According to a close friend of mine I should be blogging every day, if not twice a day to be a successful blogger…
Let me tell you something, for 9 months of my life I could barely eat twice a day, forget blogging. Being a mom is a full-time job and a half. I don’t know how anybody manages to blog every day when they have a little baby. I know that I would get through the day, and in the evening when I have an opportunity to blog my brain doesn’t really feel like it anymore. All I want to do, is sit and unwind.
That was just one example of many things I want to do, but have no energy to. And now that I am back to working full-time outside of my house I find myself not even having that time to unwind. I leave in a morning, work, come home to do my bed time routine with the little one (snack, bath time, dress her for bed, sing her a song etc.), then eat my dinner if it’s made. Better yet, make my dinner, eat it, prep food for the baby for the next day, prep my lunch, clean up the kitchen, get ready for bed! x 5
CRAZY!!!! if you ask me.
My magic solution was to find an au pair. Hopefully by having someone taking over my child will give me time to at least manage all the errands, and a couple of activities that will make me feel like I’m still alive, and not just a zombie.
Another thing, I have hard time trusting people with my child. Having someone who lives with us would at least give me an idea of who they are, and would allow us to have some control over how they do things and how they are with our daughter. Perhaps it will also help us keep her routine that she is getting comfortable with, and keeping her away from all the germs! Au pair it is!
So since me and my partner have decided that an au pair would be the best childcare option (and the most affordable. Daycare costs $1200+ and doesn’t start until a baby is 18 months old), I went on an au pair hunt. Of course internet was my number one source; specifically aupair world website. It is super easy to use, except for one downside – the membership that costs you almost $60 CAN lasts you only 6 weeks. Then you register online and create your family profile. You can select whichever categories you wish to put in your search credentials for your au pair. I’ve received tones of emails because I didn’t narrow down the countries where my au pair would be coming from; so I had to ignore a lot of them, which was breaking my heart and made me feel extremely rude. The website gives you a great automated message option if you are in a hurry but want to reply. You can’t however simply delete a message. It sends a notification to whomever emailed you and says that you are not interested in their services. Perhaps it is a good way to ensure no one is wasting their time, but it also seems a bit heartbreaking to read those messages.
Anyways. Our journey of finding our Mary Poppins was quite interesting. I had at least 5 candidates that I liked and that met my criteria (education in a childcare field or education field, non-smokers, previous experience with kids, from Europe). They all were super excited to be our au pair, and to be coming to Canada etc. But as things got closer to us having to finalize everything and to buying tickets, the list of candidates became really short. One has decided that instead of June she can only come join us in September. The other one realized that Canada is a little too far away from her home, and so as much as she wants to be our au pair, she won’t be traveling that far. And so on, and so forth….
Finally, there was one girl who agreed to come and rescue me and my little family! She will be joining us in July, unfortunately only for two months. Although, we don’t even know what it would feel like to have someone else living with us in our tiny house. It certainly limits our freedom and alternates our habits, but hopefully other benefits of having someone helping us with our little princess will outweigh all the cons. She is studying to be a kindergarten teacher, she is almost my age (a couple years younger than me), and seems like a very sweet easy going girl.
She already has her ticket (thank goodness). Now we are just waiting to finalize a few things and for her to get a travelling health insurance. Last thing we would want is to end up with ridiculous bills for health care in case anything happens to her (hopefully not, fingers crossed).
I’m looking forward to the summer full of adventure, and great time, as well as some time for myself. I can’t wait to pick up a brush and paint and start painting again.
Stay tuned for all the details on a life with an au pair!
Di
Bundle of Joy 