BUSY! BUSY! BUSY!

Do you ever get a quick break and all of a sudden think, "Uhhhhh, so where did the last three weeks go?!" That's sort of how I am feeling right about now. Granted I LOVE having a full schedule to make the time go faster, after a few nonstop weeks I am suddenly longing for a weekend of peace and quiet. Thank Heavens for amazing family and friends who put up with the craziness that ensues when life gets busy, right? I owe my mother and boyfriend a million bucks for putting up with me! It really makes me think about the importance of setting aside time to take care of a pretty important person - YOURSELF. Seriously though, with a list longer than a mile of to-dos and if-I-have-time-I'll-try-to-dos, the last thing that is on my mind is to take time for myself.

Maybe it is something about my career field. From my experience, I know of very few nannies who are vigilent about self care. After taking care of everyone else for 50 hours a week, would you expect anything different? But that is where things get sort of tricky. If you don't take time to check yourself and make sure that YOUR needs are met, you won't be able to do your job to the best of your ability. When I get busy, I notice that normally essential tasks pertaining to myself suddenly become less important (laundry, meal prep, girly things) and all I can wrap my head around is how I will section up my day to get everything else completed. What is worse is that I start to make excuses for why I'm not getting my own tasks done, or I pull the "I'll do it tomorrow" for two weeks straight. And where does that get me? Well, it usually puts me in a yoga pants wearing, messy bun sporting, gym avoider, junk food consumer, poor excuse of a human being. Okay, maybe I am being a little hard on myself, but you get the point. I'm not myself when I get so busy. I don't make the time to put on real clothes or even wash my hair (gross, I know but we're all guilty of it.)

One of the things I'm really working hard on as of recently is to make sure I set up boundaries so that this doesn't happen. I know that it is a tad inevitable, but if I can make every effort to stray away from the crazy busy life then things are looking a lot more likely that I will wear real pants and maybe even put some makeup on. Boundaries, people. Boundaries. That is what it is all about. It means saying "no" to favors and requests from others at times. Because really, after working 47 hours last week, you need a night off. Not to say that you should never help others out, but clearly that is what got you into this mess. Saying no doesn't make you a bad person, a lazy person, or a rude person. It makes you a person who knows what you need to live a healthy life. Boundaries are HEALTHY! For the people pleasers out there like myself, trust me, I know how difficult it is to turn people down. Even if I have no desire to do something, somehow in the moment I respond like it's the best idea ever. Bad move. Practice saying no. I mean it. You have no idea how much those two little letters will better your life.

When it comes down to it, I cannot do my job if I'm not taking care of myself. I find myself worrying left and right about getting everything done and not being able to enjoy the little things in life. So my goal for the next few weeks is to set aside more me time and less everyone else time. Fingers crossed you'll see me with a fresh manicure and clean hair soon.

That being said, I have about 5 million things to do during nap time and the clock is ticking! Coffee, anyone?

[ Noodle does a pretty good job of protraying how I feel right about now - photo courtesy of my sweet niece's grandpa and east oaks photography ]

xoxo Nanny Sarah.

Edible Paint!

Welcome to the first edition of Craft of the Week!  Ever since Peanut was able to sit up in her Bumbo, I have had the finger paints on stock!  We started with cutesy footprint crafts so that mom boss (MB) and dad boss (DB) would have something to look back on from her first year.  Now that she is about to be a full-fledged toddler, I can't wait to get more hands on with her and try new arts and crafts.

And in walks Allison from Train Up a Child with her post Oh Baby! Edible Sensory Paint.  This is an alternative to all of the store bought finger paints out there on the market and an especially good choice for those with little chickens who like to put everything they come into contact with into their mouths. Seeing as how my Bear is just a wee little one still, we usually end up with paint everywhere and me constantly trying to keep her hands out of her mouth. Seriously, what could be better than a messy, ooey-gooey paint that is 100% safe for the munchkins who are still mouthing everything?!

For a few weeks I have had this project on the back burner waiting for a nice day to get down and dirty outside without worrying about the furniture and whatnot. Apparently warm, sunny days are going to be few and far between for us, so I decided to bite the bullet and set up a space for us to get messy indoors. With a few towels tucked under my arm and a lot of espresso in my hand, I got everything ready for the approaching mess. We don't have a Vitamix or anything similar, so it was back to the basics with a saucepan and the stove. This paint could not have been easier to put together - it was seriously easier than going to Target and buying (more than likely unsafe for ingestion) paints! Check out Allison's blog for the complete instructions.

Nap time was the perfect opening to get it all going. While Bear was off in dreamland with her bunny, I made the paints and set up the area. She is a major ripper of paper, so I taped all of the sides down to the towel so her sneaky fingers wouldn't be able to get a hold of it.

Painting is a great sensory and visual play activity, but I think this is even better because of the texture of the paint! After it had cooled completely it turned into a thicker goo that might be icky and sticky to some! Thank the Heavens that Peanut doesn't have any issues with sensory processing, which makes this nanny beyond grateful for the endless options of projects that we have!

