Nannies

I've always been a very hands on mom. We get babysitters every now and then to go out to dinner, but for the most part I have a hard time asking for help and pretty much just do it all myself. It typically doesn't even enter my mind to seek help when things get chaotic. I am just the type of person to plow through it and hopefully make it to the other side safely with a little bit of my sanity remaining. I don't really know what it is about me that makes it difficult to ask for help, but with each kid I've actually gotten better and better at it because I physically can't do it all anymore. When my mom told me that she was going to bring help (in the form of a 24 year old girl) to stay with us and help after Nellie was born I actually wasn't that excited. In my mind it was just another person that I was going to have to take care of in terms of food, entertainment, laundry, cleaning etc. What the heck was I thinking!! After living with Dani (the super nanny... see a previous post on how much I adored her), I learned how fantastic help actually is! It was a big step for me to feel comfortable asking someone (that wasn't my husband or my own mom) to do something... help with the kids, change a diaper, grab a milk, make a bed, read a story, etc, etc. It sounds silly, but it took me four kids and a forced nanny situation for me to learn this lesson. Well, LESSON LEARNED! For our trip to Hilton Head, I jumped at the chance to have Kami our 15 year old babysitter come with us! She drove down with the kids and me and was incredible! She would take the oldest 3 kids in the gas station to pick out a snack (not a fun job!) while I nursed Nellie. She played with the kids, took them to the potty, got them dressed, held Nellie, went swimming in the freezing cold pool with the kids... whatever I needed her to do. She was incredible. I think 15 is actually the perfect age of a babysitter. They are young enough that they still enjoy playing with the kids and watching their movies. They aren't really into the teenage angst period yet... they don't have their own agenda in terms of going out etc. Granted, it would have been nice if she could drive, but all in all it was fantastic! I hope we didn't scare her off with the craziness of 4 kids and a 12 hour car drive. I would love to have her on all our road trips! (note... in the pictures, the cute blond girl is Kami)