Nanny&Me: The HONEST TRUTH...Nervousness and Excitement

The HONEST TRUTH...Nervousness and Excitement

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As I’m sure you can imagine, when you’re preparing to welcome a new person into your home, there are so many thoughts and feelings whirling around inside. One thing I always find interesting in life is to assess how you feel going into something, re-assess once you’re in it, and then reflect on the discrepancy (or similarity) between the two. As such, I’m going to write two lists, one will be a list of the 6 things that I’m most excited for in having a nanny move in, and the second will be a list of the 6 things that I’m most nervous for.

We all have apprehensions when we go into a new situation in life. Even those of us who love exciting changes can still feel that duality of excitement and nervousness, like that leap of faith moment you experienced when you bungee jumped off a bridge in Whistler (oh wait, that last part might have just been me). Anyways I think that sometimes we’re not really encouraged to speak openly about them, as if admitting worries or nervousness in any way indicates a difficult road ahead. I’m going to share with you (in no particular order) those honest anxieties and excitements, and then I’ll come back on July 14, 2015 (that’s a completely random date) and write a post that reflects on these lists. Here goes:

The 6 Things that I’m most excited for in having a live-in nanny:

Love for Logan. Giving Logan the opportunity to potentially develop the sort of deep 1:1 bond that I had with my nanny growing up.
Laundry. Having my laundry folded and put neatly in my drawers is such an exciting concept (notice I didn’t include the washing part of the equation because who doesn’t love doing the washing part?!…you feel all productive and organized, but then at some point the clothes go through the wash, into the dryer and then come out ready for the hard part, so I’ll be thankful to have help with the hard part).
A tidy house. I do look forward to having a house that resembles the order that I had prior to having a baby…neat and tidy with things in their proper place.
Getting to see my son during the day. I can’t wait to have someone looking after him in our home so that when I work from home I can have lunch with him, or take a break to go for a little walk with him. I’m fortunate enough to get to flex my work schedule a bit, so I look forward to seeping up some day time play time that I can make up when he’s gone to bed for the night.
Date nights! Due to the freelance nature of my husband’s work, there will be some weeks where we will forego daytime care in lieu of evenings instead so that we can share some adult only quality time.
Getting to know our nanny! I can’t wait to show her all around the city, take her out to dinner with our family, and begin the journey of building a strong relationship.

The 6 Things that I’m most nervous for in having a live-in nanny:

The cooking piece. Don’t you find that sometimes your own cooking gets boring?...well I do. We can’t wait to try the food that our future nanny cooks up, but I’m also nervous for this part because we do maintain a very healthy diet (vegetarian/vegan, low sugar, low sodium, low grease) and I want to ensure that we continue to do so.
Managing the little things. There are always going to be little tasks that you might want done a certain way. My husband and I are both fairly easygoing people, and neither of us like to be overly assertive, so I’m a bit worried about managing the balance of things when we need to confront the way a certain task might be done, or any other little issues that I would expect to arise.
Our space and privacy. Now this one doesn’t really worry me too too much because we’ve always had tenants in our home and have enjoyed the relationship with them, but I suppose I worry about the privacy piece more when I think about things like what happens if my dear hubby and I get in to a small disagreement? Will it be awkward to have someone overhear an argument?
Getting along. Now again on this one, not overly worried as my husband and I tend to like just about everyone, but there is always that question in the back of your head of will we all get along? Will the dynamic be seamless, and comfortable right off the bat and/or what will that warming up period feel like when we’re all getting used to being together?
Money. Will all of the costs balance out the way that I’m anticipating?
Will it all get done? Sometimes I hope we don’t have overly grandiose ideas about what it looks like to have a third set of hands around the house. I dream of having a home that’s neat and tidy, with that added strain of cooking taken off our backs some of the time, and then I hope that my expectations aren’t overshooting what it will actually be like to have a third adult around. We of course want our son’s care to be the priority, so if he’s having a more high maintenance day, then I get that it won’t all get done, but I hope that some of what I’m picturing is accurate.

Well there you have it…the honest truth. I look forward to looking back on these lists next summer and giving you the run down of how it all panned out. If you're about to take the same leap of faith (hiring a nanny, not bungee jumping), then good luck and enjoy the jump!