Peanut FINALLY woke up (any other day I would cherish an extra long nap but I was so excited to paint!) and I stripped her down to a onesie and got to it. She ever so gently poked at the blob of paint for a few seconds and then with her usual gusto, dug right in!

[ Tommy needed to sniff it out too ;) ]

Before I knew it, she was covered in paint from head to toe! It was to die for watching her rub it all around and then take handful after handful and shove them in her face (we're still working on self-feeding so sometimes she thinks her forehead is her mouth). I will admit, I tasted an itty bitty bite of the paint and I can't say it was too delicious, but apparently she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!

My little smurf (the blue apparently tasted best to her) soon decided that it would be best for her to sit in the center of everything and paint with her booty. Hey - whatever works :)

After a good 25 minutes of rolling around in our goo, Peanut's attention span was wavering and it was time to act quickly before she left a smurf trail throughout the entire house! With a colorful tub time out of the way and the last bits of paint being washed down the drain, I'd say this project was a success!

The key to easy clean-up was the ultimate distraction - Cheerios (AKA Peanut's favorite thing in the entire world, seriously). With her safe and sound and occupied, all I had to do was peel the tape off, throw the towels in the washer, and clean up the muffin tin we used to hold the paint. Honestly couldn't have been easier! This clean freak nanny likes easy clean up.

Fingers crossed that we get some better weather up here pretty quickly so that we can start doing our projects outside!

Enjoy your weekend lovely readers! Make sure to find some time to take care of YOU!

xoxo Nanny Sarah.

Oofda - truth time.

Okay, time for a truth moment. Today was one of those days where all I wanted to do was speed home and crawl into my bed forever. We've all had them. The kind of day that seems like everything is working against you, where you keep striking bad luck time and time again. Days where the little babe won't nap, the dog won't stop barking, and your head won't stop pounding. The type of day where all you want is a bottle glass of pinot and your comfiest, ugliest sweat pants and a scrunchie. It happens to the best of us. Life isn't always going to be all fine and dandy. Curve balls are going to come flying out of left field at those times that you least expect it.

My motto for life is "find beauty in everything". I've been saying it for years. Repeating it to myself on days like today gets me to keep my head up. I think that as humans we have a teeny bit of a tendency to think the world is ending and things will never get better when the slightest hiccup in our daily schedules occurs. Or wait, maybe that's just me. Okay, well I have a tendency to dwell and worry about things that happened (especially when they are out of the ordinary) that I can't do one single thing about. It's my achilles tendon. Sorry about it. But the thing is, it does more harm than good - and it truly only harms me. Worrying about the baby not napping isn't going to help anything. I need to push those anxious thoughts away and flip a switch to start thinking about how to rearrange our day to accommodate her potential crankiness. Perhaps we will go on an extra long walk today to calm ourselves down (and then we get to see all of the flowers, breathe in some fresh air, and exercise). Maybe we will snuggle and sing songs together and hold on tight to the all mighty bunny lovey. Or we might just lay on the rug and read stories. Those are all of the things I SHOULD have been thinking about during the sleepless nap time, but instead I couldn't stop worrying about her maybe being cranky or in zombie mode all afternoon. And what did that worrying do? Nothing but give me a bigger headache! Argh. Dang you worrying mind!  

Want to know what hammers this mantra into my brain even more? Peanut might not have napped much today, but she still gave me the sweetest snuggles ever and uncontrollable giggles just like every other successful nap day. So even though I was stressed out this afternoon, at the end of the day, little Bear was the same rolly polly, chunky monkey, perfect Peanut that she is every other day. C'est la vie. There is beauty to be found in the unlikeliest moments. When that sweet bug reached for me from her crib, sank into my arms and held on tight to me, my heart melted even more. I lived and I learned and I am prepared to push any and all unneccessary worry out of my head the next time a bump in the road comes along. Because you never know, maybe after that jostle there is something exceptionally special waiting for you.     

Now that my vent sesh is over with, I struck gold in the Michael's clearance section today. Pure, liquid gold that is absolutely perfect for the sensory boards I am about to put together. Pictures to follow.

Thank you to any of you sweet, fabulous readers who put up with my rambles :) 

xoxo Nanny Sarah.  

Sensory Play: Water Time!

This past week we finally had a warmer day here in the frosty Midwest so what is a nanny supposed to do besides break out the water toys?!  Peanut absolutely LOVES water - bath time is quite possibly one of her most favorite things ever!  MB and I have been talking about getting a little splash pool for the back deck, but until that time we will improvise!  Which is what we did on our water play day.  While Peanut was still down for her AM nap I collected all of the supplies we would need (pots and pans, measuring cups, plastic spoons, and a few rubber duckies for good measure).  Using lukewarm tap water, I filled everything up and brought it outside to the deck along with all of the goodies to splash and pour with.  Now it was time to bring Peanut out and see what she had to say about this project!

Peanut sat back and looked everything over for a few minutes, wondering why her bath toys were suddenly outside in these weird pan things. After a few innocent splashes from nanny dearest, she slowly inched her little pointer finger closer and closer to the water.  Then she gathered all of that sweet baby courage up and went for it!

