I'm Going CRAZY!

This displacement that's been going on since January is wearing on me. It's plain difficult to care for the kids properly.

Momboss says next week the majority of renovations should be completed.

I've taken most of it in stride. I'm adaptable. We've made do. I've nannied at the grandparents' house, kept kids in basement or out of the house for most of the day while extensive work is being done. I've noted in another entry the difficulty in keeping the kids in the basement. Blocking the steps, running upstairs to grab food and bottles or more diapers if we run out. Nobody seems to be able to find the monitors, so when anyone is napping on 3rd floor, I run up and down constantly listening for waking children.

This week, renovations have ramped up. There are stone layers laying the chimney. Guys putting in tile backsplash in the kitchen, as well as finishing cabinets. Painters are here. And the cleaning people came. Really?? Amid the dust covering the floor more every second due to sanding drywall, and smoothing stone? Amid the toys strewn all over from the kids being allowed to drag everything out of boxes at will?

On top of that, every day I come in, basic stuff I need for the kids has been moved. I can't find where the dishes have been put. We are out of whole milk for the toddlers. Bottles are littered throughout every level of the house. And guess what else??

I went to make a bottle for the infant, and can't find any formula anywhere. Thinking it's just been moved, I tore everything apart looking for it. Upstairs, downstairs, looking for boxes that might have any.

Finally texted Momboss.

Oops, we're out. Will bring home more.

I have a screaming, hungry 2 month old!

Sigh.

I really, really hope we are back to some kind of order next week as Momboss promises!

Snakes in the Basement!

So, the last 8-9 months have proven to be very interesting. In that time frame, Momboss announced she was pregnant again (just months after giving birth to the twins), they sold their house and had to give it up for immediate occupancy before finding a house for themselves.

So, we all moved into the grandparents basement for 3 months. During this time, a house they were buying fell through when the owner of the house died and the family decided on different terms for the sale.

It was all chaos.

Eventually, we all made the move to the new house. It had been vacant for quite a long time, however. It was also a very outdated house on the inside. Major renovations started on the outside and the inside. This consisted of knocking down walls, tearing out fixtures, knocking out bricks from the fireplace. I was dealing with crawling babies finding nails, rocks, and pieces of drywall on the floor and joyfully eating it.

The kitchen was barely usable. The dishwasher didn't work so I was doing dishes by hand. I was digging for food, pots and pans and anything else I needed out of boxes since cabinets were being torn out due to a complete gutting of the kitchen. No one had bought any baby gates yet for this 3 level mansion. We were hanging out in the basement all day, eating in the kitchen, and kids were napping on the 3rd level in their rooms. This was a lot of not being able to do some of the most basic of things without worrying about babies climbing and falling down steps. Especially since there was a 3 yr old who did know how to traverse stairs and would sometimes start screaming in her room during naptime (throwing a fit) to having a potty accident in her pants (she went through a horrible regression stage after moving). This would lead me to having to ignore her for a few minutes, since running to check on her immediately would require leaving the babies alone trying to follow me. I would have to take one at a time to the kitchen, strap them in their seats, THEN go run and find out what 3 yr old S needed.

This was exhausting. We spent a good portion of our time out of the house once the weather got nice.

Then enter the snakes.

Momboss came home one day while I was feeding the twins. She went to the basement, where we had just been that morning. She came upstairs in a panic, saying there was a huge snake in the room where the toys were. She called her husband at work. Then she called a pest control company but they were unable to send anyone out anytime soon.

Dadboss ordered Momboss to sit and watch the snake.

"Don't let it get into the walls!" he said. "They'll have to tear all the walls out to get it!"

I told Momboss that was not true, tearing the walls out, but that they'd set traps.

She sat and watched the snake, since Dadboss would not be able to come home for another 45 minutes. She kept saying that she would not sleep in the house with snakes.

45 minutes later, Dadboss showed up. He went straight into the basement.

By this time, the twins were in their beds up on the 3rd level taking a nap. Me and 3 yr old S were in the kitchen.

This is what I heard coming from downstairs:

Dadboss: Let's get this shit taken care of!

Momboss: No, you can't shoot it! You're going to blow a hole in the wall and floor!!

Dadboss: What do you want me to do, then?

Momboss: I don't know, but you can't just shoot. You don't know what's inside of the walls! There could be pipes or.....

Dadboss: I tell you what, then. I am going back to work. When you figure out what you want me to do, then you call me back, okay?

Silence.

I heard footsteps on the stairs as Momboss and a worker from tearing out walls come up the stairs.

Momboss looked pretty pissed and unhappy.

The worker was laughing. "He's got a shotgun out! Cover your ears!"

I moved hastily over to S to put my hands over her ears, and no sooner had I done so, a shot rang out. Then another.

