Jeff and I have been away for the past several days on Captiva Island, Florida (endless beaches, piña coladas and naps… ahhhh…) My house is being cared for by the A team consisting of my mother at night, the thirteen year old dog walker for Penelope and my college bound babysitter during the day. From what I hear, things are going quite well.
Too well, actually.
I have not received one tear-filled phone call, urgent text or emergency e-mail. I blame my sitter.
My children have gone to the zoo and to the aquarium and to art camp. They’ve been to the library and the bookstore and the park. My mom, who normally does laundry at our house, hasn’t even had a chance to tackle it because my babysitter keeps the basket empty. She washes and dries and actually folds rather than simply stuffing everything into drawers. She loads and unloads the dishwasher and puts everything back where it goes rather than leaving it all on the counters. She’s got the boys on a nap schedule and they’ve been bathed each day. Oh, yes. My babysitter is a better mother than I am. By a lot.
If I take all three of the kids out to the farm or zoo or wherever, by the end of it, I’m exhausted. My sitter takes them out for four hours, brings them home for lunch and then takes them out again. I couldn’t handle that without some sort of upper in between. During the summer, the kids are lucky if they get bathed every other day (pool water totally counts right?) but she keeps them fresh and clean daily. And a schedule? What’s that? I’ve never had my children on any such thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has them on a raw food diet by now. It’s humiliating.
It’s a good thing we’ll be home today so I can fuck them up all over again. Like any good mother.
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So jealous of your time away without kids! Wish I had an A Team over here to pull that off! Maybe you can send your sitter to NJ??!!
Chrissy MacCEO recently posted..Guest Post- Strange Questions
Oh, Captiva is beautiful – I just moved off of Ft. Myers Beach which is near there. Sadly, I found that living at the beach (with kids in tow and no good babysitters) means fewer pina coladas and a lot less fun.
Does it make it easier or harder knowing that everything is running so smoothly in your absence? For me it always seems a little harder . . .
My son is always an angel for anyone who babysits for him. It makes me look like a liar when I talk about him being naughty and throwing a plate at a waiter. Or eating play doh and then spitting it between the couch cushions. Or trying to insert a crayon into the cat’s rectum. I think if your kids were without their mommy for a few weeks, they’d stop behaving so well. Probably.
I just wish I could find a good babysitter. Granted then I’d probably be like, “Wow, wait, she actually cooks foods that didn’t come out of a freezer.”
Amber recently posted..The Jack Lesson
eh, she’s lying so you’ll hire her again lol jk
a. kids are always better with other people – why the hell do they listen to everyone else
b. your sitter gets to go home at the end of a few days…you have been doing laundry etc forever…give her a few more day!
LOL loved this post
Carrie Campbell recently posted..My Morning Crisis…
Cracked me up! I’m new, and LOVE your honesty.
I also have 3- 1 girl and the two boys- always better at someone else’s house, too.
My daughter calls me Scary Mommy, but I call myself MEAN Mommy.
Whatever works!
YOU still ROCK!
I am soooo jealous!! Captiva and Sanibel are my most favorite places , grew up spending every summer there!! My mom is coming to visit my house for the weekend, I guarantee within 5 min of walking in the door she will have laundry going and she will have the boxes that I have yet to unpack from our recent move unpacked and sent off the be recycled, guess that means I can sit and watch while drinking a margarita!
Now you are going to have to retrain your kids so they don’t go around thinking that is the way life is supposed to be! ha ha!! great post – hope you enjoyed your vacation!
Sara R-The Millennial Housewife recently posted..Happy Birthday!
You wait until she has her own kids. You’ll see when she’s with them 24/7 365
that what’s she’s doing right now won’t be totally maintained. Besides your kids are all healthy and stuff right now too. Throw a few virus’, fevers, buggers into the mix and she’d be like most of the rest of us.
Hey instead of worry about the best baby sitter,
you should be scoring up one for yourself for having snagged her for as long as you could. Have fun on the rest of your mini vacation.
