The Nanny Diaries-- Part Two (of Three)

Anyway, post Camille we turned to someone already in our family, Barbara, who had been taking care of my grandmother for several years. Grandma at this point was going back and forth from hospitals to rehabilitation and finally to assisted living during the period of July 2004 until she died in November 2004. Barbara was more than happy to watch over Frances' little angels! She really saved the day and as my work schedule increased, she took on the additional hours.

Barbara definitely falls in to the other category of nanny the "I've raised a child and I will do what I think is best for the girls." She kind of had her own personal touch as to how to do things. Bottom line the girls were well cared for-- they got TONS of cuddles every day and of course were well fed. And magically our houe was cleaner, the laundry was neater-- life was good! And unlike Camille who often had car troubles and other random issues, Barbara was the MOST reliable person I've ever worked with. Never late, in fact she was always early and refused to leave until she had finished what she started. The biggest issue was communication-- she is totally laid back and generally has the same response to everything: "ooooh, OK."

On Easter Sunday, 2005 we got the sad call from her that at her mother had died. At this time I was working 20 hours a week and we were in the process of selling our house. Barbara informed us that she needed to go t Jamaica to deal with her mother's affairs. We totally understood and told to do whatever she needed to do. I guess our assumption that meant, oh, one or two weeks.

To make a very long story short, she didn't not come back until some time in mid JUNE. During that time we sold our house, bought a house, moved, I countined to work 20 hours a week, and my poor mother was watching the girls a minimum of 4 days a week. The worst part was we never really heard from Barbara-- we just continued to leave messages for her daugther who would indicate she had no idea when Barbara was coming back. At a certain point, I belive it was mid-May, we finally put out the call for a new nanny.

I felt bad basically "firing" Barbara but we honestly had no idea when, if ever she was coming back. My mom was at her wits end and even my boss said "we can't have this sort of inconsistency." It was REALLY stressful.