Nanny Diary- New Job

Hey everyone! It has been some time since I last posted. I am hoping to post more though. Today I want to talk about a new job I have.

At the end of last year I started working for a company that works with developmental disabilities. Through this company I began to work with a family that has a few little boys. Since beginning to work for this family I have learned a lot! I have learned to be more patient with the children and also how to have thicker skin.

Moving forward things will get crazy. I am planning on working with this family more. Then in the Fall I have enrolled in online classes through NAU. With all that being said I am hoping to start posting on here weekly. Moving forward I can’t wait to share more with you guys!

-A

Nanny Diary- Spina Bifida Awareness Month

Hi everyone! October is spina bifida awareness month. In honor of this I thought it would be great time to write about my experience with it.

The first time I was introduced to spina bifida happened a little over a year ago. It was at that time I became a nanny to a baby who has spina bifida. I continued to watch her for the year and still watch her from time to time. It was during that year that I learned a lot about spina bifida and everything it entails. I learned about the different equipment used and all the therapies that are needed.

During my time working with baby I learned a lot and I gained a lot. Even to this day I still get excited each time she hits a major milestone. In fact, I wrote this post while this little girl was sleeping. She had spent the night crawling around and pulling herself into the bath with her sisters! Of course, all of this was done with a huge smile on her face.

Working with this child was so great and it really opened my eyes to spina bifida and other developmental disabilities. It really got me interested in developmental disabilities and I plan to continue my work as a nanny in the field of developmental disabilities!

-A

*Picture from the Spina Bifida Association website.

Nanny Diary- Burned Out

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to share with you the chaotic and busy week I had, and  by the title I am sure you can tell it ended in me being burned out and not feeling to great.

This past week I took on extra hours at work so I was working full time. I also told another family I would do daycare drop off and pick up/bedtime routine. It was very exhausting and I was rushing between the daycare and my job. Even after getting home I did not get to relax like I had hoped. I would begin to do homework and post my blog post for that day. It was not until this morning I realized I was burned out and really needed a break!

Even though I had a crazy week it was also very eye opening and helped me to realize I could make some changes so that I do not get overwhelmed in the coming month when I have to balance a full time job and going to school full time. The biggest thing I realized I could do is do one assignment a day and not all of them on one day. This would not only help me have a less stressful week but I also would do better in school because I am giving my attention to one lesson instead of three. The second thing that I learned is that I am able to schedule my posts to post to my blog by itself. This will make it so that I am not rushing to type and format posts.

At the moment I am working on homework and rushing to type this post. However, I do look forward to trying these new ideas this week and hopefully will be able to relax a little bit! What do you do to ease your work load? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

Back to School Crafts

Hey everyone! The beginning of school is around the corner and for some already started this past week. Today I am going to tell you about two back to school crafts “A” and I made. They were both super easy to do!

The first thing we made was a chalkboard notebook. For this project you will need: a notebook, paintbrushes and chalkboard paint. “A” and I used chalkboard paint we bought from Michaels, in the color Onyx. To create this notebook you will paint 2 to 3 coats of paint on the notebook cover. In between each coat you should wait 2 hours before painting the next layer. For best results add a clear protective coat to the cover. Another tip for the best possible results is to allow the notebook to dry completely for 24 hours before writing on it with chalk.

The second project is a lava pen. For this project you need: glitter, oil, water, a ballpoint pen, a hot glue gun, and a dropper.  The first step is to take the pen out. After that, use the hot glue gun to glue the top of the pen lid and the bottom of both the inner and outer pen. Next use the dropper to add oil and water into the pen. The last step is to add glitter and put the pen back in. This project took a total of 5 minutes and it was such a huge hit with “A”.

These were such fun projects to do! Have you done any back to school crafts? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

The Greatest Showman

Hi everyone! This post is a few weeks latte but today I am going to write about The Greatest Showman themed activities “B” and I did. These activities were  created for early school age children, however there is an alternative to one activity if you have toddler aged children.

The first activity that “B” did was a spelling game. She picked up a card from a stack of cards and then would use the clothespin letters to spell out the words. Some of the words that were in the stack are: lion, hat, show, music, fire, and elephant. “B” loved this activity and got super excited every time she got a letter correct. For “D” in the place of this game I am working on a matching game for her.

The next activity was tracing toy animal shadows. “B” liked this activity, especially enjoyed coloring the pictures after. She did struggle with getting around the feet of the animals but all in all this was a fun activity. For this activity she traced a giraffe, tiger, and zebra.

The biggest hit was when we made the wishing lamp. For this we froze water in a soda can and then used a nail and hammer to poke holes in the can. When things got a little harder we used an electric screwdriver. To finish we put a flame less tea candle in the can. When doing this activity “B” loved using the hammer and electric screwdriver, under careful supervision of course! If you do this activity I would suggest using a vegetable can or soup can because it is a thicker metal and does not bend as much. The soda can was good, it just got super cold and bent when we would use the different tools.

The last activity was done a few weeks after. This activity worked on her writing skills. For this activity “B” wrote fan mail to Phillip (Zach Efron), PT Barnum (Hugh Jackman), and Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson). She loved writing and decorating the letters and really put a lot of thought into what to write into each letter. If you do this activity and your child wants a response you do have to include a self- addressed envelope in with the letter.

This was a fun topic to do these activities for, and it was great to see how excited she would get when she got each activity done! Have you seen The Greatest Showman? What was your favorite part of it? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

 

One on One Time

Hi everyone! This post is a couple weeks late, but I had the chance to spend time with B, D, and Baby P individually this past week. It was such a fun experience and I wanted to talk a little about that.

