter. But I was a mess. 

5) Once I watched these two kids for about 11 hours. I had never watched them before and their mom had a normal sitter, but needed me just for the day. The younger of the two kids literally (literally) screamed the whole day. I was so done by the end of that day, I came home and cried. I remember thinking if this was what motherhood was all about then I didn't want to have any part of it.  I couldn't even go near him without it making him cry harder. 

Pet Peeves

I realized today when the cleaning lady said "you's going out today?" that this not only disturbs me to hear, but just makes me cringe! So, here are some more pet peeves...

PET PEEVES:

1) Making up words, not for coolness but because you actually think it is correct grammar

(examples include: "whole n'other" and "supposebedly")

2) When parents linger before leaving you with their child...JUST GO PEOPLE!!

3) When people call you and inquire: "Who's this?" You called me!

4) Eye crust