Hole in the Wall where the snake met its demise

"One shot should do it!!" Momboss yelled from the kitchen.

I went to the top of the steps and shouted down into the basement, "I'm NOT cleaning it up!"

I then heard the shop vac start up.

Then Dadboss and Momboss going in and out of the garage with shovels and plastic bags.

I told Momboss that she should call the cleaning lady and tell her we had an "incident" in the basement, and could she come clean up some blood?

She was not amused!

It's Been Awhile!

Wow! I can't believe I left this blog sitting as long as I did!

Actually, yes I can! It's been quite a year, and I've been very busy with that "new" family I mentioned last April.

You know, the one that only had one child at the time? A two year old?

Well.

Since that time, THREE more children have been born into the family. No joke!! So now I have FOUR kids that I nanny. As you can probably imagine, that keeps me pretty busy!

And boy, do I have some stories!

It's been about 18 months since I first started with this family, and I still really like the family a lot! The extended family is also very involved, so I get to see and spend quite a bit of time around them as well. Some people may not care for that, but I really enjoy it. They (the extended family included) all treat me like a part of the family. When Momboss' sister comes in town, I often keep her kids too, for extra pay of course.

Write soon!!

I Don't Understand

I've seen comments and posts in other places about nannies complaining about their market value, and the complaints that those who work for less harm what they want to make, or how they want to dictate what consumers pay.

It's valid, to a degree. I can see someone being upset about their value having gone down. The bottom line is, this happens in the market all the time. None of us ever get, or keep, what we would like to maintain in anything. Housing values fluctuate. Prices of other services, and goods, fluctuate. It's called supply and demand. And when you're the consumer, and prices go down, you like it.

The concept is very simple. When the demand for a particular service, or item, is high and the supply is not high enough to keep up with that demand, premium price ensues. When demand is low, and supply is plenty, the price goes down.

It does get broken down a bit more than that oversimplified paragraph. Let's have an economics lesson, shall we?

1. If demand increases and supply remains unchanged then higher equilibrium price and unchanged quantity. (this means that if more parents suddenly want to hire nannies but more nannies have not entered the market, then nanny wages may go up a bit as parents compete for nannies)
2. If demand decreases and supply remains the same then lower equilibrium price and unchanged quantity. (if less people want/need nannies say, due to a recession ~ahem~ then there will be an overabundance of nannies in the market and the wages one is willing to work for to land a hard-to-get job will be lower - cheaper - as the nannies compete for jobs)
3. If supply increases and demand remains unchanged then lower equilibrium price and higher quantity. (if a buncha nannies suddenly enter the market to compete in the unchanging demand for nannies by parents, wages will decrease as even more nannies compete for the same jobs)
4. If supply decreases and demand remains the same then higher price and lower quantity. (if nannies suddenly decided to pursue other career options and left the market, but the same number of parents need nannies, then wages for nannies will go up because there are fewer nannies to go around and parents want to make sure they attract and keep one; also, nannies will realize if a family does not give them the wage they desire that they have a slew of other families who may )

I get really irked at nannies who try to dictate to others who are willing to work for a certain price that they can not do so because of what THEY want. I get irked at nannies who dictate that parents can not hire someone with qualifications that they (the nannies) do not deem high enough, at a price that both parties agree to, because THEY want to make a certain amount of money at all times. It's like saying, "unless you pay what I think you should pay, then you can NOT have a nanny or personal care provider in your home, even if you and that person mutually agree on the price. I should dictate the pay, not the market. And because of that, people who do not want their kids in daycare should have to do so unless they pay what I say. People who are willing to work for $10/hour (or minimum wage) should NOT be able to get a job as a nanny, which may have more flexibility than another job for the same amount, because I do not like the fact that my field is competitive."  Supply and demand dictates this.

Now, I understand  the whole issue with illegal immigrants, or migrant workers in general. In some areas, this is a big factor in the supply and demand force. If they're legal, what are you gonna do? Bottom line is, you've got supply and demand still at work, and yes it sucks, but it's still how it works. You are only worth what consumers dictate in their willingness to pay, not what you dictate. If consumers are not willing to pay beyond a certain price for services that they can get much cheaper, and with which they are satisfied, then why shouldn't they? I understand it's less than what high-end nannies want, and I understand the complaints.

I just think telling people they can not hire who they want, at the price they want if the supply is there is presumptuous. Lots of people have been out of jobs, and making ends meet in the best ways they know. This means nannies willing to work for less, and parents not willing to pay premium price for the same service they can get cheaper elsewhere.

If two people have an agreement, it's no one else's business. If I am absolutely fine to work for less than $10 an hour, who are you to tell me I can not?? To say two people can not enter into a legal arrangement because it does not measure up to your own standards is arrogant.

