We are still in bliss land with Freddie, our favourite age for toddlers that we have seen all our boys go through. We love that he is communicating with us, learning new things such as words and actions and is so fun and entertaining.

Despite him waking again through the night, which I think is a developmental thing or a leap or something at this age, he has been great. I am sick of sleeping on his bedroom floor though, and if you didn’t see my Mother’s Day IG post, Josh fell into the change table at night and split his head, thanks to that darn bed on the floor.

Freddie is saying a few words but not a lot. Overall, I am pretty happy with where he is at word wise because I remember my middle son, Will, didn’t speak until two years old.

Freddie knows where his head, tummy, nose and toes are and it didn’t take him long to pick that up. Playing games such as ‘Simon Says’ or telling them to ‘put a toy on their…’ will teach them in no time. These kids are such sponges, that one time I put a pencil between his toes, just mucking around, and to this day, he thinks that where pencils go!

We had Freddie’s health nurse appointment yesterday and it was great! He is, as I suspected, in the 90% for height and all average for everything else. They see if he can play make believe, if he looks at you in the eye, can identify body parts and build blocks and he passed all this. So, with the 18m check, comes the 18m immunisations! Eeeeek! I was freaking out over this, even though I have do this so many times before with a child. There is nothing worse than seeing your little bub all happy and knowing that in just a few minutes time, they will be in pain. I asked the nurse to have another nurse come and do the second needle at the same time in the other arm, so it wasn’t one needle after another, after another (3 in total). We had the two nurses on either side of him and 3,2,1 bang! He didn’t flinch. I was waiting for a huge scream, or at least a delay then a scream. Nothing. They did the third needle. Nothing. What? I am unsure how and why he didn’t cry or feel it? but I must say that I knew he was a tough kid, but not that tough!

Being a mum of an 18month old, in the previous years, I would now start to consider having another baby. You know, when everything is really good, and you are at a great stage with the toddler, you start to miss the baby and newborn stage (especially when all your friends are having babies now). It is a weird feeling knowing that I may not have another baby and that it is not a time in my life to consider having another pregnancy. I am so torn with wanting another baby or not and even though Josh says he is done, I know a little deep down in there, he would love one more.

I have a lot of stuff going on at the moment, I have two goals in my career I am hoping to somehow, some way achieve amongst everything which is adding to the load on my shoulders. I am also in limbo with when I am moving out of my house for the renovation and Aston’s school homework has doubled and I am allocating time to that after school hours which limits what time I have to tick of my boxes. This is how I see it. Kids come first- number one. If they need you, if they are behind in school, if they need one on one, whatever it is, they are the priority. If there happens to be time left, then it is my time.

FINDING A NANNY

Having a nanny is amazing, and she comes three days a week. I have her on a T/W/T from 8am-4pm so I can do the school and kinder drop offs, pick ups any after school activity and in between those school hours, I work or allocate ‘me time’ appointments or friend catch ups during that time. So essentially, my work hours are between 9:30-2:30pm. If I am at an event or a lunch, I always leave by 2pm and ALWAYS miss out on dessert so I can get to my kids on time. Again, putting my kids first. On Monday’s and Friday’s, when it is just me and Freddie, the only time I will get anything done is between Freddie’s naps.

Ella, my nanny, is a legend. She is young, committed, hard working and intelligent. She is always one step ahead of me and can make her own decisions when it comes to what needs to be done for Freddie, me or the house. Ella looks after Freddie, takes him to the park, goes grocery shopping for me, cooks our dinner and puts away washing, all round- the biggest help I could ask for. She even assists me with my business and the WWKD t-shirts.

I have found all my nannies on findababysitter.com.au and I filter to suburb and then go through them one by one to make a short list. I then email them and request and interview. In the interview you get to see them, see how they are, who they are and ask a few questions about their experience and what they want in their career.

Some questions to ask a nanny at an interview:

  • What is your experience with children?
  • What ages of children have you had experience with?
  • Have you nannied before?
  • Do you smoke?
  • Do you have a working with children check or a police check?
  • What days and hours are you available?
  • What is your rate?
  • Can I pay Direct deposit?
  • Do you have a car seat and have you had any car accidents?
  • Find out about them, what they like to do for hobbies, do they have a boyfriend, do they have travel plans.
  • Do they live local?
  • Are they willing to cook?
  • Are they willing to clean?
  • Does their rate for night change from day?
  • How long do they want to nanny for?

Look, I can’t guarantee that you will hit the jackpot with your nanny like I have (and prior to Ella, I had Lucy who was an absolute gun and even came on holidays with us and my extended family) but if you find the right one, buy asking the right questions, you just might!

Freddie’s 18m routine

Wake
Breakfast
Play
Snack/lunch
Nap (2-3 hours)
Snack
Play
Dinner
Bath
Quiet time
Milk in a sip cup
Bed