Day one (of work)

Well hello. Lets see if this time around survives longer than the last time.

Most of you already know the basics but lets review shall we? :).

Left: February 9th from SFO and flew across the states and the pond to London Heathrow.
Arrived: February 10th, met the family I am nannying for. Tom 9, Meg 10, Amy 12, Jonnie 15. And Mum TJ and dad Paul.

Then the WHOLE family went on vacation for 10 days and didn't arrive back till Sunday the 21st.

While they were away I made friends with the nanny down the road; Laure. She is quite sarcastic and lovely. I'm still getting to know her but we're mates already :). I traveled into London a few times, only once by car which was a terrible error in judgement as I spent about 2hrs driving round and round London trying to find the Wandsworth Bridge. *head shake* S'alright made it in the end to my mates and recovered. I also ate lunch with my wonderful cousin Gabrielle last Saturday at Oxo Tower. It was quite posh and very tasty. I was so pleased to catch up with her and she offered me much sage advice :D. O and I drove to Rochford the first Saturday I was here to catch up with my mate Laura who'd I met in good ol Sardo (Sardegna). We had a fun time shopping/ fixing my phone and nattering away.

Ok back to Sunday when the Fam arrived. Gear was placed all over the kitchen, the iron was turned on and the clothes were laid about the floor to be sorted for the laundry. It was noisy and hectic and I loved it. I learned how to iron Paul's nice button downs, helped put clothes away, and generally ran about.

Monday I was up at 7am and woke lil Tom up. Then I hung out with the girls in their mums room while they looked through a magazine. We pointed out the different things we liked on each page, then I sent them off to get dressed etc. Despite Tom being the last to wake up he is the first ready and down to eat breakfast. As for the girls they come down with just ten minutes to eat and put shoes on but they made it before mum arrived back.

After they left I tidied up the kitchen and then had a lovely sit down with TJ where we talked about what kind of routine I'll have, what she expects and then about life in general. It was nice chatting and getting to know her and her family better. Then we ironed a bit and put some clothes away.

I had a few hours off before school runs so I napped a bit then got up and went with her to get the kids. We brought them home dropped them off then went to get Jonnie from his friends. Mon/Fri his friends mum picks them up and takes them back to her house. We couldn't go the usual way because the roads were awfully flooded, worse than I'd ever seen!

Back at home we had left over stew for dinner but Jonnie wanted chicken which had to defrost then cook. He of course insisted on waiting downstairs for it instead of doing his homework. By the time everyone is done with dinner the kids start homework no problem. Jonnie is just now eating. Finally I get him up stairs for homework where he cleans his room for 10minutes so he has a desk to sit at and then homework begins...at 9:15pm. He struggles to write bullet points for a debate. He is pro day schools, the opposers are pro boarding. So we discuss pro's and cons as I try and pull out of him what he knows as he has done both. In then end he gets some good ideas down, he definitely is a smart kid just has a hard time with homework. Not unlike someone I know ;).

Today (Tuesday the 23rd) Jonnie and I are going to try and start homework much earlier and I think this weekend we may tackle his messy room! He is quickly becoming my lil favorite. As for the two girls I'm still getting to know them. Its taking a bit longer to bond with them but this is only week one :D.

Right, I have ironing and cleaning to do! TA
xx