The only way to start this story is waaaaay back at the beginning. I was pregnant for my 1st and I knew that I would be returning to work about 2 months after the baby was born. Jeff and I had decided that if we could swing it financially, we would love to have someone come into our home to keep our baby. I got #262's name from a relative. She came with great recommendations including spending several years working with the children at a local home for abandoned and abused children. I got her number and gave her a call when I was about five months along in my pregnancy. She came to our house and met with Jeff and I. We discussed job duties, salary, and hired her on the spot. She left, with me telling her that I would call her when the baby was born and we could determine when she would start. She was working for another family at the time and wanted to give them ample time to find someone to take her place so this was fine with her. That is how we left things.
Fast forward 4 months. After a very hectic labor and C-section, I became a first time momma. I remember being in awe of my new baby boy. Jeff and I (like all good first time parents) were way into hand-washing and not breathing too much around the baby. I had B around 2:45-ish in the morning and did not get back to my room until around 6:00 am. Around noon or so, Jeff went home to shower and catch a little nap and my mom stayed with me. I was still pretty doped up from some pain meds and muscle relaxers (don't ask) and so my mom was pretty much handling B and I was dosing in and out when a brisk knock came from the hallway. My mom bid entrance and in blew #262. She was bursting with joy and saying, "Where's my baby? Where's my boy?" The problem was that my mom had never met her and I did not recall exactly who she was. I remember thinking, "A relative of Jeff's? An old patient?" #262 did not give me really any time to think as she gathered the baby up from my mom, plopped down in the rocking chair and started to rock. It wasn't until she got really to leave (after some talking and chit chatting...right?) that she said, "So, just call me when you are ready to go back to work" and the light bulb finally came on!
I have to give credit where credit is due. I have #262 to thank for many things and I will try to list some of them here:
*She taught Jeff and I about schedules for babies and how much happier they are if they are one one.
*She made sure all three of my boys ate breakfast (oatmeal 9 times out of 10) every morning and truth be told, she taught me how to cook oatmeal.
*She is single handily responsible for the fact that my boys have very regular digestive tracts which I was updated on every few hours. If I was with a patient and unable to come to the phone, she just relayed the message via my receptionist.
*She taught me the correct way to do laundry and fold sheets. I cannot and have not seen, to this day, anyone who can fold a fitted sheet as straight and as neat as #262.
*She has my gratitude for potty training all three of the T-boys and making sure that they always had naps and had eaten when I got home from work.
She is/was an "old-school" sitter. She did not want to run the roads with our children. She was not interested in sticking them in front of the TV while she talked on the phone or watched the soaps. She loved (loves) our boys and she spent every second of her time "on the clock" showing them. When they were babies, she would put them to sleep for nap times and then sit in the rocker in their room and rock and pray while they slept. She was always up for a game of trains and knew all the words to the Disney sing-a-longs as well as Jeff and I did.
Several years ago, her health took a bit of a down turn while our home got a lot larger. Our brick floors hurt her knees and our pool and bayou made her very nervous. She did not like the boys to be out of her sight which did not work real well with our new upstairs playroom. All in all, the boys were growing up and #262 was slowing down. We parted ways on a daily basis, but she remains our go-to babysitter for night-time and out of town weekends (after the grands of course). Now, there is less playing and singing, and more catching up on what is going on in their lives. When you go to her house, it is like a shrine to my kids who she loves to brag about. They love her right back!
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for #262 and all of her help over the years. She will never know how comforting it was to me to know how well my kids were loved when Jeff and I were not with them. I have well adjusted children and I know #262 is a large reason for this.
One year, I gave #262 a picture frame with my boys picture in it. It had the following inscribed on the frame. I may have used this quote before on someones else's blog, but it definitely applies to #262. The quote read:
"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank...but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child." -- Forest Witchcraft
Thank you #262 for being a wonderful babysitter and a great friend!
11 years ago
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