The New Job and Spelunkin'!

Hey y'all!

I just wanted to let you know that my new job as a nanny is going GREAT! At first, it was extremely difficult. The baby has some extreme anxiety with new people. It's quite funny how my first week went.

Ok, so let's back up.

I started two weeks ago. The family had an aupair from Brazil. I worked with her for the first three days so she could show me the ropes and the baby could get used to me with the comfort of someone familiar alongside her. I was supposed to work the entire week, but on Thursday, I got the stomach flu. It actually makes for a great puke story.

Here's the puke story: So, Thursday morning, I woke up feeling really crummy. I texted Adam around 6 AM saying I was sick and asked if he could bring me some ginger ale. Within half an hour, he was on my front doorstep with ginger ale and this garlic medicine that's supposed to help speed up recovery from illnesses. However, when Adam opened up that cursed bottle, I smelled the strong scent of garlic and I just couldn't handle it anymore. I tried to run to the toilet, but ended up puking all down the hallway, making it one puke into the toilet. This was the first time I didn't make it in the toilet since I was four. I was absolutely dying of embarrassment when I was done, and stepped outside the bathroom to view the damage. I was expecting a mess from Adam as well, since he gets this horrible gag reflex when he sees puke. Instead of seeing another mess, I  saw Adam with this little piece of paper towel, wiping up my puke (and it wasn't just a little bit of it), with all his might. It was probably the sweetest sight I've ever seen. I immediately grabbed the roll of paper towel and demanded him to go outside while I cleaned up my own mess. He refused to and grabbed more paper towels and kept cleaning while holding back gags. When I was done cleaning, I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and saw myself in the mirror. My hair was a disaster, I had ghost white skin and mascara blotted around my eyes, and I had a smear of puke on my cheek. I couldn't believe he still loved  me after all this, but he certainly did, because for the next three days, he took good care of me. That's pretty rare to find in a guy! I feel so lucky to have him.

Ok, I'm done with my puke story. I just had to brag a little about how awesome my fiance is.

Anyway, the following Monday, I started my job flying solo. The aupair had moved to Maryland for another job. Monday was absolutely horrible. The baby was hysterical the entire day. There were times where I thought she would pass out or make herself sick from all her crying. Sometimes she'd be crying so hard that no sound would be coming out of her mouth and she wouldn't take a breath for a good 10 seconds. I was absolutely frazzled and completely relieved when the day was finally over. The baby hadn't taken her naps, since she was too hysterical to calm down. I was definitely not looking forward to the entire week. However, Tuesday, there was a surprising change. The baby only cried a few times when her mom left and if she was tired. She still didn't really take her naps and was kind of tense all day. But it was definitely an improvement. Wednesday was much better. Thursday was better than Wednesday. Onnolee finally started reaching to come to me, leaving her mother just so I could hold her. On Friday, I walked through the door and Onnolee screamed excitedly, "Lala!!!" and ran up to me.  I was so amazed by the radical change that took place from Monday to Friday.

Friday, the mother and the baby left to Pennsylvania to drop the Onnolee off at her grandparents while the mom went on her business trip. I dropped them off at the airport and drove back home. They will be gone for the next few days. The only responsibility I have is to clean the house on Tuesday and put up "Welcome Home" signs for the dad. He is in the military and will be coming home on this following Wednesday. Then, I have to pick up the mother and baby from the airport in Nashville.

During my time off, it's been so nice to hang out with Adam. Yesterday, we worked on his farm. I helped his mom collect pecans and cut the raspberry bushes. After working for a bit, we headed out to go spelunking, which is a southern term for caving. It was so much fun! There was a spring coming out of the cave. We walked in the water, which varied from ankle deep to thigh deep. Surprisingly, it was pretty warm for a cave. It was so fascinating to see the limestone formations and how perfectly clear the water was in the pools on top of the rocks. We saw crawdads that had no eyes, I caught a bright orange and black speckled salamander, and we saw a snake hiding in the rocks. It was really cool to see how much wildlife there was living in the caves. When we reached the end of the first part of the cave, we debated whether we should keep going in the crawl space to get out on the other side, or head back the easy way. Our friends had a baby with them, so they headed back the easy way. We followed them, but decided that soon we will come back and go through the crawl space for a little extra adventure. I wish I had brought my camera so I could have some pretty cool pictures, but I couldn't find it in my room, which is a disaster. Once I find my camera, I'll be sure to go back and take some pretty cool pictures.

