There's a poo in the pool! And other stories

If you had asked me 12 months ago what I would be doing a year from now, looking after 3 (and a half) little monkeys is the last thing I would have said. However, here I am and somehow I seem to have found something that I might even want to make a career out of!

The most amazing thing about children is how the things that seem everyday or that we take for granted are so exciting and outstanding to them. They make you think about something in a totally new way, challenging your perspetvie on things. Kids laughter really is the best medicine, and they find hilarity out of the most mundane things. Jack is currently obsessed with me flicking myself on the cheek and pretending it really hurts. It's the small things!

We are currently in the process of potty training Charlotte, and she is SO proud of herself when she does wees in the potty that she wants to show everybody (and promptly spills it everywhere!) and even did a number 2 the big toilet which was the proudest moment in her 2 1/2 years. I say 'in' the toilet but I actually mean all over the toilet seat. I was horrified, and immediately called for Lori's assistance, neglecting to recognise that it is a big deal for her to be doing that without any assistance! However, her being a potty training superstar does mean that you have to remind her every 5 minutes to wee in the potty, not her underpants. It's exhausting and makes trips to the park so much more stressful because I'm so scared she's going to do a number 2 whilst hurtling down the slide. Nightmare! Oh, and yes she did do a poo in the pool. Fortunately she was wearing a water nappy, and the other two didn't seem phased by the fact that they were swimming in their sister's fecies. Oh to be young and care free. However, now I have dealt with poo in the pool, I feel I can deal with anything!

So here we are, me spending my precious hours off reading baby manuals and subscribing to parenting websites, whilst Googling activites such as how to make beads out of play dough. Im learning to channel my energies into creativity with the kids, with many successes (building forts being a personal faveroute) and unfortuantly, many failures (stress balls made with play dough and balloons, the most horriffic mess, just no)

Now the kids are off to the dentist, I am off to catch up on Gossip Girl and revel in the peacefulness of an empty house... xxxxx

I know it's been a while...

Life as an au pair down under

Its been a long time since ive actually written about my life in Australia, but I guess it's pretty obvious from my Facebook status' that I absolutely love my life out here. I apologise to those who are getting weary off with my gloating about the wonderful weather and more improtantly, the wonderful kids. If it makes you feel any better, it's been drizzling all morning and the kids are running wild today! However, it's my afternoon off so I can shut my door and ignore the world for a few hours. Hold that thought, Charlotte is banging my door down...hard to ignore the little monkey who defiantly has me wrapped around her cute little finger.

So as we are approaching the 4 month mark perhaps it is time that I assess my experiences, good and bad, what I've learnt and what has been the biggest changes for me.

Looking back over the past 4 months has been one heck of a journey. I am so darn lucky that I have landed with a family who I can honestly say, have exceeded my expectations of life as an au pair and have made me feel so welcome. I do refer to them as my 'Aussie family' and it makes me feel pretty teary eyed when I think about having to leave them. To know that Charllotte (2years) probably won't remember me in a few years time is horrible. To realise that I'm a temporary feature in their lives breaks my heart. I won't get to see their big milestones in life, but I have been so lucky that I've been able to know them and learn so much in the process. And we are only half way though!

Of course it's not all been plan sailing. I'd be lying if I said I am enthusiastic and happy all the time. Life isn't like that. There have been days when I really can't be bothered to give piggyback rides all around the house, or days when I am short tempered and moody with the kids. But then there are days when we have so much fun doing wheelbarrow races or playing chase that I can't imagine what I'm going to do without them. And when Annabelle says something like "I really love you Georgie, I don't want you to go ever" something tugs at my heartstrings and I know I am so, so lucky to be where I am.

One of the main things I have come to learn, within the past few weeks really, is to take a step back and relax. I don't have to be perfect 100% of the time. The amount of times I've messed up (laundry being my biggest failure, how hard can it be to try not to shrink baby Ben's clothes!?) are probably off the chart. But then as Lori constantly reminds me, I've learnt so much already, and I've gone from looking after number one, to being thrust into the deep end with 4 kids under the age of 6. It's enough to challenge even the most organised and responsible human being!

I have so much more respect for mothers, and in the first month or two I was constantly emailing my mother saying "how on earth did you do it?!" Its true, motherhood is the hardest job imaginable. But also, the most rewarding. If becomming an au pair was supposed to give me more ambition to have a "real career" then it failed miserably. I'm not saying I'm going to rush off and have a billion babies ASAP, I am certianly going to enjoy my independence for as long as possible, because once you have a baby, you lose ALL sense of independence and selfishness for sure, but when I do become a mother, I know it's going to be bloody awesome!

