rollover minutes

Between work and the nanny drama I've missed the opportunity to capture the details of Tucker's recent milestones. I've missed some of those milestones too (as well as missing him immensely in general). He has been moving a mile a minute and growing up even faster, despite my best attempts to snuggle him into babyhood forever.

A week ago I would have written about his increased vocabulary, his goos, gaas, and even a garoo here and there. I would have made note of his recent love of toys, countless time spent exploring them, shaking them, add even throwing them. Oh, and the chewing! I would have mention him chewing on his toys, chewing on his fingers, sometimes even trying to chew on both fists at once! Remarkable! Yes, we think my little baby Tucker might even be starting to teeth. I went to work for a few weeks and he grew up (I guess that lost snuggle time allowed him to slip into a growth spurt).

The now big news is... the rollover. Actually, he rolled over a week ago too, but I missed it. Then I missed it again. And again. But with a vacation day on Monday and an opportunity for a quick photo shoot, there it was. I propped him on his belly for some cute tummy time photos and he did it. "Mommy! Look!", Plop. And suddenly Tucker was belly up again.

the baby nanny drama

With a face like Tucker's you might wonder why it could possibly be hard to find a nanny. Well, I can't say for sure why, but I can testify to the near impossibility of finding a nanny. I'm guessing the trouble has something to do with unreliable, unmotivated, and in-compassionate people. That is just a guess.

The Nanny #1 Story - The Super Nanny
We hired Tucker's first nanny to start three weeks ago. Despite being in her early twenties, Nanny #1 had a resume and references that read something like you might expect of Super Nanny. She even had the knowledge and know how to convince that she was legit. She actually taught us a thing or two during her interview. So, we hired her.

So, what happened to Super Nanny #1? She came, she saw, she quit. She lasted 4 days. Actually, I think she quit on the second day, but was nice enough to help out for the remaining days. I confess that she definitely had a legitimate reason to quit. The trusting person in me believes her story wholeheartedly, but I wonder if that is a little (or a lot) naive. Apparently, her aunt died in her sleep, leaving behind a now single husband and four kids, one of which is six weeks old. The reliable person Nanny #1 is, she jumped to their aid, as she certainly should. Her story break my heart. A six week old baby lost without its mother, searching for her warmth but finding only an unfamiliar bottle, and refusing it. So, one week into my return to work and we were without a nanny.

The Nanny #2 Story - The Super Expensive Nanny
As luck would have it, the day I returned from work I learned of a great blessing which had been handed to me. The unpaid leave of absence I had decided to take at the end of my maternity leave resulted in a "change of status" thereby granting me the right to change my company benefits enrollment. What does this really mean? It means I could enroll in the Dependent Care Spending Account (DCSA). $5,000 I could allocate to untaxed dollars to pay for Tucker's nanny. The result? We were now able to afford our Nanny #1, #1 Pick that I didn't mention earlier.

During our first round of nanny interviews we fell in love with one candidate (that was problem #1). We were very excited to extend her an offer, but she turned us down on grounds of not enough money. Consequently, we went with the equally qualified, but not quite as happy Nanny #1 that we could afford. However, with the extra tax free savings from the DCSA we were now able to afford our #1 Pick. Almost seems as if our bad luck with the first nanny was a blessing, especially when on her last day with us Brian found her watching soaps with Tucker professing they "help keep him quiet". Wonderful. The weekend after Nanny #1 quit, we hired Nanny #2, to start the following Friday. With an accepted job offer and excitement all around, Brian and I settled back into our routine until Thursday's landslide.

Thursday morning, the day before Nanny #2 was to start, I was able to work from home to help Brian juggle Tucker and work (no easy feat, especially when you distaste ignoring your child for one moment). I was quietly sipping my morning coffee when the bomb dropped. Not a phone call, but an e-mail...

"I regret to tell you that I am not going to accept the position as nanny for your son. I do apologize and hope I have not inconvienced you. My current place of employment has offered me more money and more hours to stay. However if you are ever in need of a babysitter on the weekends I would love to help you out. I hope you can understand this difficult decision I've had to make.

