And once again, it has been a while since I last posted on my blog. Story of my life 🙂
Fortunately, from now on, I expect to be able to spend more time on my blog. We have finally found a new aupair who is helping me out with the triplets during the day. Having her around should definitely allow me to spend a few hours a day on my website and the many exciting collaborations that I am currently working on. Also – more importantly – I will be able to leave the triplets at home when picking up Bas and Julie from school, which should at least spare me from having the usual nervous breakdown trying to manage five kids in a crowded school yard!
Let me take you back a few months when Julie and Bas started to go to primary school. Every morning, Jorn would bring the twins to school and in the afternoons I would fetch them. The last part is easier said than done.
In order to be able to leave the house to pick up the twins from school, I would need to take the triplets with me. This meant I had to wake up the triplets from their afternoon nap, dress them, give them a drink, put their shoes and coats on, put them in the car one by one. If everything would go as planned (which obviously would never be the case), I would manage to arrive at school on time.
Upon arrival at school, I had to take the huge – and way too heavy – stroller out of the car and put the triplets in one by one. After fetching the twins I had to do the same thing vice versa only with two (very tired) children added to this whole circus.
It didn’t take too long for me to get really fed up using the stroller. Instead, I figured it would be a great idea to let the triplets wear leashes especially designed for runaway toddlers. This definitely seemed like a great plan. Little did I know…
Seconds after I had put the leashes on and started walking towards the schoolyard, it happened… Faye started running directly into the schoolyard (enthusiastically), while Hannah had decided that she wanted to go straight back to the car and started screaming. Meanwhile, Cécile had stopped walking entirely… no movement, nothing. Eventually, I had to pick up and carry Cecile, while holding on to screaming Hannah on one leash and pulling back enthusiastic Faye with the other leash. As a result, Faye fell and started crying too. I hadn’t even entered the schoolyard when I saw Julie walking out of the school entrance, crying (for no reason by the way) and Bas with a very sad face because he had bumped into something on his way out.
Then, heading back to the car was the worst part. You know when your kids go to a new school, you want to make a good first impression with other parents, right? BIG FAIL! I really looked like a maniac; I had five crying toddlers all walking in different directions. The leashes were completely tangled up as a result of which the toddlers were tumbling all over each other. Smiling politely whilst casually ignoring my hot flashes was really all I could do as I was trying to make my way out of the schoolyard.
Now, we are lucky to have Leana living with us, which allows me to divide part of the many tasks. For instance, Leana will take care of the triplets when I pick up the twins. Also, during the day she takes the triplets out for walks to the farm or a park and entertains them with handicraft projects such as drawing and painting. It gives us all much more peace of mind now that we have an extra set of hands living with us.
For those of you who are exploring the idea of having an aupair instead of other childcare, I can highly recommend the service of House o Orange Aupairs! To us it is so important to have an experienced, service oriented aupair agency. We have hired other agencies in the past for our former aupairs, but their service did not even come close to the service of House o Orange Aupairs!
House o Orange Aupairs has a great screening program, they work very accurately and fast and they carefully prepare the aspirant aupairs on their new life as an aupair in a foreign country. Also, they take care of all the administration (e.g. visa application, risk insurance, health insurance ,etc) which is quite a hassle to do on your own. As very busy parents we would definitely recommend to choose the efficient way, and let House o Orange Aupairs find the most suitable aupair for your family. They do it best!
