The First Week

I got in Tuesday night and then "officially started" on Wednesday. The mom told me I could sleep in as much as I needed so that I could get acclimated to my new time zone! I don't really "sleep in" no matter what time zone I came from and what time zone I am in. I woke up around 8:45am because I could hear the boys downstairs. I went and showered first, because let's face it...I was gross from all of my traveling...and then I went downstairs to meet the boys! They are super cute and sweet! They were pretty shy at first, but then they started warming up to me.

The mom was with me the whole first day for the most part because she was helping me get used to things. One of the little boys has a speech therapist come on Mondays and Wednesdays for about an hour and so I hung out with the 4 year old while that was going on. We ran some errands with their mom later and then on Wednesdays they have a weekly playdate with some of their friends and these two older boys that are 13 and 15. It will be a nice little break in the middle of the week! The older boys pretty much watch the 4 year old and his friends while I walk around with the 2 year old because he's too little to do a lot of the things the older kids do. We went to this HUGE house that has these stairs...there have to be about 50 of them...that lead you down into this grassy area where they have a trampoline, a monkey bar set, and still plenty of room to run around. The people that live in the house have 3 boys...a nanny for two of them and then a caretaker for the little boy that was a week old. The caretaker and I were talking...I was asking her about her job because she was wearing scrubs and was just walking around with the little baby while the mom was inside. She said that she was hired for 2 months and she didn't know what the family was going to do after that. She didn't know if the nanny was going to take the little baby too or not. Crazy! I couldn't imagine just sitting in the house while someone else rocked my week old baby to sleep and held him while he slept! I am pretty sure the caretaker only put him down when she gave the mom the baby to feed him! Unless he was on a bottle! I don't know! I'm interested to get more information...I wonder what her hours are too! Hopefully I get more details, now that I'm thinking about it! After that, the mom I'm working for let me go rest because she thought I got up way too early that morning for the previous week I had! I pretty much hung out in my room the rest of the night...read a book and watched some TV.

The next two days, the mom was around and helping me most of the time, but she also filtered in and out running errands and working on things. One day she showed me what she was working on...Vanity Fair's Best Dressed poll! So sweet!

Thursday during the day, the boys and I saw three deer just walking through their front yard! Apparently there are even bears nearby!

Friday evening her mother came in to town and so on Saturday, they all had plans to go into the nearest town (about 20 minutes away) to run some errands. They were going to start a small herb garden in planter boxes, so we went to Home Depot for that and went to Target to pick up some random things. The place where we were is where they have the first outlet mall in the nation (from what I understand). I'm definitely going to have to go there before I leave here! It's called Woodbury Premium Outlets! I looked it up and there are some good stores!!! After that, we all had dinner together and then watched Avatar! I had never seen it because I thought it was going to be stupid, but I actually kind of liked it!

For some reason, the 2 year old was ATTACHED to me during the weekend! He was like my little shadow! It was so cute! Because of this...and the fact that the grandma is in town still on Monday...the mom told me that she's going to give me some "comp time" because she felt like I was working this weekend even though I was supposed to be "off-duty." I just didn't know what to do, ya know? I'm technically off-duty, but what do I do when the little kids come and want to play with me...I have nothing better to do! They don't bother me when I'm in my room, but I wanted to be downstairs, hanging out, helping with dinner and things...especially because the furnace is broken and so one of the rooms downstairs has a fireplace that is constantly burning and it is SO nice! I guess I just don't know how to balance it! I don't want them to keep giving me this "comp time" all the time because then I'll feel bad! I don't know! It's a weird situation...living where you work!

Sunday we went to church. I went to church with the family. I don't know if I'm going to venture out on my own on Sundays to go to church at the single's ward in the city, but maybe! Their church building is about an hour away, so it was quite the drive! But the drive was SO pretty! There are so many historic towns with old buildings. I met two girls at church that have been friends with the previous nannies. They said that it's practically mandatory for me to be friends with them. They seem really nice! After church, the mom, grandma, and I went on a little driving tour of "the park." (The gated community they live inside.) Tuxedo Park, the mom told me, is actually the first gated community in the nation. There are some really old buildings, some modern looking buildings, and some new buildings that they are building to look like they are one of the older buildings. We first went to a little lake...I'm excited for the weather to get warmer so I can take the little boys there! It's so nice and looks so fun! The clubhouse on the other lake looks so nice (we live right across the street from it) but it is SO expensive to join and so the family decided it wasn't worth it! I don't think so either! She drove me by some of the boys' friend's homes...one of which has a pool and so we might start having two playdates a week! (It's been raining for the past two days...I hope the weather gets nicer so we CAN go to the beach!) She drove me by the biggest house on the lake and then by Whoopi Goldberg's home. Of course she probably has about 4 houses, but this is one of them! It looked pretty deserted, but I'm thinking maybe as summer starts to roll around, she'll come because her house is RIGHT on the lake! We (the mom and I) are pretty sure that their house is the smallest one on the lake, but I like it. It's so cute! Right now it seems a little too small for the boys to run around in, but I think that once they get all moved in and completely settled (they've only been here for about 3 months and are waiting for some shelves and things for one of the rooms) I think it will seem much bigger! I can't even imagine how much their small home on a lake in a gated community in New York cost...not to mention some of the HUGE houses that I saw today! Good heavens!