Thank you,"
Nanny #2

Ouch. To be continued ...

Working at Work Mom (WAWM)

This week marked my return to work and both the furthest and the longest I've been away from Tucker. I had not heard back from that coveted work at home assignment I interviewed for and have been commuting to the city since Tuesday for a subjectively better position. As luck would have it the manager of the work at home assignment contacted me today to see if I was still available. Nice. My fate was already decided.

I shed some tears my first day back, a lot of tears the week before, but for the most part I've been a trooper. Tucker has been too. Tuesday was a struggle with some gas (Tucker, not me), not napping for the nanny, and the unforeseen stench from the granite installation that forced nanny and Tuck to his grandma's house. Wednesday was a bit better. By Thursday Tucker had three meals and three good naps on schedule! And now we are in search of a new nanny -- there is another post for you.

Brian set me up with a wireless card allowing me an extra hour a day of work (or writing ...) on the train ride. So, here I am traveling at 50 or so miles per hour and blogging. The nice thing about commuting from Naperville is that there is a zero-stop train straight from Chicago, cutting down on both the motion sickness and time away.

Not wanting to leave my baby, I can't say that I am all smiles. As you could imagine, it is a bit hard to smile at all. However, I said I was being a trooper about it and I am looking on the bright side. That being said, this the bright side:

• Focused quality time with Tucker when I am home!
• Forced personal time on the train for extra work, blogging, or surfing!
• Requisite daily showers.
• Minimized spit up coverage and outfit changes.
• Helps promote Tucker onto a sleeping and eating schedule.
• Great excuse to splurge on a daily (decaf) latte.
• The Chai Tea latte at Rom (that I couldn't have while I was pregnant)
• Seeing work buddies, most of whom have also had kids in the past year or two.
• Get to use my Argo Tea frequent buyer cards.
• Opportunity to see and appreciate the great city of Chicago!
• A paycheck.

naked at 3 months

We celebrated Tucker's 3 month birthday yesterday. By celebrate I mean we deviated from the "typical" day in which I go to work, come home, play, bathe Tuck, and let Brian put Tuck to bed. No, today was a special day.

The routine started out no different than normal (as normal as it gets the second day in). I woke up at 6:10 and performed my get ready routine followed by feeding, cuddling, and playing with Tucker and letting Brian change Tucker into his day clothes while I did the same. You have to understand that Tucker is irresistibly cute in the morning, one astonishingly happy baby. This morning was no exception, but with a twist. A half naked twist, with baby and dad both opting to go topless. Any mother would understand, and single women out there too, there is just something touching about a baby and his dad, add in the natural beauty of this skin to skin moment, and well, it is just breathtaking. It is a moment that commands you to stop, take notice, and record it in the (baby) books. And that is how we started Tucker's 3 month birthday. Topless Dad and Tuck and mom insisting on a birthday suit photo shoot.

Once clothed, we fastened the birthday boy into his car seat headed for the train station. As luck would have it this day the morning radio politely informed us that the 7:24 train, which I had heard rumbling through town while taking my last restroom break at home had mechanical problems resulting in not a single person from Naperville getting onto one of the busiest trains into the city. I knew what it meant, the already packed 7:44 train would be even busier, making it impossible to get a seat or even standing room. There would be no work and no blogging on that train, so what did we do? We skipped it. Yes, I said it, we SKIPPED IT. The split decision was made to abandon the plans of the catching the train we had all work so diligently to make. We diverted instead to the Starbucks for a much better plan: 1 grande latte + 1 tall decaf latte + 1 hot apple fritter and some chat time with Tucker. A nice family morning for Tucker's birthday.

Of course, I caught the 8:00 train and went to work, but this was a truly wonderful day regardless. One of those days you wish you would have if you weren't so busy living life. We stepped back and appreciated the roses a bit. Happy Birthday Tucker, we love you!