I'd post pictures of the baby too, but I can only describe her. The father works in a very secretive position in the military, so it puts the family at risk for enemies to retaliate. I'm not allowed to say when they leave to somewhere and where they are, specifically. I have to be pretty vague about things and can't post pictures without clearance from the mother. I choose not to post pictures for now. But, Onnolee is the most beautiful baby girl you'll ever see! She has blonde hair, vivid blue eyes, long black eyelashes, and beautiful pink lips with rosy cheeks. I can only hope my kids are as cute as she is! When she's in a good mood (typically in the mornings and after her naps), she is the sweetest baby ever. She will turn one year old in October. I am teaching her sign language. She is picking up here and there but hasn't quite caught on that the signs have meaning yet. She knows the sign, "more", but she thinks it means "grapes". She will also sign "puppy" occasionally, and recently learned "baby." I think soon, she will pick up quickly.

Well, that is all for my recent adventures! I'm sure enjoying life here. I miss my family a lot, but I know they're always there and I Skype with them every Sunday, which makes it easier for me.

I'll be sure to keep you updated on my future shenanigans. Until then, farewell! 

I Got A JOB!

After two weeks of searching, I finally got a full time nanny position!

Funny thing is, I promised myself, that after eight years of nannying, I would never nanny again. Except for my two darlings, Kennedy and Cooper, and my great friends Leah and Lucy. But other than those two families, never again.

Why?

Because, my last two nanny positions were a complete disaster! You all know my story about Switzerland, and then the last nanny position, the kids were really difficult to work with. So I've been having a bit of anxiety applying for nannying jobs, worrying whether I'll get along with the parents and the children, and so on.

But, I have a GREAT feeling about this job. I've been praying for a job where I'd get along with the parents and be happy in my work. I feel like nannying is what I'm best at, and I guess I'm just going to go along with the 9th year of being a caretaker.

I'll be taking care of a 10 month old baby girl. Her name is Onnolee. Quite the unique name. She is probably one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen in my life! Blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. She's quite shy to other people, and apparently cries when she meets someone new. But, when I met her for the first time, she seemed really happy to meet me. The mother said she was really surprised that she wasn't freaking out. I think it pleased her that the baby seemed to like me right off the bat. Onnolee seems pretty easy to take care of. However, she has kind of a separation anxiety when her mother leaves the room. She'll cry and cry and cry. I witnessed it when her mom said, "I'm going to leave the room so you can see what she does." The mom left the room and Onnolee freaked out. I can tell it's going to be a hard first few weeks until Onnolee gets used to me and becomes more comfortable when her mother leaves. But, that's how it usually is with any kid or kids, in my experience. So I am expecting it to take a while, but I know it'll all work out in a couple or so weeks.

I'll be earning some good money (for a 21 year old nanny). It'll be enough to get me by comfortably. My responsibilities include doing laundry, housekeeping, cooking, running errands, and of course, caring for Onnolee. The mother works at home, so she'll be around every once in a while. She also travels for her job, and when she travels, I'll be joining her with Onnolee. So I'm really excited for that!

I'm excited to see how this works out. It's 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and the occasional weekends. I've worked longer than that before for the same pay, so it's just fine for me.

Life is good, and I've been greatly blessed to have a wonderful home to live in, a good job, and a wonderful fiance. Thank you for all your support, I appreciate it!

The Move to Tennessee

Hey y'all!

So, moving to Tennessee was an excellent idea. I love it here so far! The people are great, being with Adam is awesome, and the family I'm staying with are absolutely amazing!

Here's how it all started.

I missed Adam way too much to be 1,600 miles apart all the time. So, I made the big decision to move to Tennessee. Adam was originally supposed to move to Utah, but he had a feeling to stay down in Tennessee, so I decided to follow him. I flew out to Tennessee at the end of August and stayed there for a week. (That flight was supposed to be for me to go and help him drive to Utah. It was non refundable or transferrable, so I decided I might as well just use it.) Then, Adam and I flew back to Utah to get my car and most of my stuff.

It was really a bittersweet moment when I got into the car to drive back to Tennessee. I knew I would really miss my family. I almost cried my eyes out when we left. But, it was a sweet moment, because I knew I could be with Adam every day now, and that it was a new adventure to embark on.

Adam and I started our long cross country journey. I wasn't sure what to expect. We planned on driving straight through and that it would take 25 hours. However, by the time we hit Colorado, just before Denver, we both became so exhausted we couldn't keep going. We stopped in the mountains twice to sleep for a couple hours before continuing on. I drove the last part of the night. Around 6 AM, I found myself falling asleep at the wheel. I don't really remember what happened, except that my head snapped back up and I basically freaked out. I pulled over at the next exit and slept in the parking lot of a gas station for a couple hours. Then Adam and I switched over and I slept while he drove. Adam makes fun of me because apparently I slept the "whole time" that he was driving, which is far from the truth. ;)

Adam and I didn't really talk much because one of us would sleep while the other was driving, or we would just sit in silence because we were too tired to talk. We had our share of interesting and funny conversations though. I tried to play a game of "30 Questions" with Adam that I found on Pinterest. He was kind of reluctant to play, but he ended up talking a lot and answering the questions. We only made it to 5 questions because they were pretty deep stuff. We did learn a lot about each other though!