Boundless energy is wasted on the youth! Sounds like you have a winning combo of people helping you and that you can get that much deserved getaway without worrying about what is going on back at home. Congrats!
ZippyChix4 recently posted..Even Adults Can Be All Mixed Up!
I have someone like this, not my babysitter, but my best friend. She is a child magnet, Pied Piper and Super Nanny all rolled into one. I would be hurt and offended that my children like her better than me if not for one thing: I like her better than me, too.
Great Post! Hope you and hubby had a wonderful vacation. And our children as always well behaved for others. Always!
Patty Reiser recently posted..Branching out in the sunrise
Even better is pool water from a little pool that has to be dumped and refilled all the time…throw some bubbles in that and have an outdoor bubble bath! lol
I gotta find one like that when I get a nanny. Right now, I am a manny. Here’s the funny thing, I don’t think I would ever hire a guy as a nanny. Am I crazy?
Anthony from CharismaticKid recently posted..Teaching Your Kid How to Answer The Phone
HA – that’s too funny. Sounds like you have a gem of a sitter – don’t let her go! And I’m so jealous you’re on vacation. Without the kids.
ps – NO ONE can replace us moms. EVER. What fun is being clean and on a schedule?
The Flying Chalupa recently posted..The Hot Mess Address
can i borrow her… like just once… to test her out on the magoo… because i am starting to think that jackson at 27 months may be the equivalent to having 3 children. and i can only pay her in hugs and dog hair, so… she’d totally be interested, right?
Um, wait. Did you say you manage to bathe your kids every other DAY or every other WEEK? Just curious. Bathtimes here for my three kids are, uh, rare. And all three NEVER take one on the same night. So, basically, we are never all clean at the same time. Never. Not ever.
Jen @ Momalom recently posted..An idea to live by today-
Hi Jill!! I totally feel the same as you do!! Last week, I was working from home while my babysitter watched my kids. It was really quiet upstairs so I went to check on them…. and, well, my babysitter had turned my son’s bed into a van and my kids and her were driving it across the country on a road trip. So, they’d “drive” along, singing road trip songs and chatting and then every few minutes, they’d stop for a “sightseeing adventure”. Then, they’d get off the bed and go on a “hike” to see the grand canyon or on a swim into the Missippi river. of course, their little excursions were full of facts, trivia and education. Um, I’d NEVER do that with my kids. EVER. Not only did my babysitter manage to keep them quietly playing for 3 hours, but she managed to teach them about geography, history AND letters. I love her, but grrrrrrr….
Anything is possible when you know there’s an end in site.
That sounds like heaven to me. No matter how much of a failure I might be, I still worry about how they will get on without me… Chris is handling everything on his own while I’m in NYC. I fear for all of them.
Kate Coveny Hood recently posted..Another One of Those Annoying BlogHer Posts
It’s easy to be peaceful and chipper and ever-attentive when the kids are not yours and there is an expiration date for your time together. Give that babysitter a kid of her own and you will find a drastically different situation.
Eh. She’s keeping three balls in the air while your kids are enjoying the novelty of summer camp. You’ll get home and juggle a THOUsand balls while your kids take you for granted. You win.
Serene recently posted..Summer Tomatoes
It’s common for mothers to feel threatened by – and envious of – their nannies. It’s often difficult to leave your kids to go to work, and here’s this “other woman” who gets to do all of the fun stuff that you’re missing – playing with your kids, teaching them new things…even being there for their milestones. Talk about major mommy guilt!
It’s natural to feel possessive and protective of your kids – that’s the maternal instinct. It’s also OK to need help with childcare – it takes a village to raise a child, right…http://blog.nannies4hire.com/nanny-envy/189
Candi recently posted..Melissa from Woodstock- GA
From time to time we may all feel that aur babystiiters and nannies are better mothers than we are, but hey it’s easy to be a part time mother, your and I are the real thing so don’t beat yourself up about it
Our nanny is the same way! She is like our daughters second mom!
Thanks!
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