I Joined the Babysitters Club

You mamas will totally empathize with me...  This week I started the scary process of interviewing babysitters.  Yes, my little one is seven and a half months old.  Yes, I realize many mamas (specifically working mamas) have to figure this out well before this point in their child's life.  But, for right now at least, I'm a stay-at-home-mama and have had the amazing opportunity of being with Bunkey every day of his life, except for a very few days when I was drilling and Hubs was in charge.

I have dreaded this moment.  Since August I have been prepping myself for the time when a sitter would become necessary.  And since then, every time things fell through, I was secretly happy that another month had gone by that I wasn't forced into relinquishing the care of my son to a stranger.  I knew, however, that this would just become harder the longer I waited.  I knew my time was running short and I needed to bite the bullet.  I just needed someone to kick me in the butt and make me do it.

The constant nagging from my mother wasn't working.

Hubs came home last week, however, and mentioned the Supply Corps Ball.  He told me the date.  Yay!  A fancy evening of getting dressed up and eating yummy food and dancing with a handsome man in uniform (yes, that would be my husbanb!).  I was excited!

Then I remembered I'd have to find a sitter and leave my baby.  Wait!  Maybe I can get out of this...turns out the ball is the night before a scheduled drill weekend for me.  And I have to wake up at 4:00am to get to my drill site on time.  Clearly I wouldn't be able to go.  Hubs would have to send our regrets.

Except that then Hubs mentioned that the ball is a fabulous networking opportunity and it would look bad if he wasn't there.  Couldn't I possibly work something out with my command?  I said I'd try, secretly hoping that rescheduling or making up my drill day would simply prove too difficult.

It wasn't.  My boss was on board with me making up the time at home.  I could do make up hours at home for Saturday, cancel my hotel reservation (that the Navy pays for) that night, and only drill on Sunday.  Now I was officially on the hook to attend the ball, and find a sitter!

I remembered that I learned at a required Family Readiness Brief a few years ago that military families qualify for a free membership to SitterCity!  This is a Craig's List for sitters and those looking for sitters.  The sitters are normally older, experienced, and often come complete with references and background checks.  I logged on and posted a quick ad for a sitter I didn't think existed.  I preferred someone older (college-aged), who had experience with infants, non-smoker, their own transportation, relatively close to where we live, and not too expensive.  In the process, I learned that the going rate here is $15-20 per hour!  Yes, I'd pay someone $20 an hour to eat a dinner I prepared, watch my TV, and surf my internet!  I don't think so!  Going to dinner and a movie is expensive enough...now I have to cough up $50 in child care?  The child care center on base with licensed professionals only charges $5 per hour!!!

I really was dreading this.  I knew I'd want to interview people.  And I knew I'd want a trial run to see how things go.  I wasn't looking forward to paying someone and chancing that it may not work out!  I put a note on Facebook asking other moms in my area what they pay, wondering if this truly was the going rate, or if perhaps I had criteria that were jacking up the price.

Facebook responses were 50/50 on what I should expect.  Hubs told me his absolute price ceiling and encouraged me to send messages to a few of the girls that met my criteria.  In addition, a few other girls saw my ad and sent me messages.  I looked at their profiles and a few looked ok.  I figured I'd interview them too.  Can't hurt, right?

Sheesh!

Well, my top choice girl responded right away, and was more than willing to meet with me!

S came over today, right when Bunkey was eating and before his nap!  She addressed both of us, offered to hold him while I wrote things down for her, provided references, gave me her whole background, asked questions, took an interest in my parenting, and generally made me feel super comfortable!  She even offered to do a trial with me here just so I could observe her.  I don't think that'll be necessary, or give a fair evaluation since Bunkey will know I'm here, but it did encourage me!  And, as icing on the cake, she lowered the rate that was advertised on her SitterCity profile, based on the fact that we only have one child who will likely be asleep the entire time we're gone...or at least most of it!

We agreed that I'd call her in a couple of weeks and perhaps she can watch Bunkey while I get my hair done!

I'll keep you posted on how all this goes!

Oh yeah, and check out SitterCity.  They didn't ask for my endorsement, or give me anything for free (the military did that for them!) but I am impressed and will make sure to tell my other mil-mom friends to try the site!