Big News!

I am still behind on blogging about my summer, so I guess I will just jump around as I remember things. While I was in Japan, I remembered that I needed to place my ad in the paper for a nanny. I hate this with a passion. I hate having to find someone else to take care of my kids. Noe and I have been lucky up until now, we have always worked opposite of each other.

Unfortunately, I remembered to call 2 a.m. one night. I knew I couldn't wait any longer or I would miss the deadline for having it start on Saturday, the morning after we got home. I didn't have anything written down so it was pretty comical coming up with my ad. The ad was to run seven days. I was hoping like hell that within the seven days I would be able to find someone that will actually make it through the school year. This time I was going to find someone who had nanny experience. I have learned my lesson and I was not going to go through that again!

When I placed that ad, I didn't fully understand the ramifications of what I had done. The phone started ringing around 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning and NEVER STOPPED RINGING!!!! I was so out of it for the first call that I ended up letting my voicemail pick up the calls the rest of the morning. Then it got too overwhelming. I didn't really know what I wanted to ask them, so I put it off a little longer. After running some errands, I checked my voicemail. I think at that point I had about 25 messages.

Due to the fact that I was half asleep when I posted the ad, I totally forgot to put what side of the valley I live in. That right there might have kept my phone ringing at least half as much! It seemed like everytime I ran an errand, I had 15-20 messages. I have to admit, some were quite comical.

For example, there was one lady who was sweet and sounded like a great candidate. That is, until I mentioned that I had two large cats who are people lovers. At that precise moment I heard a harsh voice telling me they were no longer interested and promptly hung up on me. See, I learned my lesson from last time. I had to mention that I didn't want any smokers, no matter if they could go without one while they were here, and I had to let them know I had cats.

Another lady, who probably would have been wonderful, told me that she was deathly afraid of cats. Who is afraid of cats?! If anyone actually knew my cats, it's quite comical. She told me that it didn't matter if there were 30 cat lovers in a room, the cats always go to her and then she runs out of the room in hysterics. Needless to say, that didn't work out.

Then there was a lady that set up an interview with me, she sounded wonderful. She was a younger grandmother of two straight A students. She had been taking care of her grandchildren, but that had just ended. I was willing to interview anywhere from 20 to 65. I wasn't closing any doors based on age. She told me all about herself, her beliefs, etc. Unfortunately, the morning of her interview, I was not answering the phone again. It also seems that my phone was off the hook, and in the microwave, for over two hours. When I finally found the phone, when this lady was 20 minutes late, I discovered that she had left a message on my voicemail that morning, confirming our appointment. I immediately called her and apologized for not getting back to her sooner and then I asked her if she was on her way. She told me that she would be there in about 30 minutes. That puzzled me, as I made sure that people were closer to me this time. I asked her again where she lived and then when she told me it was like a bell went off in her head. She then asked me what she was meeting me for. When I told her I was one the one that had a nanny job for triplets, this was her response, "SHIT, DAMNIT, oh SHIT! I thought you already filled the job since you didn't call me back this morning. SHIT, DAMNIT, I am on my way to meet up with someone. I could come by tomorrow." I told her that it was fine and I would get back in touch with her that night. Like that really happened! This was NOT the same person, or personality, that had called me the other day. I am so happy I found out this way!

I had a few other good prospects call me and set up appointments, but there was one that I had a feeling would be it. Suzanne has been a nanny for 10 years in California for a total of 3 families. That right there was a big plus, plus! She was selling herself to me the entire time we talked, which was a LONG time. She is very structured and doesn't believe in sitting around and doing nothing. Even when the children were napping, she would find things to clean or organize. Add another plus! The families allowed her to take their children to Disneyland, as well as other outtings. Now, I still won't let them drive my kids around, but it was nice to know others trusted her! She doesn't believe in arm squeezing, hitting, or yelling. She likes to defuse situations and get attention moved on to something else.

When Suzanne was working in California, she was associated with one nanny agency. She had been CPR certified, background was checked, etc. It was great knowing that, that meant that she didn't have any prior history of criminal actions (did I ever write about the first prospect last January?). She gave me the last two families' phone numbers that she had been with for a total of 7 years. Before she even left, I knew I was done looking. I let the voicemail pick up the calls for the rest of the night.

The next morning I called Suzanne's references and they had nothing but positive things to say about her. She loves to read books, she is always teaching the kids something, they have imaginary talks, etc. I wonder if my kids will want me to come home? I promptly called Suzanne and told her that I had filled the position. I guess I should have warned her about my sarcastic sense of humor. I paused a little too long before telling her that she started the following Monday. She immediately gave me crap for scaring her and and then I knew it was the right choice. We should get along just fine!