Family, extended family, au pairs… and so much love!

I hope you’ve recognized that our family is a big fan of the au pair program. It has changed our life for the better, in addition to surrounding our kids with even more love, adventure, and culture. Having an au pair also encourages us to explore the beauty in our own city, because we want to give our au pairs a wonderful experience in their year abroad. There are so many more reasons why we love the cultural exchange program, and if you have any questions, I encourage you to get in touch!

Back to the reason for this post.

After the holidays, we had to say farewell (NOT goodbye) to our second Au pair, Sophia. It is truly amazing how much you grow together in a year as a family and as friends. Sophia is now a slow living, minimalist, and I am focusing on less meat and less waste (she’s veggie, going vegan!). That’s not the only thing. As au pair and host parents, you morph into one another and become the same person. It’s evident in our simultaneous replies to the kids where we say the same things. We become the same broken record, saying “calm bodies”, “can you ask nicely”… the list continues.

We had to say goodbye to Sophia, and celebrated with a fancy dinner out at Mt Washington! The skyline of Pittsburgh is gorgeous at night, and it’s the perfect place to celebrate a year in this city!

We look forward in anticipation until the time we can go visit Soph’s family in Austria. Until then, we’ll continue to video chat and send cards, while hoping the snail mail is delivered to her small town address! (our track record isn’t the greatest…)

While Soph was in her travel month, my parents came into town for a week to help us with childcare as we transitioned and met our third au pair! (Three and a half years?! How quickly time flies!) Jelly is from South Africa, and we’re so excited to welcome her into our home.

Jelly has been thrown into a host of crazy things immediately upon arrival. We had to list our home for sale, just a week after she arrived, and she helped me whip through the house to get it spotless (and inhumanly clean) for the photos!

As with our prior two au pairs, she’s in for a year of wild, chaos, and adventure! I’m sure she figured that out early with all the family visitors we had over the winter!

We are so thrilled she joined our family and cannot wait to see what the year ahead has in store!

Time flies, we best get planning our adventures!

Welcome to our home Jelly!

Related Posts: