Celebrating our Nanny
In mid-September, after 6 months of juggling working from home with three kids home and out of school and daycare, we finally got a nanny placement. Hallelujah! My gracious and generous parents spent months with us being the glue that made our crazy setup work but they closed on a new condo in Florida and the renovations were wrapping up as September faded into October so it was time to let them go. Because I am higher risk for severe COVID we didn’t feel comfortable with daycare or in-person kindergarten this year, so as soon as we got to Colorado we signed up with a nanny service who matched us with our nanny (and deals with all the administration like payroll and taxes). When we were talking through our ideal placement with the service we emphasized support for education, someone who can thrive in happy chaos, and someone who would feel like part of the family.
This is our first time using a nanny, so for those who are curious I thought I’d share a little of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good - our nanny is awesome, the kids took to her almost immediately (boys right away, Clara within a day or two). She is also a college student studying to be a teacher and has done a great job lightening the load of the e-learning support for Magnus in kindergarten. The bad - we only have half-time coverage so we are still juggling. And the ugly - we pay a little more for half-time with a nanny than we paid for full-time daycare for three kids. Ouch.
Cost concerns aside, we are VERY grateful for the help. It takes a special person to step into our circus and find a place of her own, and that’s what we have. So we wanted to celebrate her!
When we heard that she’d be turning 21 this week we decided to give her the Allard family birthday treatment. That meant a balloon arch, cupcakes, a few little gifts, and a tiny unicorn piñata.
And because it’s been a busy and stressful week, we wanted to bring the party in the least stressful way possible, while still maximizing the fun! We took advantage of a few shortcuts - we bought cupcakes instead of making them and we were able to re-purpose a little more than half of the balloons from our Halloween Trick or Treat Balloon arch. We simply removed those that were Halloween specific and the orange solid ones and replaced them with teal and pink to complement our Nanny’s favorite color (teal) and the finally 21 party line from Party City. If you just use air, the balloons will last a lot longer and can more easily be re-purposed.
Forgive our messy garage also known as our balloon arch construction facility, but you can see an in-progress shot where we had removed the Halloween balloons and were just starting to layer in the teal and pink.
The boys both made cards for her and we had a nice little celebration together the day after her birthday (the next day that she worked). Clara’s contribution was her first attempt to say our Nanny’s name. It was very sweet!
