Finding a Reliable Baby Sitter
I just can't seem to keep a fucking sitter. And it's not like Bella is a difficult child!! She has her days and moments, but all kids do.
The first sitter we had, Bree, was great. She was a friend of mine from Denver. She married a Navy guy and came out here to SD. They had a son in February 2005, Achilles (yup, named for the movie Troy). She watched Bella for a couple/few weeks and all was good... until we found out he was getting new orders and going to GUAM. So much for that. She watched Bella from early January through early/mid-February.
The second sitter, Naomi, came recommended to me through a girl I worked with while still active duty. Naomi was the girl's neighbor and was actually recommended through her sitter. Things were working out great! She had no problem with the fact that I could only pay her $150/two weeks (my friend didn't seem to mind this at all, either). She had four kids, three in school. At this point, Bella was still small enough that she didn't move around or do much. She tells me at the beginning (or middle) of May that she can't watch Bella starting June 1. "...my kids aren't doing well enough in school and I need to be there with them when they get home to do their homework, as it is, one has to do summer school... yada yada." Yeah, whatever, you just don't want to watch her anymore. Just fucking tell me! As it happened, the last week she watched Bella was also my last week at the temp job I was working.. so no money to pay her. Granted, my husband had left for a deployment, but he was still getting normal pay (it hadn't taken affect yet, the extra pay one gets for deploying), so I barely had enough to make some of the important bills. She'd stop by my house once a week, asking for what I owed her. One week, all I had was $20; I stopped by her house saying, "Look, this is all the money I have to my name; go ahead and take it and I'll give you the rest when he gets paid, since I have no work right now." She goes on to say that she needs it for bills, etc. and I'm thinking, okay where were you before I came along and started giving you $150 every two fucking weeks?! I finally paid her and have washed my hands of her.
I got the job at Babies R Us in July and MIL watched Bella. No problems there.
And then, this last one,Heather. I was going back to work, full time, doing admin work; being contracted out to a DoD university. We needed another sitter, because MIL had gotten a job working at Red Envelope for seasonal work, starting in November. Cool beans for her. I was talking to an SD Mom and she lives just up the street from where I work. She has a 15 month old son of her own. I asked her if she'd be able to watch Bella, dropping her off around 6:45 every morning and being there between 3:25 and 3:30 every afternoon. I told her what I'd be able to pay her and she talked it over with her husband. She said, sure let's give it a trial run for a week. Trial run went really well. Bella and Robbie got along FAMOUSLY. Then, Bella gets sick (totally random) last Wednesday. No fever, just not feeling very well. She threw up all over her blankets and stuff in the pack and play (which the new sitter provided; I offered our pack and play). I take half the day off from work. Tuesday this week, she has a major poopie blowout. We call it "butt explosion." She said it was green and that green poop is a sign of a viral infection. Okay, whatever. She had green veggies for lunch the day before; that seems to be a pretty good explanation. Besides, Bella has at least 2-3 butt explosions a week. This is normal. She had to be put in the change of clothes I supplied. Then yesterday. She throws up once, not happy. She throws up a second time, getting it all over her clothes, the blankets and the pack and play. Heather tells me she doesn't feel comfortable watching Bella until she sees a doctor. I don't like going to the doctor for the sniffles or a tummy ache; I self-medicate. I wasn't about to take Bella to the doctor because she wasn't feeling well. Besides, all the doc would say is to keep giving her Tylenol every four hours, try to keep her hydrated (picked up Gerber LiquiLite last night) and make sure she gets plenty of rest. No biggie. She also sprung on me yesterday morning that, "...due to personal and financial reaons/issues, I can't watch Bella after the first." Personal reaons/issues (I don't remember exactly how she worded it) made me think, "Oh okay, the Christian is having trouble watching a Pagan child of a Pagan mother." Financial reasons/issues makes me think, "Umm, as far as I knew, you weren't getting any $150 before I started paying you, so what's the fucking deal?"
So, I came home, had my ATP meeting, vented to them (lovely ladies, they are) and once MIL was off the phone, told her, briefly, what happened. Also told hubby what happened. We all agreed it was just a cop-out to not watch Bella anymore (she just didn't want to) so MIL will watch her during the interim of finding a new sitter (I think I know of one) and her getting another job (she left RE; they reprimanded her for using slang.. apparently saying "You're totally welcome," is slang.. she also forgot to sign out of ONE program and they reprimanded her for that.. she's still a new employee.. no "strike" system? Fuckers.).
Why is it so fucking hard to find a good sitter? I know I can't afford much but SHIT PEOPLE!! If $150 isn't going to be enough to cover any extra expenses you have, let me fucking know ahead of time! Also, if you just don't want to watch Bella anymore, just fucking tell me!!! Don't give me some fuckng roundabout reason why you "can't" watch her when you just don't "want" to watch her. I sent Heather a text message last night saying not to worry about the rest of the month, MIL is going to watch her (good for nothing sitter) until I find a new one. Besides, she gave me a list of days she couldn't watch Bella.. it's practically the rest of the fucking month ANYWAY. So, I'm stopping by her house after work today to drop off $40 (keep the change, sweetheart) and to pick up the never-watched Baby Einstein DVDs (which I paid about $100 for and they're never watched anymore). Maybe they'll be watched now after music videos are over, since there are some others now that Bella could watch, or at least listen to, now that she's older.
I kind of feel better. Thanks for listening.
The first sitter we had, Bree, was great. She was a friend of mine from Denver. She married a Navy guy and came out here to SD. They had a son in February 2005, Achilles (yup, named for the movie Troy). She watched Bella for a couple/few weeks and all was good... until we found out he was getting new orders and going to GUAM. So much for that. She watched Bella from early January through early/mid-February.
