I need a babysitter - WWYD?

Married2MrWright

Okay, long story short on very short notice (less than 5 hours) my mom has flown back to CA yesterday to help my brother...she got a one-way ticket and said she thought she might be back on Sunday.

Well, I talked to her today and she said she probably won't be back until sometime next week...

She watches Libby on Mondays from 1-4 p.m. so J can go to class (I don't get off work until 3:30 p.m.) and next Wednesday I have an all-day meeting that goes until at least 6 p.m. and J has to be to work by 4:30 p.m.  So...

We need to find a babysitter.  Problem is...we really don't know anyone here.  J has two coworkers who watch babies and he's going to ask both of them (one of them was our petsitter while we were OOT last month) but I am freaking out here...if neither of them can do it...I need to have a plan...

Should I stress about finding a sitter or just plan to leave work early on Monday and have J take the day off next Wednesday?  WWYD?  It's times like these that I wish we still lived in CA.

mrspresley

first, take a deep breath! i know that finding someone you can trust to take care of your LO is very stressful, but this will all work out...i know how you feel b/c we were given about 2 week's notice to find a replacement sitter for miss A when ours moved due to her DH losing his job

definitely see if the coworkers can watch her...if not you have a few options

1) ask around. surely one of your coworkers who is a mom has to know of a good babysitter..... esp if one uses one only part time, you could see if they are available for those hours

2) post on your local bump board. i'm sure you can find a trusted sitter there. it's only a few hours on monday and then a full day on Wed so even if Libby isn't used to them and has an "off" day at least it's only one!

3) if all of the above fails i am sure you could find someone at a site like care.com or sittercity.com - there is also a site out there where you swap babysitting services w/ another local mom so neither of you pays out of pocket (but the name escapes me right now).....but i am sure that either J's coworkers or option 1 or 2 will work out for you!

even if his coworkers can do it, i'd probably in the next few weeks find someone who can be a back up, just in case something like this happens again in the future.  not only that, but it's also good for Libby to start getting used to different people caring for her at times.

GL, i am sure you will find someone!!

inamra

I was gonna suggest J's #1 suggestion above. In addition, I know you've had your frustrated moments with the ILs but I remembered you saying that you guys moved closer to them, so would it be an option for them to watch her? Otherwise, you do have great suggestions from J already and if all else fails or if you're uncomfortable having someone new watch her, I'd just do what you mentioned and leave work early and have YH take Wed off. It's such a rare situation that your mom isn't here and you and YH both can't watch her so I'd think it's okay to move your schedules around this one time.

redshoegirl

Jaime said everything I was going to say.

Don't stress, it WILL work out! (((hugs)))

myday1708

Yeah, I was going to mention sittercity.com also. Have heard good things about them. Jaime has lots of great suggestions, I'm sure one of them will work?

You also should both alert work that you *may* have to leave early or miss a day due to a child care emergency. These things happen to everyone, so you would not be the first. Don't worry, it'll work out!

Silver lining: Going forward, you'll have a back-up plan in place for emergency child care!!

MrsNJSwimmer

so glad it worked out!  I just read on your weekly checkin that you found someone.