Babysitting Miss Sadie

Natalie from Nat The Fat Rat shared this article this morning about French vs. American parenting. It was a fascinating read especially in evaluating my babysitting skills last night. My friend Kristin is again out of town for work and her husband had a meeting regarding their company, so I offered to watch their daughter Sadie.

I headed to their house right after class last night. Even though I only had a 2 hour nap in a 48 hour span I was oddly lively while watching little miss Love has a way of keeping you active. Especially when she looks up at your with those bright blue eyes and asks "Auntie Ashley can we _____ "? (Fill in the blank with appropriate toddler requests.) I generally oblige which is why we danced around the living room, had a mini photo shoot and played kitchen before story/bed time. 

Sadie loves to play photographer and tonight she took a lot of photos, mainly of her hot pink pants. What can I say, the girl's got taste! Really she does, Kristin allows Sadie to pick out her own clothes while shopping.

Sadie's Photos:

Our dance party was choreographed to Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra (two of my newest musical obsessions). Selected on repeat, we listened to that song again and again. I can't get enough of the music video. So simple and yet how many hours did they stand there to be painted? Another music video/song that I keep on repeat is Kimbra's Good Intent. I really want her dress!

Anyway, during the dance party Sadie sat next to her "sister" Tessa and pet her/gave her hugs. Break my heart, kid. I had to pause my interpretative dancing to snap a few photos.

Babysitting Ariana

Alex's brother and sister-in-law have a beautiful baby girl; Ariana. Last night he and I had the privilege of watching her for the evening. For Christmas I had given them a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory and a promise for a baby-free date night. As first time/new parents they seemed pretty excited, even though Heidi admitted she probably packed too much. And then text us within twenty minutes to see how she was doing. I love the first time mom nervousness. :)

 Ariana was such a lovely baby to watch. She was fascinated by the pups. They were not too happy that she was there as they had to stay in their cage 90% of the evening. They really wanted to play with her. Ariana especially loved Ivy, she would laugh every time Alex brought Ivy over and  Ivy would lick his face. This was Alex's first time ever watching a child. Growing up in a large family and being the oldest I have grown up raising kids. So to see his reactions and be able to teach him the bare basics was pretty rad.

Alex showing Ariana how to play games on his phone.

First time ever feeding a baby. "How do you know when she's done?" Melted my heart.

Megatron sneaking on top of the couch to meet the little person.

Ivy was a little too excited. We didn't let her near the baby unsupervised but she watched Ariana's every move.