To Do

As you know, I now have a lot of well-needed and overdue free time. And this morning I got a chance to do something that I've wanted to do for almost a year - spent some time with daughter at school -- (I know you thought I got to sleep in or go to the spa or something exciting - but this was a great accomplishment for me).

Daughter's school has a web-cam so I can peak in on her at any time of the day. I love this amenity and I quite often log-in during the day...you know...just to check in. Anyway, over the past 2 months or so I found that I wasn't even able to do that so one of the first things that I decided to do was spend a little time in class with her.

Her teachers were very welcoming and comfortable with me being there but I was a distraction to daughter and her classmates - they are not accustomed having a parent in the classroom beyond 9:00 a.m. So, I watched them eat, I danced, and did circle time and learned about fruit and shapes and colors and emotions, and I sat with them as they made fruit salad. It was fun -- but quite exhaisting and I only spent a little over one hour. Yes...I said one hour!!! Their hour was jammed-packed with activities so I can only imagine what else they do during the day.

I was so happy that I was able to see her interact with her teachers and her classmates and I was even more thrilled to see how much she's learning at school. I must say that I have a greater appreciation for her teachers because I know I couldn't do what they did for even 15 minutes.

So, I can check one thing off my list. Eventually I'll get to the bottom of the list ("Find a job") but for now, I'm taking my time getting through all the things that I've wanted to do for the past few years -- okay, maybe months.

Now..on to deep cleaning my house!

Fretting Over Your Nanny's Holiday Bonus?

Check out my post over at DC Metro Moms Blog.

A Modern-Day Fairytale

ONCE UPON A TIME...there was a family with two full-time working parents and two wonderful little girls. Here is what happened to us 2 weeks ago:

Saturday: Old nanny quits without notice.

Sunday: We experience a range of feelings beginning with panic and ending with rage.

Monday: Daddy stays home from work with the girls. They think it's Christmas.

Tuesday: I stay home with the girls. They decide to play Drive Mommy Crazy. All day. It's fun.

Wednesday: Daddy stays home from work. And "manages to clean the entire house and make dinner." Goody for you dear. We interview a potential nanny. We like her but, in addition to moving in with us, she wants and arm and two legs.

Thursday: I stay home with the girls. Hubby can't understand how come I couldn't clean the house and have dinner ready. Oh I could have dear. I just didn't feel like it. We had much more fun eating popsicles in the pool. We interview 2 more nannies. We really like one of them. Things are looking up.

Friday: Hubby stays home with the girls. Realizes that Wednesday was an anomaly. The house is a mess and we order pizza for dinner. My sister comes to town to help us out with the girls. She rocks. We interview 2 more nannies. Well, only one shows up. We like the one that came. But she can't start for a month because she wants to give her current family ample notice. What a concept. Oh well, that's ok. We like the nanny from Thursday.

Saturday morning: The nanny from Friday calls. She wants to know if the position is still available. She told her current family that she had an interview. The dad got upset and put her out of the house (she was a live-in). She needs a job asap. Oh and, in order to maintain her visa, she will have to attend class 2 nights a week. At a college that is 40 minutes away from our house. And she has no car.

Saturday afternoon: We decide that it makes more sense to go with the nanny from Thursday. She'll watch the girls, cook and clean and she won't need to live-in because she doesn't live far away. And she has a car. And can communicate in English. Which, after the week of interviews we just had, apparently are attributes rare in nanny-land.

Saturday evening: We hire the nanny from Thursday. We wish the nanny from Friday good luck. She is staying with her cousin until she finds a new family. I feel better knowing that she is not on the street. I ply myself with sangria. I deserve it.

Sunday: We are so nervous about the new nanny that we can't sleep. We consider downsizing our home so that we can afford for me to stay at home. We consider moving (again) to be close to family in order to avoid situations just like these.

Monday morning: The new nanny starts. We love her. The girls love her. My sister loves her. The nanny (re)organizes the laundry room and dusts. Everyone is happy.

God answers prayer. But we knew that.

THE END.

Roller coaster ride

I've been on a roller coaster ride ever since my last post and that's why I've been M.I.A.

I shared with you in my last post that my nanny quit - right! Despite my husband's wishes, I asked her to stay another week to buy us some time to figure out our situation. Despite his wishes, I also asked her to stay on with us. Notwithstanding my pleas, she still left. I'm still not absolutely sure what the real problem is/was but it is what it is (although I believe that there is something in her past that she was not divulging that made her so paralyzed with fear that DD would get hurt). Anyway, her last day was Friday.

