Do you guys read Indigo Girl? If you don't, then you totally should. I think I've been reading her for over five years now (OMG) and I never get tired of her posts. Whats amazing about her is that she almost always responds through email to my comments. I rarely even respond in comment form to my comments so that is major impressive to me.
Her most recent post is about bfing and weaning which could not have come at a better time for me because of my thoughts about totally being DONE with bfing myself. Her post though made me think about it and maybe I can just stick it out a little longer. Im at a stage now where the feedings are supposed to decrease and the solids should increase (although Josiah has not gotten THAT memo yet). If I can get Josiah to not wake up 3+ times each night to feed then I think I can keep my sanity and see this thing through. And as Linda pointed out in her response email, formula is expensive and I hate the idea of spending money on it.
On to other topics though, I am in the process of hiring a babysitter. I've always used family members in the past but they have all come to points in their lives where they are no longer available. My problem though is that this is seriously hard. Most of the people that have responded to my ad are only available in the evenings (which I do need) but my biggest issue is for day time. This week I need someone to watch one or more kids on Monday afternoon for two hours and on Tuesday afternoon for three. I cant guarantee any hours at this point because it is totally a casual thing, but that is causing issues in just finding someone.
Then there are the considerations for how much experience/references I need from them. I've had very young people respond to my ad but I don't think I would feel comfortable leaving them alone with 4 kids, especially one of them being only 6 months old. Then there are the people that respond with messages that barely make sense. Do you really think Im going to trust you with my kids if you cant even put a sentence together?
Oh! And how much should I pay? Im trying to keep a flat rate that wont change whether there is one child or all four but I have no idea at all what that should be. Minimum wage around here is something like $8.50 I think? So using that as a guideline, what would you pay?
Try and hold on the bfeeding! I know I'm not in your shoes yet, but a big part of me trying will be for the cost savings (on top of the nutriants for the baby too).
ReplyDeleteGood luck finding a sitter. I have no idea what to suggest for pay, sorry!
It's so funny I saw your job request while looking through other peoples looking for sitters too, almost responded before I knew it was yours. Ross with crappy situations at work and I having a hard time finding an "actual" job seems as though the only ones I should look at is being a sitter.
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