The Nanny Search Begins... 

Like many working moms out there on maternity leave, there comes a time when you have to go back to work.  For me, I sadly have less than 2 months left... one of the most important tasks I have to do before going back to work is to find a Mary Poppins equivalent of a nanny for Baby R.  Mr. R and I had already decided to find a nanny (versus using daycare) a few months ago. It was a fairly easy choice as there is not a lot of daycare options around us.  And the thought about taking the subways to go to daycare is out of the question. When I was pregnant, I rarely got offered a seat so I can only imagine the horrors of bringing a stroller onto the train during rush hour!!  Once I started talking to friends with nannies, I realized, there is so much to consider regarding the logistics of hiring a nanny:

* Know our work schedules (We both hold fairly demanding jobs. Although it's easy to think we can be home by 6PM everyday, it might be harder to practice in real-life)
* Create list of Job Duties (although this seems clear - take care of Baby R, it really is not.  Do we ask her to bath Baby R? Wash the bottles? Wash her clothes? Clean her toys? Make her food?)
* Create list of optional Job Duties (I have friends who ask their nannies to do light housekeeping while the baby is asleep.  I don't know how I feel about this yet, but perhaps creating a list of optional job duties would be the way to go in tackling some of these non-baby related items)
* Pay package (should we pay off the books? on the books? What kind of vacation times can we offer? Do we offer the nanny all major holidays off with pay?)
* Have a clear set of boundaries, rules (Is TV watching, internet surfing, chatting on the cell phone allowed? How about when the baby is asleep? Can the nanny "hang out" with other nannies? Can they invite other nannies/children into our homes? I must confess, Mr. R and I are both a bit controlling. We definitely don't want to throw a book of rules at the nanny on her first day of work... so this is an area we definitely need to think more about.)
* Discuss our parenting style as so we can find a nanny that is in-line with our style  (this would be easy if we actually know what kind of parenting style we have.  With Baby R being less than 2 months old, we rarely had to think about this. However, since we need a long-term nanny which we want to keep into Baby R's toddler years, we might have to start thinking about this. Do we want someone who is comfortable enforcing discipline & structure or someone laid back?)

Our search for Baby R's nanny starts tomorrow when I interview our first candidate! I am quite nervous about it. I am sure a lot of this anxiety has to do with knowing I need to separate from Baby R soon and I am essentially trying to find someone to replace me! But that's a whole another blog post ....

Will write more about the interview process soon....Wish me luck!