On Wednesday, I interviewed an older lady that was great. She was a bit older, but she seemed full of energy and spunk. She was scheduled to start yesterday (Monday). Saturday morning I get a call from her informing me that she had just injured herself and would not be able to start on Monday, but that she would send her niece to fill in. I'm a little assured, but still weary about what that meant for us. Her niece meets with us - we could not communicate at all. She didn't speak much English and there is no way that we would feel comfortable leaving DD with someone who was unable to communicate with us.

So, it's Saturday morning and we have no care for DD for Monday morning. We're frantic, but keeping it under control (I was pretty proud of myself, I must add). We finally arrange for a friend's mom to come in yesterday and today - but that plan isn't finalized until Sunday afternoon around 5:00 p.m.

So, I am frantically calling the rest of my 356 child development centers in DC, as well as responding to nanny ads all day yesterday. Finally, I find one center that's nearby and that has an opening, but I can't get an appointment to take a tour etc. until next Wednesday. Pray that this place is not in the basement of a building, where the teachers don't talk to the kids, or where I would be fearing for DD's safety. I'm praying that this works out because my goodness, it's really been very difficult to find child care.

I wish I knew to add her name to wait lists when I was pregnant; and I wish I was more diligent thereafter in heeding my friends' advice to start looking into schools, daycare when she was still at home with me. It's been a tough lesson learned/learning. But it sure has been an up and down ride. I'll let you know how this works out.

We're in a pickle!!!!!

Justice Fergie and blogger world...there must be something in the air here in the D.C. area. I, too, am in a similar situation. My nanny gave me her 2-week notice on Monday and I've been debilitated ever since. This week was a particularly hectic week at work for both myself and DH (grammatical error - who knows?), so it has been hard to even focus on where to start looking for a new nanny.

Here's the story. When our nanny started back in January, DD fell off her bike and hit her head. Of course there was a huge bump and a bruise. It was difficult for me and DH to handle because she had never fallen before and this was her first bruise - the tough part was that she had just spent the first year of her life with me and nothing (except her falling off the bed at seven months) had ever happened. So within the nanny's first month of the with DD we had this incident. Then about 2 or 3 days after, DD fell and scraped her knee.

We accepted that she was at that stage where she had just started to walk and was still quite clumsy and accidents were inevitable. DH always points out however that although accidents happen while she's with us - there have been no bruises or serious injuries.

So, Monday afternoon, DD who was deliriously tired because she is teething and did not nap, jumped off the sofa chasing the kitten and bumped her head on the coffee table. She is bruised a little - nothing too serious. It was a little black and blue, but nothing that a little Iodex couldn't heal. The nanny is absolutely distraught. I believe that she was very remorseful that DD had sustained another injury while she was at home with her. Then she dropped the bomb - she said that she didn't think that she could keep up with DD anymore and was too afraid of another injury occurring and that she wanted to quit - for DD's safety.

I thought she was over-reacting and asked her to think about it. Anyway, 2 days later, I asked her whether she had given her resignation any more thought and she said no. So, I figured what the he!! .... you're really just going to quit!!!!!!!!!!!! What am I supposed to do now?!?!?!?!

The nanny sincerely loves DD and DD loves the nanny very much. I trust the nanny and I believe that she takes good care of DD. DH however believes that we should not beg the nanny to stay because if she believes that she can't keep up with DD then the chances of another injury are high.

So, we're in a pickle right about now. We have one week to find a replacement. One week!!!!! DH wants to explore some daycare centers, but I know that that's not going to work out for us because we both work crazy hours and most daycare centers close at 6 p.m. on.the.dot!!!!

One week....one week. Let's hope that something works out for us. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

5 Days and Counting

So. I have never been the type of person that hasn't been able to sleep. For as long as I can remember, as soon as my head hits the pillow I am dead to the world. Don't get me wrong. Of course I've learned how to completely function without 1.5 hours of sleep because well, you know I had two babies and that's just part of the job description. But I have to say that ever since Giggles started sleeping through the night, and but for the occasional nocturnal interruption by Chatterbox, I've totally gotten used to getting a full night's rest. Until last week.


Last week was the bearer of some particularly stressful news. And no, it wasn't the news about poor old Paris having to tough it out without her Sidekick for 45 days - the bad news was that Nini is moving because she got the opportunity to purchase a single family home. And of course, ordinarily when someone buys a home you are elated for them and excited and supportive and you can't wait to visit with a stylish little housewarming gift from Pier 1. Ordinarily. Too bad for us, Nini is moving 26 miles away. So no matter which way you look at it, we have to find a new babysitter for our precious little gals. Oh and one more thing. She is moving on Saturday. Yes, yes, that's right - this coming Saturday. Which means we had a grand total of 2 weeks to find a new Nini, and folks that's just impossible.