For being the youngest of three, and very much the spoilt one, it's been one massive shock to the system looking after 4 kids, and it's not been easy, but I feel like I'm learning a lot about myself, about kids, and basically finally growing up a bit! If I'd done this before university I don't think I'd be up to the challenge. I'm learning responsibility, selflessness and above all, patience. Probably the three things that are my weakest qualities. I am incredibly proud of myself, and whislt there are days when I beat myself up over the small stuff, and not so small stuff (losing Jack in the park was possibly the worst day of my life out here), if I take a step back and look how far I've come, I'm doing pretty well really.

So as I finish off this blog, I'm feeling pretty happy, blessed and I think I might go and give Annabelle a big bear hug. Xxx

Learning to boil an egg

I read today in The Times (yes, I have the app on my ipad) that one in seven students entering into university cannot boil an egg. Now, I haven't read the Daily Mail's article about this, but I can be fairly certain that they have made it into some big 'the youth of today' article condemning all youths as irresponsible thugs. No, its not all idiotic lazy teenagers who live off junk food, nor is it students who have been in boarding schools all their lives who fit into this category of 'hopeless dependents' - I also could not boil an egg before I went to university. I made a scrap book which had on the front page 'a boiled egg takes four minutes!' I wish I was joking. The point I am trying to make, is that just because freshers may have never done their own laundry, picked up an iron, boiled an egg, the world is not coming to an end. We are not a degenerate generation. I managed to teach myself how to cook, do laundry AND got a degree. It is not difficult.

Three years ago I couldn't boil an egg, could barely navigate myself to the end of my street, and yes, I did manage to end up in Newmarket when trying to get to Swindon from Durham, yet now I am responsible for three children under the age of six and mercifully they are still alive.

When thrown into the deep end, be it university or moving to the other side of the world, we an adapt and if someone has managed to get into university (or get themselves successfully to the right terminal at the airport) we can assume they are intelligent enough to learn how to boil an egg. Hopefully.

Frauline Maria I ain't

Is it the fact that I live in a bungalow that the rain is really, really loud or is rain, like everything else in Australia, bigger, scarier and more dangerous here? Anyway, as the lightning peaks through my curtains and the thunder roaring so loud that I swear I just felt the bed shake (and no, not for the reasons those of you with a dirty mind are thinking of) I am starting to doubt my abilities as an au pair. I feel lightyears away from Maria Von Trap from the Sound Of Music, singing about ones Favourite Things' to the little darlings as the crawl into my bed on such a perilous evening. Rather, I am wishing I wasn't home alone, and cursing myself for being such a big baby. If I can't cope with a bloody thunderstorm, how am I supposed to look after three children?! For now, I shall hum to myself whilst thinking of spaghetti bolognaise, Pinot Grigio and Justin Timberlake. Ooh I feel better already...

Sydney here I come! (maybe)

After a relatively sleepiness night of thunderstorms and worrying that I will forget something really important, like my flight ticket, I was up and ready to go at the crack of dawn. HM and HD said I need only 90 minutes to get from the front door to the airport, but I know myself, and being me, anything can and invariably will go wrong. However, not today! Here I am, sitting at Terminal 4 with yes, a ridiculous amount of time to spare. Now normally this would be fine; I can spend hours wandering around the duty free, reading magazines in the corner with no intention of actually buying them. However, not at this airport. I mean, I wasn't expecting much, how can you when HM expressed her concern with me flying Tiger Airways, when they have only just reopened due to some issue with pilots not managing the, what should be standard for pilots, procedure of landing the plane safely. However, HD said as a pilot, he would have no problem with me using Tiger Airways and quite frankly, it was cheap. But this terminal has only a vending machine and a coffee outlet to buy a skinny latte, leaving me wishing I had eaten more than a solitary apple for my lunch. Oh, and I am pretty certain that these plastic seats are not designed for anybody over 20kg. Think EasyJet and then take it down a notch or ten. Yup, that's me! Let's just hope they have retrained the pilots, or else this may well be my last entry on this undersubscribed, rambling fiasco that is my blog.

hasta mañana amigos! (hopefully) xxxx

The difference between Australia and England

Although I am living on the other side of the world, it barely seems that way. Australia feels comfortably familiar, yet different. We drive on the same side of the road, eat similar foods, speak the same language, yet the subtle differences between us Brits and Aussies, is becoming increasingly evident. My first lesson was never to take your shoes off in the house. They will think you are pretty weird, and rather rude.

