Second Chances

Around this time last year Jason and I unwittingly volunteered to babysit our niece, Olia. It still stands out in my mind as one of my worst babysitting experiences ever. I made a living in highschool babysitting on the weekends, worked at a YMCA daycamp for 4 summers, had a sister & have been CPR certified more times than I care to admit. I thought I was a well qualified babysitter. Apparently that wasn't enough! Jason and I were sleep deprived, between jobs, homeless, and shellshocked from our recent move to Indiana. To top it all off Olia had only spent a few hours with us when she was 2 months old and at 16 months she was terrified (think deer in the headlights to the Nth degree terrified!) of the strangers standing in her Grandma's living room. And Levi, well for whatever reason he couldn't keep his 6 month old self together. We had two children with huge, round tears pouring from their little eyes for over 2 hours. Relentless tears. Relentless sobs. One terrified little girl. Olia clung to me, wouldn't have anything to do with Jason, and never stopped crying until she saw her dad's truck pull into the driveway. When it was all said and done I swore to Jason that we could never watch Olia again. We were simply in no state of mind to handle that! While we loved our niece, we stunk at juggling the needs of two children! Fortunately time has healed our wounds, we're well rested, and Olia & Levi have a great time together. We decided to give the babysitting a second chance tonight. Of course, from the starting gate we had to show them who was boss. Take note, if we ever watch your child they will spend at least 10 seconds with their head in the corner!

Until Levi says "BOOO!"

Jason and I had a game plan this time around. We weren't about to be caught off guard by these two again! We made cupcakes and of course my sidekick didn't miss out on any of the action.

While Olia was busy playing like a good girl Levi was throwing tongs in my cake mix, tossing dish towels on the floor, and just generally wreaking Levi havoc.

While the cupcakes baked we read stories...

Had an Easter Egg Hunt (don't laugh, it was cheap entertainment)...

Had an egg toss...who would ever put all of their eggs in one basket?!

Once the cupcakes finally cooled off we were able to ice and decorate them. The sprinkles were a huge hit. Olia did a fantastic job decorating the cupcakes and Levi licked the icing right off her fingers!

This picture is so funny to me. I gave Olia sprinkles to put on the cupcakes. She gave some of hers to Levi and almost as if they planned it they hurriedly shoved them in their mouths. I guess I was outfoxed afterall.

The three hours we had with Olia tonight were so much fun for all of us. We were even sad to see her go! When it was all said and done this time around we unanimously decided we could babysit Olia again. Thank goodness for second chances...and a good night's rest!