And I know what you're thinking: "Why didn't she tell you sooner?" "Didn't you know she was house hunting?" And I will woefully answer you: "It's a long story having to do with the nature of her homebuyer's program blah blah blah" and "No." And really, after pulling all of my hair out and chewing my nails to the quick, I've accepted all of that and moved on. But then came the daunting task of trying to find a replacement.


Of course I immediately sent out a Panicked Working Mother Nanny Alert to every acquaintance I knew. My mommy group, my church family, my book club, heck, if you've sent me an email in the last 365 days, you probably got an email from me too. [Sorry "Л.Л. Красовицкий@aol.com" I know you speak Russian and probably are offering the greatest mortgage rates around, but would you be a doll and just check to see if you know anyone who knows a great nanny? m' kay, thanks!] And I hit all of the classifieds and message boards I could think of. Then came the emails, phone calls and interviews. And, OH YEAH, I've had to squeeze in 9-hour workdays, family time and entertaining an out-of-town guest in between all of that. So, I won't bore you with details of it all, but let me just say that the pickins' are slim out there folks. Between shady-looking home daycares, nannies who want a company car and stock options and those who can only communicate with you via hand gestures and their 6-year-old son as a translator, it's rough.


And then the guilt sets in. You know, the Working Mommy Guilt.


Which is the reason why I am up blogging at 5:00am. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I am completely stressed and now that we have exactly 3 days to find Mary Poppins, I am panicked. We finally found someone that we really liked and were very comfortable with, who was great with the girls and very personable. I exhaled. We agreed on her hours and rate over the weekend, informed all of our other prospects that we had found someone, and we invited her over for dinner last night. But she called to cancel at 4pm. Inhale. She found a family that was willing to pay her more $ for less hours. And so. It was all I could do not to burst into tears while holding the phone and nicely diced veggies in the other. In any event, that door closed and, by the way, I still have tons of chicken marinating in a lovely red wine vinegar marinade should any of you be interested.


Ironically, yesterday around 5pm, Nini called to inquire as to whether our offer that she come to our home to care for the kids was still on the table. She says that she is attached to the girls and would like to stay with them as she couldn't bear to have them be watched by complete strangers. And so, while this is good news, I can't help but worry. If we thought that 26 miles was too far to drive to take our girls to her, how can 26 miles not be too far for her to drive to come to us? Will she be on time? What if there's traffic? What about her school-aged kids? Hubby says I am worrying for nothing and I just need to thank God for intervening. And I am thankful, believe me. But I still can't sleep.

I'm working on the eating part though. Archway Molasses Cookies taste pretty good at 5am.

In case you were wondering.

Yeah, Sure.

So I'm looking up day care centers because it's time for Daughter and B to "socialize" and leave the "nest." Especially Daugther, she's almost 2 and half. This is the schedule I got from one of the centers. Makes it sound like a day with a baby is all peachy and rosey, doesn't it?

Tah! They are not fooling anyone, especially me. And if they think that my son will "cuddle into his personal crib," at nap time, they are really in for it. This is the boy who does not sleep, hates his crib with a passion, and will not fall asleep unless you physically put him to sleep.

An infant’s day
7:20 a.m. — After checking your son in at the front desk, you find his favorite caretaker — who has a new toy to share.
8:15 a.m. — Your son shakes a rattle and holds a plush toy while he practices grasping, pinching and holding during special “small muscle development” activities.
9:00 a.m. — Now it’s time to exercise large muscles by crawling, cruising, rolling and rocking.
9:50 a.m. — Removing your bottle from the warming device, your son’s caretaker prepares to feed him a morning snack while other infants nap or play.
10:35 a.m. — Feeding time is through and your son’s eyes are getting heavy. He cuddles into his personal crib.
11:40 a.m. — It’s a perfect day for the playground. Your son giggles as the breeze ruffles his hair.
12:25 p.m. — Sharing stories and reading books develops early literacy and phonics skills. Your son listens raptly to “Goodnight Moon.”
1:30 p.m. — Time with soft feathers, hard blocks and squishy toys deepens his understanding of the world.
2:20 p.m. — Pursing lips and grasping for a bottle, it’s time for his afternoon feeding, then a restful snooze.
3:40 p.m. — Your son’s teacher helps him bop and sway with the other children during Music and Movement Time!
4:45 p.m. — You open the classroom door and see your son investigating his face in a wall mirror. Time to pack up — the end to another fun day at Day Care.