Rosy cheeks, no warts...

My wife and I have begun the process of finding a nanny. It was not an easy decision to go with a nanny, but the realities of life necessitate we have some kind of child care for BG.

Our first choice, as I'm sure it would be for many couples, would be for one of us to stay home with BG. Unfortunately (well, actually, fortunately) my wife just started a new job that was an incredible opportunity and could not be turned down. So she can't stay home. We could probably get by on just my wife's income from her new position, but we do have student loans and not a whole lot of savings that isn't in retirement accounts. So before I up and quit what is by all means a very good, and stable job in this economy, it seemed prudent to at least build up the ol' nest egg before I become a stay-at-home dad. That wasn't an easy decision, but part of the responsibility of being a parent is making sure we don't default on our mortgage anytime soon, too. I suppose.

We also considered the daycare option. My wife's employer has a daycare center in the building next to hers. It's pretty awesome. For infants, the ratio is one-to-four, which, if you've ever looked at daycares is pretty damn good. The facility is also top notch and about as secure as Fort Knox. Oh, did I mention that it's also incredibly affordable? That means, of course, there is a huge waiting list. So we dilligently put our names in, but BG may well be a toddler before we get in. In the meantime, we looked at other daycare places around here, none of which impressed us much. They all provided competent care, but not *individualized* care. And in the end, we decided that was important to us. So here we are, looking for a nanny.

We're using a couple of referral services. If you've never used one, basically, they get all the potential nanny applicants, screen references, run credit and criminal background checks, check citizenship, and all that in exchange for a fee, of course. Then they send you only qualified candidates who meet your criteria. When one of the services asked what I was looking for, I said, "Someone never cross or cruel, who'll never give our baby gruel, love BG like a daughter and never smell of barley water." There was a long silence on the line. I think it was the language barrier.

The interviewing process has been really weird. Here you are, interviewing people for a job you really want yourself. We've seen Eastern European nannies, Latino nannies, even straight up American nannies. We've seen old nannies and young nannies. We've seen novice nannies and experienced nannies. And I don't know if we're any closer to finding someone. This is going to be much harder than I thought. I'm really not looking forward to going back to work, no matter who we hire.