The drive was not very interesting. We missed the beautiful mountains in Colorado because it became dark by the time we hit them. So, we ended up driving through the boring part of Colorado and through the bleak Kansas scenery. The only interesting sight was the St. Louis arch. We drove through St. Louis on the second night and it was AMAZING. I loved the sight. The silver arch shone brilliantly in the darkness. I was driving, so I didn't get to stare at it long, but the image is burned in my memory.

Finally, at 4 AM on the third night, we arrived at Adam's house in Adams, Tennessee. It was such a relief! I dropped Adam off and drove to my new home in Sango, which is about 10 minutes away from Adams and Clarksville. Christie, the mom, was still awake when I arrived. She's quite the insomniac, apparently! We chatted for a while before I headed off to bed.

It took me a few days to get rid of the lag from driving. I was pretty much exhausted for about three days. Looking back on the trip,  it doesn't seem so long to me. I think it was so long that it didn't even matter anymore.  It felt like we were driving and driving and driving and going nowhere. And then, all of a sudden, BAM! We were in Tennessee. It's kind of weird to think about it, and to think we will have to do it again twice in January, when we drive to Utah for our reception then drive back to Tennessee.

So far, the first two weeks of living in Tennessee has been great. It's been a bit different there. The climate is pretty humid, of course. The small town setting is pretty different for me. Growing up in the suburban area, stores are pretty close to us. However, here, you really have to plan out your trips because everything is so far away and it can get a bit expensive in gas if you have to go to a store every day. If I have to go to the store, I really have to think it out and make sure I'm getting everything I need to get for the week. It takes about 12 minutes to get to Walmart, and 25 minutes to get to the mall, Target, and Hobby Lobby.  But that's on the route that my GPS has shown me. I'm sure there are faster ways to get there. I just haven't found them yet.

 I've hung out with Adam every day. We've been working on exercising and went on a hike yesterday. Adam got us lost. We planned on a 1.37 mile hike and ended up walking 5 miles, according to my GPS. The trail had split at one point. I told him the trail was that way, and he said he was SURE it was the other way. So, we went the other way, despite my objections. Guess who was the right one? ;) But, we did get some extra exercise in, even though I had to do it all in my flip flops!

Now, the family I live with... can I say they are AMAZING?? Because they are! I had quite a bit of anxiety moving in with a family, since the last two families I had stayed with ended up being... let's just say it didn't work out very well. I just didn't want to experience that hurt and disappointment for the third time. I can't tell you how good it feels to be accepted, welcomed, and loved in a home with another family. It feels so good to know they appreciate me and know that I appreciate them too. The parents are amazing and kind, and the four children are absolute angels to me! The children are: Liza, age 14; Alexander, age 12.. I think...?; Tori, almost 9 years old; and Katie who's six. They also have a dog, a ferret (which I hate because it decided it likes to bite my feet and chase me), and a sugar glider.

The children and the parents have been so excited to learn sign language and they pick it up so fast! The mom, Christie, wants to go on a sign language mission with her husband, so she has been super interested in sign. The two younger girls, Tori and Katie, have been stuck by my side and absolutely love signing and having me teach them how to paint. All the children are so sweet and obedient. Of course, probably not all the time, but they're some of the best kids I've seen, especially in my 8 years of nannying. I can only hope my kids will be as awesome as they are!

Currently, I'm searching for a job. Probably as a nanny, of course. I've applied to several retail jobs, but I haven't heard back because it's slow season and they aren't hiring just yet. I had an interview to nanny a beautiful 10 month old baby girl. I find out today whether I get the job or not. I'm pretty anxious to hear back! I've also gotten some side babysitting jobs and people who are interested in purchasing my paintings. So things are going well. Money's a bit tight, but I'm getting along. My parents have been so awesome with helping me out and I'm forever grateful I have amazing parents who support me in all that I do. They really are great examples to me.

While I'm waiting on a job opportunity, I've just been working on paintings and helping the family out with learning sign language. Christie has been out of town for the past few days, so I've been helping the two younger girls get ready for school, homework, and the occasional dinner. I also finished two paintings, which I'm pretty proud of.

Things are great! The only bad things that have happened so far is being out of money, chipping my front tooth, and having my laptop broken. But once I get a job, I'm getting that tooth fixed and my laptop fixed.

I have some pictures posted of my time here in Tennessee. It's not much, since I'm not really camera crazy like some people are. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks for reading!

My room while unpacking...

Finally clean!

Me teaching the kids how to paint.

Lil'bit.

My paintings!

Driving in Kansas. 

Playing with the butterflies.

Eating at Red Robin in Kansas. Adam was pretty tired!

My 4 month old niece, Teyla!

My first pen drawing.

The river in Adam's backyard.