Everyday lives of the Meabon Household

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Well, that was interesting...

Last night I had a meeting that I was running so it couldn't be missed.  Jared was out of town on business.  Honey and Grandy had previous plans.  So as opposed to leaving Harper by herself, I decided it would be prudent to hire our first paid babysitter. 

Harps has been left with H & G numerous times, has always done great when Grammie was in town and babysat, has had successful experiences at CiCi's house and had a rockstar babysitting experience with my cousin Ashley and her Godparents, Bobby and Lily.  In other words, I have left her out of my care on numerous occasions with no issues.  So I called up the Goertz's to see who Annabelle's favorite sitter was and asked if we could borrow her for the night.  What good friends to lend us their most trusted sitter!  But I did promise not to steal her on occasions when we're both out - that could end a friendship.

So, cute Jessica bops into our house on Tuesday night at 5:30pm.  Have I mentioned that Jessica is a nursing student that wants to specialize in pediatrics?  And when I went to explain what the Squirrel's wrap was all about, I started with, "So do you know what an omphalocele is?" and I basically could stop there without a long, lengthy explanation?  Sweet!  Babysitter jackpot! 

So in comes Jessica.  I had asked her to come about 30 minutes early so I could finish getting ready and we'd have a little time for the Squirrel to see the transition and not just have her mother disappear into thin air.  I went through all of the details with Jessica but let her know how laid back the Squirrel was and that it should be a pretty low-key night for her.  I also explained that I'd be running the meeting I was going to so I wouldn't really be reachable for a couple of hours but if anything dire came up, she could call Jared in Louisiana with questions.  Jessica started Harper on her dinner and the minute I walked out of the room, the tears started to flow.  We did the little song and dance of getting her calmed down.  I wasn't too concerned and Jessica said just go and she was sure, as with most babies she watches, Harps would calm down after I left.

As I was walking out the door, I peeked my head back in to let Jessica know that if she got totally desperate and the tears continued, there was a stroller in the garage and they could stroll around the block.  Off I went, a little hesitant but confident that our seasoned sitter would be thumbing through a magazine and watching tv in no time as the Squirrel drifted off to dreamland. 

My meeting finished at 9pm and I took a look at my phone.  Four texts and two missed calls - a combo from Jessica and Jared.  Hmmm.  First picture from Jessica:


Guess the stroller was necessary but she looks happy, right?  Wrong.  Come to find out the girl screamed her head off for two straight hours and this was the only break in the chaos.  The walk in the stroller lasted about 20 minutes but its 100 degrees in San Antonio and not quite ideal for strolling.  Jessica finally had to wave the white flag and let the girl cry it out in bed.  The Squirrel fell asleep once, only to wake back up, screaming bloody murder 15 minutes later.  The second go round, she was so tired that she wore out after 10 minutes.  How horrible did I feel???  And no, not for Harper.  She's a trooper and this mommy-separation thing is a little ridiculous.  Poor Jessica!  I'm sure she was freaking out.  She did end up calling Jared to make sure there wasn't something horribly wrong with the Girl which is why I had texts and voicemails from Jared letting me know just how unhappy his daughter was. 

And tonight?  Oh, perfectly fine.  Seriously Harper.  This WILL NOT become a habit.

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

I'm a little late in responding to this post but I have to put your mind at ease by explaining our first experience with Jessica. Darling Jessica shows up for the first time and Anabelle makes a fool out of us by sleeping like an angel when she arrives. We warn her that she's very colicky and will likely scream her head off the entire time we are gone. We walk Jessica around the house explaining all of the ridiculous things we've come up with to calm her..."Jessica, just place the bouncer on top of the stove (burners off of course) with vibrate on and let her look at the pots and pans hanging above her. When that fails...and it will after about 2-3 minutes, take her to the swing. Place her in it as quickly as possible and immediately turn it on the highest speed with the jungle sound that has birds chirping in the background...MUST be the one with birds chirping, the regular jungle sound won't do. Once she gets fussy with that, turn on the hairdryer and place it by her head...air blowing away from her of course. When you can no longer hold the hairdryer, look behind you and hit play on the boombox which plays a recorded hairdryer that is looped, no thanks to my brilliant husband." Jessica stares at us like we are the nuttiest people she's ever seen and tells us to please just go and enjoy our party. When we return, Jessica looks exhausted and we notice the hairdryer in the middle of the room. "I thought y'all were crazy at first but you weren't kidding about the calming power of the highdryer!" she states. Somehow she keeps coming back so Jessica is either a glutton for punishment or the most patient person I've ever met! She's an angel and somehow manages to capture the one picture of your child smiling and text it to you so you think everyone is behaving perfectly...sheer brilliance! Hooray for Jessica, she loved spending time with Harper and will gladly return!