lemmetellya

All of a sudden it is like all of the puzzle pieces are falling right into their perfect little place. And for somebody who really isn't the greatest at puzzles (I blame my lack of patience) this one is coming along quite nicely if I do so say myself. I can't wait to write more on my current going ons - I don't want to jinx it by spoiling the good news too early!

We celebrated Peanut's first birthday two weeks ago and lemmetellya (I've decided this is my new "word"), it was a fabulous affair. It was intimate and sweet and perfectly peanutesque. I couldn't love that little Bear any more. Seriously! She could have cared less about the decorations, cake, and presents. Seeing her light up jumping from lap to lap amongst the aunts, uncles, and cousins was truly precious. That little girl sure is something.

Out of nowhere we have a cruising, loud mouth, hilarious toddler in our hands! Every single Monday I find myself going on and on about how much she changed over the weekend (yep, I am THAT annoying brag-about-the-babe nanny. No shame.) It is inspiring to watch her sit with her books and read them to herself. I have never met such an independent and intelligent munchkin.

Today she officially melted my heart, for the millionth time. She is trying so hard to say "Sarah" and LEMMETELLYA IT IS TOO MUCH. Too much. Literally cannot handle the cuteness. Few things give me tummy flutters like a baby saying my name. The sweet way they completely butcher the pronunciation all while smiling their little gummy smile ear to ear. Ugh. Heart melting, I tell ya.

Want to know what else she did today that had me sprinting to the nearest camera? She grabbed her favorite lullaby book, crawled over to the little pink pillow that was on the floor, reached up and grabbed her sleep sack off of the crib rail, and snuggled up to sing some lullabies by herself. I died. I died ten times over it was so sweet. I wish I could just bottle up all of her cuteness and take it everywhere. Too much? No shame.

Enjoy the last two days of the week! I better stock up on snuggles before the weekend.

xoxo Nanny Sarah.

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.

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.