Lots of people have lost a lot during the recession. Suck it up and take the hit like everyone else has.

You're not exempt.

Spring Planting

The weather is nice and what better activity to do with young children than to take them out to plant and show them first hand where some of our food comes from?

I try and make a point to plant the kinds of things the kids like to eat.



This meant that for the boys, we chose strawberries and a blueberry plant.

For the girl in my new family, we chose cherry tomatoes (she loooooves them).

This makes kids excited, too. They love growing their own food, and eating the food that they grow.

They love learning what it takes to be responsible for the growth, and the pride I see in their eyes as they take on this task is like no other.

It's one of the biggest proofs that work does indeed create pride in accomplishment!

Things are About to Start Hopping

It's been awhile, I know.

The job with the family I have been with for a few years is coming to an end in a few weeks. The family has never needed summer care, and next year the boys will be in school full time. Over the last 6 months, my schedule has basically consisted of one or two days a week, so I continued to look for a position where I could supplement the rest of the week and hopefully end up with a long term position after this current one ended. I knew the ending was coming this year, so have been looking since the Fall.

I have been in contact with a few families, but usually for one reason or another, things just didn't match up exactly. I am flexible in many, many ways. However, I know what I am worth and, unfortunately, there are many parents who seem to expect private, tailored, in-home care (and general house management, as it seems many of them want) should be cheaper than putting their child in institutional child care centers. The condescension I see in some advertisements have me appalled sometimes. They act like you're just gonna sit on the couch and text all day while the child runs around in poopy pants and tears up the house.

I mean, yes I sit down sometimes. I need to. Don't YOU get a break at work?

I know many other nannies get cheesed off at this attitude too. A parent makes it clear that your work in their home is not even worth minimum wage. They expect a pseudo-parent, housekeeper, laundress, teacher, chauffeur and cook then want to claim the measly wage they grudgingly cough up as a deduction, making you earn even less while jipping you of your working rights.

No thanks. I will work in a day care before becoming your house slave.

Anyhoo, the point of that little side rant is that it took several months to finally find someone who matched what I know I want in a job. Luckily, I can be picky and wait for what I want. And it finally came along.

The job is a....well, a combination of mother's helper/house manager/nanny. Mom does not work, but is very involved in many community businesses and boards. So she is gone often, but sometimes home. So far (and it's only been a few months) everyone, including the grandparents who often come by, seem to be totally laid back and open to letting me do things in the way I see fit. There is no micro-managing. The grandmother has told me more than once, 'just go ahead and take over. That's what they want.' (Meaning, house decisions).

There are so many good things about this job so far. It pays well more than the average pay for our area. I am not (so far) being micro managed and am encouraged to make the decisions on outings, activities and dinner. If I mention I wanna make something special, she is like, "Sure!" and leaves her credit card. They are just starting their family (one child so far who is 2, but twins on the way and plans for more kids), so that means probable long term.

And, the schedule is super flexible. Right now, we go week by week with scheduling. Mom asks me what I have for the following couple of weeks that I need, and then she schedules her own appointments around it.

So far, I feel so very lucky.

Dinner Woes

You know what I really don't like about my job?

Dinner.

Actually, I like to cook. And I normally don't mind dinner.

Except......

What I really dislike is trying to figure out what meal to make with what is in the house. It throws me off, all the time. I may have an idea, but be missing one or two ingredients. Or find a side dish that goes really well with it would be impossible to make based on what is in the cupboard. And the fact that making a grocery list, or planning a menu, or going to the grocery is not part of my job makes it even more difficult. I almost wish I had that extra chore, so I could plan a menu and make out a list for what is needed.

At the very beginning, I actually did do that. Plan ahead, I mean, and then give MomBoss a list of what ingredients I would need in the house to make that happen. And MomBoss was pretty good about making sure I had it, but I sometimes got the feeling she wasn't always super thrilled with my planned meal if it was out of the norm of what she usually bought.

A few times I bought ingredients because I wanted to try out a recipe.

Then sometimes MomBoss would leave a note saying, "I was thinking Lasagna tonight", or something of the sort, with a recipe card out along with it. And actually, I liked that. It gave me direction. Not that I need direction, per se. But when I have no hand in really planning a grocery list or menu, and have to rummage through the fridge or pantry trying to put together a meal, it gets frustrating. I'd like to plan and know what to expect.

I am currently interviewing for another job to add more hours to my current one, since the boys are now in preschool and I am not needed as much. The next family has an almost two year old, and a set of twins on the way. Mom actually wants errands and meal prep in addition to childcare.

I think what I am going to propose is this:

I will plan out a weekly, bi weekly, or monthly menu and submit it to MomBoss for approval (until I get a feel for who likes what). When it is approved, I will make out a grocery list and buy what I need to make the meals.

I will feel so much more accomplished that way!