The second sitter, Naomi, came recommended to me through a girl I worked with while still active duty. Naomi was the girl's neighbor and was actually recommended through her sitter. Things were working out great! She had no problem with the fact that I could only pay her $150/two weeks (my friend didn't seem to mind this at all, either). She had four kids, three in school. At this point, Bella was still small enough that she didn't move around or do much. She tells me at the beginning (or middle) of May that she can't watch Bella starting June 1. "...my kids aren't doing well enough in school and I need to be there with them when they get home to do their homework, as it is, one has to do summer school... yada yada." Yeah, whatever, you just don't want to watch her anymore. Just fucking tell me! As it happened, the last week she watched Bella was also my last week at the temp job I was working.. so no money to pay her. Granted, my husband had left for a deployment, but he was still getting normal pay (it hadn't taken affect yet, the extra pay one gets for deploying), so I barely had enough to make some of the important bills. She'd stop by my house once a week, asking for what I owed her. One week, all I had was $20; I stopped by her house saying, "Look, this is all the money I have to my name; go ahead and take it and I'll give you the rest when he gets paid, since I have no work right now." She goes on to say that she needs it for bills, etc. and I'm thinking, okay where were you before I came along and started giving you $150 every two fucking weeks?! I finally paid her and have washed my hands of her.
I got the job at Babies R Us in July and MIL watched Bella. No problems there.
And then, this last one,Heather. I was going back to work, full time, doing admin work; being contracted out to a DoD university. We needed another sitter, because MIL had gotten a job working at Red Envelope for seasonal work, starting in November. Cool beans for her. I was talking to an SD Mom and she lives just up the street from where I work. She has a 15 month old son of her own. I asked her if she'd be able to watch Bella, dropping her off around 6:45 every morning and being there between 3:25 and 3:30 every afternoon. I told her what I'd be able to pay her and she talked it over with her husband. She said, sure let's give it a trial run for a week. Trial run went really well. Bella and Robbie got along FAMOUSLY. Then, Bella gets sick (totally random) last Wednesday. No fever, just not feeling very well. She threw up all over her blankets and stuff in the pack and play (which the new sitter provided; I offered our pack and play). I take half the day off from work. Tuesday this week, she has a major poopie blowout. We call it "butt explosion." She said it was green and that green poop is a sign of a viral infection. Okay, whatever. She had green veggies for lunch the day before; that seems to be a pretty good explanation. Besides, Bella has at least 2-3 butt explosions a week. This is normal. She had to be put in the change of clothes I supplied. Then yesterday. She throws up once, not happy. She throws up a second time, getting it all over her clothes, the blankets and the pack and play. Heather tells me she doesn't feel comfortable watching Bella until she sees a doctor. I don't like going to the doctor for the sniffles or a tummy ache; I self-medicate. I wasn't about to take Bella to the doctor because she wasn't feeling well. Besides, all the doc would say is to keep giving her Tylenol every four hours, try to keep her hydrated (picked up Gerber LiquiLite last night) and make sure she gets plenty of rest. No biggie. She also sprung on me yesterday morning that, "...due to personal and financial reaons/issues, I can't watch Bella after the first." Personal reaons/issues (I don't remember exactly how she worded it) made me think, "Oh okay, the Christian is having trouble watching a Pagan child of a Pagan mother." Financial reasons/issues makes me think, "Umm, as far as I knew, you weren't getting any $150 before I started paying you, so what's the fucking deal?"
So, I came home, had my ATP meeting, vented to them (lovely ladies, they are) and once MIL was off the phone, told her, briefly, what happened. Also told hubby what happened. We all agreed it was just a cop-out to not watch Bella anymore (she just didn't want to) so MIL will watch her during the interim of finding a new sitter (I think I know of one) and her getting another job (she left RE; they reprimanded her for using slang.. apparently saying "You're totally welcome," is slang.. she also forgot to sign out of ONE program and they reprimanded her for that.. she's still a new employee.. no "strike" system? Fuckers.).
Why is it so fucking hard to find a good sitter? I know I can't afford much but SHIT PEOPLE!! If $150 isn't going to be enough to cover any extra expenses you have, let me fucking know ahead of time! Also, if you just don't want to watch Bella anymore, just fucking tell me!!! Don't give me some fuckng roundabout reason why you "can't" watch her when you just don't "want" to watch her. I sent Heather a text message last night saying not to worry about the rest of the month, MIL is going to watch her (good for nothing sitter) until I find a new one. Besides, she gave me a list of days she couldn't watch Bella.. it's practically the rest of the fucking month ANYWAY. So, I'm stopping by her house after work today to drop off $40 (keep the change, sweetheart) and to pick up the never-watched Baby Einstein DVDs (which I paid about $100 for and they're never watched anymore). Maybe they'll be watched now after music videos are over, since there are some others now that Bella could watch, or at least listen to, now that she's older.
I kind of feel better. Thanks for listening.
:( I wish you were home. You know I'd watch her in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the childcare buisness is terrible. No matter what angle you are going at it from. You're either sticking her in a center that has constant turnover and classsrooms out of ratio, or your constantly seraching for someone who will watch her that gives a shit.
I feel for ya hun, I really do. Get home quick so you can have better options <3
I understand the sick thing, most center will send her home if she throws up for 24 hrs. I would do the same if there was another child. But giving you notice right after that is just insane.
BTW...You send what you can, and let me know if you need money for shipping. I can paypal it to you <3. I'm going to register for the travel system and the pack n' play. I have a crib already in the nursery, but I was hoping he could sleep in the pack n' play in our room for the first few months if it was one of the nicer ones.
Love ya!