Now that she is nearing the big one year old mark, I really want her to begin experiencing all different types of things through sensory play.  She is such a curious and explorative baby that I know she is going to love all of the new things we play with.  Water play is a great way to involve both fine motor skills and gross motor skills.  All of the pouring and scooping and splashing require some master coordination from Miss P that you might not even realize!  And what better way to let her explore all of these different muscles and skills than with something as easy to clean and mess free like water?!  An amazing trait of Peanut is that she is the most independent baby I have ever met.  Seriously, give this child a book and her bunny lovey and she will be just fine entertaining herself for an hour.  So I got to sit back and watch all of the little wheels turning inside her little head as she eased into our activity.  Every now and then I would show her how to pour with the cups and she got so excited with the splash it made!  Then she REALLY got into it, literally.

Unfortunately, Peanut's attention span wasn't in tip top shape this day and her interest in my super amazingly complex project only lasted for about 20 minutes.  Le sigh.  

This was quite possibly one of the easiest projects to put together - no cost, virtually no time to set up, and no mess!  Peanut even helped with clean up and dumped a couple of the pans down the front of herself.  That's my little helper bear ;) 

Here is a fabulous article from Early Childhood News about the many benefits of water play, seriously check it out! 

Hopefully everyone is having an easy peasy Monday and it won't take too long to get back into the swing of the weekday schedule!  I can't wait to share this week's project with you - get ready for some more messes!  

xoxo Nanny Sarah. 

Who is Nanny Sarah?

Anyone wondering who the face behind this new Nanny Sarah is? Well, even if you aren't I am about to tell you!  First of all, WELCOME to everyone :) now onto a little bit about moi!

[ My perfect little niece, Miss Noodle ]

My name is Sarah Elizabeth Long (generic, oh well).  I graduated in the Spring of 2012 from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication and a minor in Political Science with a side of no clue what I wanted to do with my life.  Great, right?  I moved back home after graduation with plans to spend my summer nannying for my two adorable little cousins, G (8 year old gymnastics obsessed girly girl) and Z (10 year old basketball boy with the sweetest heart ever).  It was an amazing summer filled with trips to the pool, the zoo, exploring Minneapolis, and lots of bike rides!  Before I knew it, September was upon us and the kiddos were heading back to school which left me unemployed.  Oopsies!  After a few weeks of applying for every single position in my degree issued career field that I could possibly find, I decided to go back to my one passion - BABIES!  I interviewed with a few different families that seemed beyond perfect for me to work as a full-time nanny, but last minute literally out of nowhere, my current amazing family fell into my lap.  Turns out they live across the street from my dear cousins and were looking for a full-time nanny starting in October.  With fingers crossed and my best foot put forward, I put it all on the table and tried my best to convince this sweet family that I was their nanny.  Three days later with a job offer in hand, I decided that I was going to focus all of my energy and time into turning this nanny life into a lifelong career.  Am I terrified?  DUH.  According to far too many people in society, this is not a "real job."  What is a real job anyways?  Who gets to decide?  I really don't know.  But you know what, I am finally, for the first time ever, excited to see what my future holds and what I can turn this passion in to!

[ G and Z during a trip to the art museum! ]

In snuggles little Peanut - this adorable, chubby, rolly polly of a two and a half month old.  She stole my heart upon first glance.  Literally grabbed it, twisted it around her precious teeny finger, and has been holding on ever since.  Fast forward to today, and she is a little spitfire of an eleven month old.  After spending over nine hours a day over the past nine months with my bear, it is safe to say that I love every little thing about Miss Peanut Pie.  I feel beyond blessed to be her nanny and be the one who gets to hold her hand while she experiences the world for the first time. 

So here I stand.  A full-time professional nanny spending every minute trying to learn more and enhance my skills so that I can be the best nanny that I can be!  I can't wait to see where life is going to take this journey.

xoxo Nanny Sarah.

So this is what blogging is like...

Oh me oh my! Is this really happening? Am I FINALLY working up enough courage to get my little baby up and running? Folks, I think it is time! I have been going back and forth about starting a blog for years now, and I just keep backing down for fear that I will basically suck. But, life is short and there's no day like today (thank you Caribou Coffee and RENT). So, fingers crossed that I don't totally stink at this endeavor and that perhaps you can gain something from my little side project.

My hope is that this blog will be a collection of a bunch of things - short little tidbits about my day that make my heart melt or make me want to scream, how-to's for all of our little craft projects and cooking trial and errors, issues with the business side of nannying, my personal reviews on the insane amount of baby products out there, and much more!

As an infant nanny, sometimes it can seem like my days get a bit lonely (I mean, 10 hours crawling around on all fours, getting half eaten cheerios rubbed on my face, and have conversations that contain only baby talk might make you feel a tad bit isolated from other humans - good thing I love those babies). My lack of adult interaction leads to quite a lot of pent up things that just have to be told to someone, anyone! I will talk to the mailman if he let's me! So anywho, bear with any rambling because sometimes, I just really can't help it!

I'm so excited to begin down this road of creating my own little corner of the World Wide Web! Sit back, grab a coffee (or glass of pinot), and enjoy my little lovelies!

xoxo Nanny Sarah.