Nanny (Search) 911!

Namastè!

So...I'll be the first to admit, my whelms are a bit overed lately. I wasn't ready for the "2 under 3" life and it's scaring me. Not that I can't take care of them, and not that Hubby doesn't help out immensely...

...our days just feel packed to the gills. And not in a good way.

All parents count down to bedtime. It's like a rite of passage.

Lately bedtime has become less of a time for me to catch up with myself and more of a time to finish all the chores and honey-dos I didn't get around to prior due to wrangling kids.

So...

I've decided I probably need a nanny.

Not to shirk my responsibilities, but to have someone in the trenches with me while Hubby is out bringing home the proverbial bacon. (Or in his case, salmon, as he's a staunch pescatarian who has never kissed bacon-y goodness a day in his beautiful life.)

I haven't even decided exactly how I will find this nanny. I know I'll need a background check and references. Ideally they will speak Tamil, but any other language in addition to English would be phenomenal. CPR and first aid are a must. While I won't be friending them in social media, I'll want a glance at theirs to see what kind of things they post. (Hopefully they would be game to guest on my blog sometimes!) I'll also have to meet them for a non-nannying lunch to make sure our personalities mesh, as I'll be right there with them each day.

I'm not even sure if I'd want her to live-in. I imagine she'd want to go home and escape my crazy family after finishing her shift! Would a nanny like living with us? Would they care to be part of our 24-hour life or just the 9-to-5 drag? I wouldn't know how to even broach the subject except to ask outright.

I'm terrified by nanny horror stories, but I feel pretty confident because my nanny would be working alongside me. She would never be without my guidance, or help. She's not being hired to replace me, just to assist me.

I'm hoping I'll find the right fit for us before our next trip.

I'm also battling a little guilt--why should I have a nanny when women have raised and reared entire broods for centuries without help and sometimes without even their mate?!

But then I think again and it's, why shouldn't I have a little help, so I can really do this mom thing the way I always envisioned it?! Who's stopping me? Who's gonna check me?

Because I come from the humblest of beginnings, I am careful about just blowing money or splurging unnecessarily. Hubby Namastè and I are comfortable. It won't break the bank, and he's suggested a nanny before. (BAD timing--our son was a newborn and I was beyond sensitive: I felt like he was insinuating maybe I wasn't so good at the housewife thing! [He wasn't.])

I know I can't live life to please others. And honestly, who wouldn't want me to do what's best for our tribe?! Certainly not anyone we want around.

Ah, decisions.

I'm doing the groundwork now, looking into tax filings and all that. (I won't just be shoving our nanny a few crumpled bills each week.) I wanna approach this like I would any other hiring, except I have to be waaay more thorough because I've never trusted another soul to help with the kids except select family.

Namastè!

-- Tayè K.