Now, I am going to contradict myself here, but the biggest difference I have noticed in my short time here is the language. Yes, they speak English, but some of the terminology and language they use is so unfamiliar, that I am often staring at HM and HD with such a blank expression that I am sure they must think I'm sleepwalking half the time. I'm not, I promise. But when HM asks me to make sure all the doonah's are clean, what am I supposed to say? Oh, of course, a doonah is a duvet! Duh! And capsicum, snow-peas...what are these?! I feel like such a hoon! (Yes, my point exactly.) Oh, and they love to abbreviate literally everything. I used to think that the stereotype of Aussies with all their "G'day mate's" was reserved for the surfer-dude who hangs out on Bondi Beach, but the 'lingo' is used by every Aussie out there. Even Australian Ebay greets me with a G'day which will never cease to bring a smile to my face.

Another startling difference between Australia and the UK is how polite, happy and welcoming people are here. Not that Brits are all grumpy old buggers, but even going to buy half a litre (not pint!) of milk, the shop assistant will always ask how your day is going, how you like Australia and how your second cousin twice removed is. People seem to genuinely want to help you, which is proving to be rather detrimental to my financial situation because I find it hard to change my mind about buying something after the shop assistant has spent an hour and a half trying to find the perfect fit jeans for me (Levi's men's skinny fit - FML) Must resist the amazing shopping mall painfully close to home...

Even after just a week, I can see why so many Brits hop over the pond to live in such a beautiful country. Ok, so I am judging the place after six days, but being here as a resident rather than a tourist, it feels like Australia has all the home comforts of home (Tetley's included) but with the added bonus of amazing weather and amazing people. Maybe I will become one of the 24,000 Brits per year who go to Australia and never come back!

Week one: Nappies, Terrible-Twos and Thomas the Tank Engine.

HELLO!

Here I am, back by popular demand! (Yes, my mother, who fears that spending all my days chasing children around the garden and collapsing on the sofa at 8pm to watch Australian X factor will turn my brain into mush, and should therefore blog in order to prevent such horrors)

Week one into my crazy adventure's as an au-pair in Melbourne, and I am utterly convinced that this is possibly the best decision ever. I get to spend every day playing tag, eating Vegemite sandwhiches (crusts off, of course) and playing on the swings in the park. It certainly beats moving in with the parents struggling to get a job in Tesco's! My 'host family' as the au-pairing world call them, are absolutely wonderful. They are full of life, love and laughter and after just five days, I feel utterly at home. Except for the fact that I am no longer the youngest, and I have to act with a certain level of responsibility (shudder) and maturity (shudder!) 

Host-Mum (HM, from here on) and Host-Dad (HD) are fantastic people, who have made me feel so welcome and the kids are full of energy and life, sometimes with a little too much energy for my liking! I blame it on jet-lag, but I think the transition from spending everyday slogging my guts out in the library to running around in the garden playing helicopters is a little bit of a shock to the system. On the plus side, running around all day after them is burning billions and billions of calories. Theoretically, I should be a size zero when I return to mother England. 

This is possibly the first time I have had the opportunity to sit down and contemplate my first week in Australia. Life as an au-pair for three children under the age of six is full on! However, the family have gone to Noosa, Queensland for two weeks and I am free to explore what Melbourne, and the rest of Australia has to offer. The house feels eerily quiet without Justine Clarke playing in the background (if you have young children, you will know who I am talking about!) and without one, two or all three of the little munchkins wanting a piggyback/Vegemite sandwich/nappy changing. Yes, I have, for the first time in my life, changed a very smelly nappy. I don't know what all the fuss is about. I had geared myself up for this horrible explosion of poo everywhere, baby screaming her head off, me up to my arms in Sudocream, antibacterial gel and talcum powder. It was fine! How is it that men make such a fuss over changing a nappy? Maybe I have been very lucky with this child, but now my biggest fear has been overcome, I feel a fresh wave of relief flowing over me. Just don't give me a new born. Green poo is just a step too far. 

So now I have the house free, I am suddenly wandering what to do with my time. There are no children to entertain, no washing up to be done and little laundry to do. I guess I'd better go sit in the glorious sunshine and read Bill Bryson's 'Down Under' and enjoy the quiet, because who know's how long it will be until I get such tranquility again when the family return from Noosa! 

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