| Yesterday was the perfect winter's day. Clear skies and crisp temperature. I was so excited, it was Steve's birthday and I think I'd outdone myself with this gift. I hadn't written it in my blog in case Steve read it. I usually use birthdays as an opportunity to buy needed things, yes, I am the dreaded sock giver! Xmas was different last year, I bought Steve the Playstation 3 and I went to a lot of effort to hide it from him, he had no idea and was over the moon. I do love giving presents. For the last few months he's been expressing an interest in gaining his pilots license. But he's not looked into it. I took the liberty of driving out to the Kapiti Coasts Aero Club and purchasing his first lesson for him. I bought quite a large box, stuffed it with tissue paper to throw him off the scent and then placed the card at the bottom. I'm notoriously crap at hiding presents, or I let it slip by accident. Steve found the box in the bathroom cupboard - whoops! But he thought it was a wallet in there or a rugby t-shirt he'd mentioned wanting. So this time, it worked in my favour. He was so happy when he got the present. We took a drive to the club and sat and watched them taking off for a bit! He was like a little boy, raw excitment and wide eyed. I loved every minute of it. He wasn't allowed to take the lesson that day though, I wanted my cameras - both still and camcorder to capture the moment. As we drove back along the highway (NZ's motorway) he was excitedly talking about getting his license (after 50 hours of bank breaking lessons!) and got pulled over by a cop! Steve and I are both sitting at 75 points on our licenses (100 is disqualification). Just the other day he'd been lecturing me on speeding tickets and how he'd learnt to slow down because of the waste of money - fortunately stationary cameras don't issue points, but we've wracked up about $2k of fines between us. The points we've incurred is from being pulled over. We were livid at being pulled over. Its a motorway! Built for speed with clear visibility, and he was only doing 20k over the limit. How many serious crimes are being commited while this plod sits on the motorway issuing tickets, otherwise known as easy money. Grrr! I told Steve to exert his legal right to see the radar. Off he went to the plod's car. Time ticked by and I was growing increasingly more agitated. I was desperate to know if Steve would lose his licence. Not that that's any deterrant, there are plenty of lawyers in NZ charging a pretty penny to get it back for you quickly. I turned around to Steve laughing in the car, pointing this bloody radar gun at everyone! Turns out the cop had taken the time to show Steve how it worked and given tips on situations where you're more likely to get caught. Fortunately, Steve was just within the realms of the point system and got 25 points, taking his grand total to 95 points! So close! We decided to head back to the Wairapa for our favourite place on a Sunday, but found it closed, it forced us to branch out and try somewhere new. The risk paid off and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at another place in town. The girls were awesome and they got the special treat of Daddy taking them to the park. Unfortunately I wasn't able to join them because my stomach is really upset. Still. I know my body has to gear up for labour, but this is taking ages! Driving home I started getting lots of contractions again but they weren't getting worse - so I was fairly confident that it wouldn't be that night. Last night I couldn't sleep for love nor money. My mind was racing of things I need to do and anxieties about handling the Nanny situation and the cleaner situation, for someone usually so assertive I don't seem to be able to handle these things very well. We gave the Nanny the afternoon off on Friday, but asked her before she clocked off to complete her one household chore. Take the girls laundry out of the dryer, fold and leave for ME to put away. However, she sat around watching telly and then left for Wanganui without completing the chore. Of course it was a simple oversight, but it seems that she is incapable of doing anything above getting herself ready and dressed for the day and driving the girls around. This morning she knocked on the bedroom door to tell me that Moons was refusing to do as she was told. I had to explain that Moons was tired from little sleep the night previous because Pip is sick AND Monday's are harder because she's just enjoyed the weekend with her Daddy, so its best to approach her chatty in the morning as opposed to barking out orders and expecting Moons to oblige. Not that I would condone Moons being naughty of course, but in this instance she was so tired and sad I felt really sorry for the little blighter. I sent an email to the college outlining a bunch of concerns - which Steve had to edit citing that I was just too harsh in parts, referring to conversation with her as being like talking to a bag of sugar, and observing her interpersonal skills as being like someone that's been raised in a cellar, in the dark, in the central plateau. In hindsight, it might have been harsh, but I'm a pregnant woman, I'm tired, irritable and ache all over. I can't be bothered to use flowery words. Steve did a great job with the new email, although the Nanny has now affectionately become known as 'sugar bag.' The college called and are prepared to do a meeting on Weds to ascertain if this can become a workable situation. I'm so anxious about the closeness to the end of the pregnancy and wished we'd just persued a private agency. As for the cleaner, I have vowed to be assertive, not to be swayed by sob stories and say exactly what needs to be done and in what time. At the moment, she's dictated her hours and days - completely the opposite of what I wanted, and she's charging a lot of money. Plus I can SEE that things haven't been done. I'm so bad, I had planned to take on another cleaner to do the job and then basically just throw money at this current one because I feel sorry for her. Still, I do have a history of employing nutty cleaners. I vividly recall the one we had in Australia. She was awesome, but pretty unbalanced. I was heavily pregnant with Moons at the time and she used to talk about her four children - all of whom had died in different horrific ways including one baby that died inside her. Then friends and rellies kids that had cancer and were dying. I used to call Steve in tears, terrified for our unborn child. When Moons was born she came screaming out of the room one day that I'd left a blanket in close range - hadn't I heard of cot death? Thus began a recital of all the babys she knew that had died that way. I know I must draw these people to me! We never had these problems in Mexico though. The housekeepers were awesome and so natural with children. I would have moved heaven and earth to bring Lupita back with us from Mexico. She was everything a cleaner/housekeeper/Nanny should be. She was older, quite rounded and wore her hair in a bun. She wore little round glasses and she used to stop in her tracks to talk and play in Spanish with Moons. We all adored her. And her ironing was like nothing I've ever seen before. She ironed our stuff before we left and we pulled it out of our suitcases still smelling fresh and looking ironed! She had magic hands! You'd walk into the apartment and it would glean and smell so good. And she oosed all things warm and friendly. Anyway, Saturday also reinforced how out of whack things are with sugarbag. As part of our 'package' we get another Nanny for one weekend. A girl was sent to us who is currently working just up the road. She was AMAZING! Very well travelled, she wore square glasses (not that glasses are an indicator of someone's capacity to be a Nanny - but they help!). She'd brought the two kids with her that she was working with at the moment and they were gorgeous. She had enough assertiveness for them to respond to her requests, but managed to keep warm and approachable at the same time. She was confident, had a wealth of experience and was happy to answer our questions with professionalism, confidence and fondness for her job as well as being totally aware of where the other children were. Of course I immediately made the move to question her intentions when she'd finished the course to try and nab her! But the family she is working with full time already offered her a permanent job with them and they've moving to New York. Grrr! Just shows that when you find that perfect Nanny you need to hold onto her with both hands! Anyway, I guess we'll see what pans out this week. |