First Baby Sitter
We have had our first baby sitting experience with Finn.
M.'s family is in town for the adoption and we need to get our house clean. Ha. Double ha. It's impossible to clean with a baby.
So we came up with a rather brilliant plan. Have our post partum doula come over and watch Finn for a couple hours and M. and I will attack the house full force. After all, Finn loves Lily and we love Lily, so it's a perfect combination.
Except it wasn't.
We forgot that Finn hasn't seen Lily since he was a month old. Three months in baby-land is an eternity. And instead of spending time with Finn and Lily, M. and I kind of dumped him on her so we could make the most of our two hours.
Enter Mr. Crabby Pants.
I suspect Finn didn't really understand why a stranger was taking care of him when mommies were in the next room. He only calmed down when M. and I were finally able to spend time with him together, and only after we had what has become our nightly Hour of Fun before bedtime.
My dreams of leaving Finn with a sitter are seeming a little more daunting. I refuse to give up. Time to Plan B it.
I think we are going to find someone who will come and watch Finn for a couple hours weekly or bi-weekly so we can clean house. Instead of dumping, we'll spend a couple weeks all together so Finn knows said person is okay with mommies. THEN we'll cut him loose.
posted by Sacha @ 8:53 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
We clean with the baby. All we do is have one of us clean while the other watches the baby OR we use things like the Jumperoo. I always vacuum the entire house on my own and it's no problem if you put the baby in different things that she can enjoy and can't get out of. You can clean if you do it in steps--not the entire house all at once.
Riley rarely makes strange with people. Only if she's overtired or just woke up from a nap. A lot of the time, she's all smiles for other people. And I constantly let others hold her because I want her to very socialized. I don't think I trust many people to babysit her though. Family, of course. And our neighbour. But those are people she sees often enough that they know her and she knows them. I am more concerned with them knowing her and knowing what she likes--how she likes to be put to sleep and that sort of thing.
We have only had her babysat for short periods of time but she has done well each time. I admit to wondering how she's doing and making a call to check-in. :P I never thought I'd be like that but after spending 24/7 with her for the most part, it is weird leaving her with someone.
I remember it was always harder to babysit when the parents were within earshot/viewing range. I found that if we left the apartment even to just go around the block, that the ababy in question would cry a bit but then be distracted by the sights and sounds of the streets. Sometimes if a known friend/family was available, they would join us.
And another thought instead of paying a BABYSITTER you could pay a HOUSECLEANER!! I don't know how much $$ sitters charge in your area... but in Texas I'd pay a sitter 7 an hour and a house cleaner 10 an hour. It's worth the extra three bucks for me. Then you could use sitters for more fun stuff like date night or something. :)
i was thinking exactly what the last commenter was thinking. we pay someone to clean the house because between the baby and the work, somethings got to give and cleaning is the least fun so that's what we've decided to 'contract out'. we also have a sitter (a medical school student) over for a few hours per week while we're in the house (we both work from home) so it's good to have someone else interact with ryan while we're around so she gets use to it and we can spend some focued time working. no one else has ever put her to sleep though, (nap or night)in her 20 months of life, probably need to address that too at some point...
Housekeepers here are $20 - $30 an hour. I think I could find a sitter for $10-$15. I know, it's crazy!
I came to say what NYCPhoenix said: the times we have had a person IN the house to watch Julia while we clean, get ready, study, whatever have NOT worked well. Julia is unwilling to accept someone else's authority when mamas are within range. We've found it best to send the person watching her on a walk to the park or something if we need someone to watch Julia while we are still home.
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