Nanny&Me

So here we are, it's the final countdown and we're down to the final four already!! I can't believe it! Let me start by saying that at this point if we ended up with any one of these four women as our nanny, we would be truly blessed. I was so impressed with the sincerity, competence, and character of each one of them.

For our second round interviews, we did things a bit differently. First off, we had my mom come and watch the interviews. We streamed the interview (via Skype) from our computer screen to the TV, so that my mom could sit on the couch and watch. She always has such great insight, so this was very worthwhile for us. We also set up an audio/video recording of the interview thinking that we would have it to play back afterwards, but between our strong gut instincts and my mom's feedback, we didn't need to watch the playback afterall. Having said that, I still think it's an excellent idea especially given that sometimes you're too in the moment to really hear what someone is saying; you might get a certain feeling or interpret it a certain way, and when you watch the playback you might be surprised (for better or for worse). We also ensured that each candidate met both Orly (our golden retriever), and Logan (our son), in order to gauge their reaction to them.

My husband, Mike, was in a particularly disgruntled mood, as I think he was just overwhelmed by the whole process emotionally and tired from a long day's work, but it certainly made it a bit more challenging since I was worried that the candidates would misinterpret his attitude (which was somewhat stoic) for being an unkind or aloof person, but we proceeded with the interviews anyways because such is life. We had a few hiccups in the interviews including needing to have my mother-in-law look after Logan in a separate room from the interviews because they were having so much fun that he was giggling and giggling, which is cute, but quite distracting. Once we had the room restored to some peace and quiet so we could focus in on the interviews, things went quite well, and became very clear.

Of the four candidates going into it, we had one that we were pretty giddy about, two that were strongly consistent from the start, and one that was a bit of a late comer and seemed very genuine and competent, but didn't have us quite as hooked as the others.

It is so interesting how this journey goes up and down like a roller coaster and spins faster than those really fast tea cups at Disney World. We went from being totally giddy about one candidate to feeling as if we had maybe had our blinders on in the first round, and went from being a bit nonchalent about another candidate to feeling blown away with her continued sincerity, kind nature, and honesty.

In the end, the decision felt very obvious, although it doesn't make it any easier to choose just one candidate when you have four amazing people who are ready, willing, and able.

What we learned from round two:

1. Schedule the interviews carefully. Scheduling four interviews in one night when my husband had worked a long gruelling day probably wasn't the best idea. And while we all wish that we could all be perfect all of the time and just chipper up for the good of the interviews, no one's perfect, and we would all do well to forgive one another's graces (especially those of our loving spouses), so the moral of the story is...plan accordingly.
2. Check for inconsistencies. Luckily we had my mom on the scene who is quite the sharp one, but if we hadn't, I'm not sure we would have seen some of the inconsistencies in certain interview answers unless we had played back the video of the interview. Don't be shy when you hear something that isn't quite adding up to just dig a little deeper. Sometime's it's nothing and it will put your mind at ease, and if it is something, then better to know now.
3. Don't rush! This is a problem for us with every interview in every round. We just seem to rush a bit when moving through the interview. Take your time, slow down, listen, breath, and enjoy the ride.