A Day in the Life of An Aupair...

For two reason I am going to write about a typical day for me...1) because so many of you keep asking haha and 2) because I am incredibly lazy, I actually write only in this blog and not a diary because i cant be bothered doing both! So when i get home and Renee & I (and Krystle & I for January!!) start scrapbooking, I can print these entries out to go in my book....

So here goes, a day in the life of an aupair (meeee :P)

11.15am: I am fortunate enough to start work alot later then most aupairs, which means if I accidently stay up late talking to a sibling or friend on skype/facebook, then I can have a little sleep in...getting the best of both worlds, not every day but sometimes. Anyway, so at 11.15am, I check my weekly planner for notes from Eileen (host mom) and make lunch for me & Timmy
11.20am: I leave the house for the ten minute walk to Timmy's school.
11.30am: I pick Timmy up, being completely excluded from the conversation between most parents because I am a nanny, and not "one of them"...and we head to the park, which is 2 minutes from the school.
How long we stay at the park tends to depend on Timmy (5yrs). When I first started working it was 30 mins, because he would misbehave so much, now adays its alot longer. Normally now, at least 1 hr...but the other day it was 3 hours!!
1pm: I have taught Timmy to take his shoes off & put his lunch bag away as we walk in the door, which is a big help and while he entertains himself for a bit I get to work. I make his bed (but leave the twins, so they can learn some responsibility!!), put away Clara's Cystic Fibrosis machine, do a quick clean of the living room (breakfast bowls, blankets, straighten the furniture, put dvds away) and then into the kitchen. Make the orange juice, stack and restack the dishwasher. I then have to steralize Clara's nebulizers every two or three days, depending on the month. this takes about 45 minutes all together. On the days I don't do this, I am doing laundry instead.
2.00pm: Normally at this time, Timmy's friend who lives next door, comes home from kindy, so they play together for a while. If they do, i sometimes have a little break before I have to finish the laundry. if not, i'll play with timmy.
3.30pm: Clara & Ian get off the bus. This happens literally next to our house, but I still wait on the road for them
3.31pm: Kids all run in the front door, and I've trained them well haha, to put their lunch boxes on the bench, shoes away, bags away and ASK before having a snack! (they use to just grab everything and anything). They have snack and calm down time for a little bit
3.34pm: Homework starts. I sit with the kids the whole time, helping them when they need it and giving them spelling and maths tests.
4.30pm: Homework normally finishes now, but sometimes it can be much much later. The kids then need to clean their rooms and make their beds before allowed to play. Sometimes they also have to practice their instruments. Clara always choose to play outside with her friends, but Ian usually bums around the house until I make him go out! They each get 1/2 hr of reward time if they are well behaved/chores done, which is 1/2 hr of Wii, computer or tv. Sometimes though, I'll let them watch a whole movie if I am busy.
4.45pm: I make the lunches for the next day, and go over notes andletters they've bought home from school. I call around to make any play dates and write any important notes down for Eileen.
5:00pm: Hopefully if all is going well I use the next hour for either a break & do my own laundry, or play with the kids if they are hanging around
6.00pm: I start making diner
6.30pm: Kids have to be home at this time, and its normally the time dinner is served.
6.45pm: Clean up of dinner
7.00pm: From this time on my host mom could come home at any time, and when she does I'm finished work. If she asks me to put the kids to bed I have to do Clara's medical treatments, get kids in their pjs and teeth brushed, reading, and then lights out.

At the end of the day I'm normally pretty zonked and sometimes I go out for an hour with a friend, just to get out of the house; but usually I checked emails and facebook, research holiday and weekend travel plans, write blogs and upload photos from the weekend, chat to my friends & family back home or sometimes the girls here!


Well as this is happening its 3pm and I just hear the washing machine beeping telling me its ready!! Time to get back to work!....