Nervous Nanny

By far the most challenging aspect of being a working mother, at least for me, is finding, and keeping the right child care. When my twins were in utero we started looking for appropriate places to leave them during the work day. Neither of us had the luxury of parents available to watch them for free so we reluctantly began the process of visiting potential daycare facilities and providers. What a disappointing venture that was. Other peoples' homes terrified me. From large unanchored mirrors screaming "fall on my child" to one woman who didn't know she could no longer put a baby in a drop side crib, each home was a plethora of one potential hazard after another. On the flip side any place we fell in love with cost the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment. I ended up taking a longer leave of absence than I originally planned so I put the daycare hunt on hold and started looking again when my kids were 5 months old. We decided that, although daycare facilities would be great, we just couldn't afford it. I ended up placing ads on Internet nanny/ babysitting sites. After a couple of not so stellar applicants we found our winner. Months later we still have our care giver and she adores our children, however the pitfalls of relying on one person are many. We have become subject to her schedule and constant need to leave early or show up late. Luckily I have a good friend who is between jobs and always available to fill in, but sadly I don't know how much longer our current babysitter is going to last. My husband is interviewing for more and jobs and something is bound to come through soon, which will take away the flexibility he currently has (I have no flexibility at all). I may be on the hunt again, and paying a second mortgage after all.