I started out the day with D. We started our outing with a trip to the library. While there we got books, played with puzzles, and played with toys they had there. After the library D and I went to Paradise Valley Burger Company for lunch. D loves cheeseburgers and she devoured it in minutes! We had such a great experience while eating lunch. The guys at Paradise Valley Burger Company drew a smiley face on her burger in ketchup, which she loved! According to her “she felt happy after eating her burger.” It really was such a fun trip!

When we got home it was Baby P’s turn for some one-on-one time. She is a baby so it was not as big as D’s time. Baby P and I sat on the couch and read the new library books D and I got. She loved looking at all the colors, and loved looking at the unicorn book. However, by the time we got to the dog book she was totally over it, and ready for a nap!

B was the last one to have her time alone with me. She was not feeling well that day so we stayed in. B and I used our time to put together a Valentine’s Day craft. It took quite a bit of time to put the craft together, but it was a lot of fun!

Being able to spend time with each of the girls individually was such a great experience. It was a lot of fun for me and I hope for the girls too! What are some of your favorite kid friendly activities? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

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Things I Never Thought I Would Say

Hi everyone! Today I am going to do a nanny diary on things I never expected to say. Watching kids definitely makes you say some interesting things, and I am going to share those with you!

• “Stop licking me, you are a human baby not a puppy baby.”
• “We are not going to baby bird your sister.” (This was said to B when she tried to spit chewed up food in Baby P’s mouth.)
• “Goats do eat grass, but you aren’t one so don’t eat that.”
• “Well nothing you are a human not a goat.” (Same conversation as the previous one)
• “Please do not sing the hello darkness song while I am using the bathroom.” (This is in reference to The Sound of Silence from Trolls.)
• “You can’t eat playdough.”
• “You can’t eat the fake snow.”
• “Don’t eat this glitter.”
• “I will give you a quarter if you pet that dog right now. “ (This has been said more than once)
• “Be careful or you’ll end up like Bobby Bramble.” (Reference from D’s favorite book)

These are just a few things that I can remember. Even though I have had to say a lot of weird things I love all these moments with the girls. I would not trade the craziness for anything! What is the weirdest thing you’ve said to your kids? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

Toilet Paper Roll Poppy

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to share with you all how “D” and I made this toilet paper roll Poppy. It was a super easy project, and was quick. For this project you will need;

• Scissors
• Glue Sticks
• Tape
• Markers
• Toilet Paper Roll
• Construction Paper (pink, blue, and green)
• Paper towel

Instructions:

1. First cut out a piece of pink paper. Make sure it is big enough to wrap all the way around the toilet paper roll. Glue that on.
2. Next cut out little blue flowers and glue them to a green strip. Glue this to the top of the roll.
3. After that color a piece of paper towel pink. Tape this into the toilet paper roll.
4. The last thing to do is to draw Poppy’s face.

This was such a fun project, and “D” and I look forward to making more. Who is your favorite Trolls character? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

Learning Patience

Hey everyone! Today I am going to do a nanny diary. This past week of work was a great lesson in patience! It was “D” who taught this all to me. I usually am pretty good at dealing with typical toddler attitudes, but this past week has been a little tougher.

This past week was the dreaded shark week for me, and with that “D” had what I am convinced is her baby shark week. This left both of us at odds with who really is in charge. There were a whole lot of  “no’s”, tears, temper tantrums, and negotiating. Through all of this I realized that instead of continually telling “D” no or do not do that I could say it once then focus on playing with Baby P. At first she would stand next to me screaming and jumping around in anger, but then she realized that if she stopped and would listen she would get the attention she wanted.

Even though the week started out tough and I wanted to pull my hair out “D” and I ended up having a great day today! What are some of the things you do when you need more patience? Let me know in the comments below!

-A

 

Smart Strategies to Better Time Management

Hello my name is Annmarie and I am terrible at time management!  I am sure a few of you can relate to that statement. With classes starting again tomorrow I thought now would be a great time to talk about different techniques I am going to be using to better my time management skills and with that hopefully help you too!

The first thing that I have found that really helps me is using a planner! I put everything in my planner, from babysitting jobs to my school schedule and assignments. I have used many different planners, but this year I am using a Mead planner from Target. When writing out everything I assign a certain color to each topic. I even use different colors for each class. So one class may be purple and another will be brown. Being able to see the different things I need to do in different colors really helps and keeps my attention.

The next thing that helps with managing time is to set a time limit for each activity. I totally understand that this might not work for everything, but with most it should. I know that managing school, work and other activities can be difficult. However, on days that I have to work, go to school, and do other activities I can set this time out. An example of what I might do for Mondays is; Work 7:30-12:30, School 2-4:30, Chiropractor 5:30-6. With those three main things it does not leave a whole lot of time to do much else. So I could set an hour and a half for studying for each class. I also have gotten in the habit of working out every day so on my busy days I can find a few five minute workouts and do those! I have yet to try this technique, but I definitely plan to do so tomorrow!

The last thing I am going to talk about is planning out your weeks and making sure you have everything ready ahead of time. This will cut down on time during the individual days. I have done this and it definitely works! With that being said I do not do it every week, which I plan on changing.  For me this might be planning out my blog posts and having them typed and saved on my computer. By doing that I do not have to stress about my lack of time to type up a post and sometimes even come up with a topic! If I have everything typed and planned I can just copy it to the blog page and publish it in a few minutes, which will end up saving me 5 hours a week at least!

I am in no way a professional at time management, but by doing these different techniques weekly and even daily I hope to make things so much easier on myself! Using my planner has been the best technique for me, but may not be the best for you. Let me know what you do to better manage your time in the comments below!

-A