Nanny Shopping

So... I started my maternity leave this week. It has been really great getting stuff done around the house, not to mention the errands outside of the house, and catching a little nap here and there!

We also began the process of finding someone to take care of the baby when I go back to work. This has been a very hard decision for us, and we have decided a few different things, a few different times. I have always wanted to go back to work after having a baby, because I love my job, and the peope that I work with. Not to mention the fact that now is not the time to walk away from a teaching job in California. When I first moved down here I had a hard time finding a job (California will not let you teach without a California Credential, I had an Idaho Credential) and I was really miserable not working. But, then when I got pregnant I realized that if I was going to go back to work that meant that I would have to leave our son with a stranger, because we don't know that many people who live out here, and none that watch babies. Will didn't like the idea of someone else raising our kids and neither did I. So, for a while we thought that I was going to share a contract and only teach one or two days a week. This seemed like a great idea until we realized we would all be all but cutting out my income and adding so many more expenses. We probably could have just scraped by, but I know the stress of watching every penny would have taken its toll on us.

We didn't know what to do! Then Will's Aunt Becky called us and said that a long time patient from the dentist's office that she works at had just moved out here and was looking for a new famly to nanny for. We met with her last night. She is in her sixties, she's been watching children for a few years now, and has adult children of her own. She is very sweet, she brought pictures of the other families whose children she had been watching in OC. I thought that showed that she had a real relationship with the kids, and they weren't just a job to her. It's going to cost us an arm and a leg to have her come here everyday, but I think it's worth it. Liam will be her only priority, not just a baby at a day care center that might get laid in a crib for most of the day.

I still need to call her references, and we might interview some other people just to make sure we are going with the best possible option, but knowing that we have a good choice is a huge weight off my shoulders.