mamapants

I'm feeling somewhat exhausted and threatened by the idea of a long, hot summer with five, count 'em FIVE, kids. The older kids that I'm nannying had a swim meet today, and I spent several hours too many in the HOT, watching two of them frisk in the baby pool (turns out the littlest girls on the team don't actually swim at the meets, ha ha ha!) and the other one lose mightily after forgetting to put his goggles on his eyes, leaving them suctioned to his forehead until his brave dive into the pool twisted them up on his face, which left a red mark that'll be there for days. All this merriment and joy happened in the 95-degree heat, while I had the youngest child - an infant - strapped to my belly in a baby carrier. "Swim meet" is clearly some kind of parent code for "sunscreen-scented hell," and I so did not get the memo about THAT one.

But. I lived, and I should not bitch, because I get to sit here with my feetsies up on the coffee table, blogging and watching the TV Guide channel's expose on George Clooney. Intern George, if you will. Life's good.

Princess Nonos says, "Let us rejoice!" because she has a new favorite possession, a princess crown that is alternately the Best Accessory Ever and Satan's Plaything, From Which We Shall Run Screaming. I don't know what it is about this kid - some days, she's all about whatever object she happens to be holding. This BRACELET, Mama! This bracelet SO PRETTY AND BYOO-FULL! Just try to put the byoo-full bracelet on her the next day, and watch your own face roll off in melted waves from the hysteria. The crown, I'll admit, has been more love than hate - although it's early in the crown's life with us, and there's still time for it to become possessed with the spirit of evil. Ask Nonos, she'll tell you.

She also has her Thomas book in this picture, which is one of her best favorites thus far, and one that drives me insane. I don't really care about the fact that it's about trains and not princesses or fluffy bunnies or whatever the item du jour in Girlytown is - I actually kind of like it that Norah will point out trains, tractors, or bulldozers with as much joy as she'll express over a butterfly with rainbow wings. I'm just tired of reading the cutesey little story over and over again. On the up side, I can now identify several different pieces of railway machinery, including signal lights both broken and functional. That Thomas, teaching valuable lessons all over the place.

So I'm off to remain motionless on the couch and wait for Look-A-Like to come on, but before I go (and because I'm going through a showoff phase, and I like to talk about myself! on my own blog! imagine!) here are some pictures from a baby shoot I did on Sunday:




I call this next one "WTF Face." Although, by the time this kid reaches the age of IM, they'll probably just go ahead and read each other's minds without even bothering to abbreviate.




She's cute, though. And it keeps me going, the cute. There MUST be something cute about my nanny kids, right? RIGHT?

Posted in: Annie the Nanny, babychatter, Nonos photos, work on 6/07/2007 at at 8:31 PM 0 comments  

Today, while babysitting:

Child A (4 years old): Do you know that I like to brush your hair, Annie?
Child B (also 4): Yes, me too, I like to brush your hair too.
Me: Okay, cool. You may brush my hair. [hands Child A a brush]
Child B: I can wait my turn.
Me: Gooood. That's very good.
Child B: Because we are going to need to do this for a LONG TIME.
Me: [knowing this is going somewhere that is not going to please me] Um, why, because you like to do it?
Child A: No, because SOMEONE has to do it.

Because clearly I don't. Thank god they're teaching them something at that Montessori school.

This picture has nothing to do with the abovementioned hair incident. I actually took it days ago (note the presence of that blue shirt from my new header - and thanks for the praise, too, you guys.)Norah just looked especially sassy in it, and it made me happy. And couldn't we all use a little more happy?

Also: congratulations to my friend, who had something exciting happen, which will require some extensive travel... You know who you are, and you also know how hard it is for me to NOT blurt this news out like verbal vomit. PLEASE break the news already, would you??

Posted in: Annie the Nanny, babychatter, Nonos photos, secret messages on 4/18/2007 at at 7:27 PM 1 comments  

FIVE. That, my loves, is the exact number of kids I have been raising for the last two weeks, hence the blogdrought up in here. If I wasn't actively chasing a child, I was either elevating my swollen feet or rubbing my temples while crouched in a corner with my skirt over my head. Five kids, man. I'm beat.

Tomorrow is actually my last day with all five - the big three start school, so I'll be down to Norah and Jack, who's two. Jack is slightly developmentally delayed, as he was incredibly premature and is just now catching up, so it's more like having a set of twins than two babies a year apart. The two of them aren't that tough, really, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often, and you know, have coherent speech and not drink myself into a stupor every night.

Right now, though, I am going to bed. Newsy news coming soon.

Posted in: Annie the Nanny, Norah on 8/21/2006 at at 8:42 PM 0 comments