I feel like the past weeks have been a series of tests. "Oh, so you think you have your life under control, do you? OK, try doing it at the hospital. OK, try doing it with home IV's. OK, try doing it in a hotel room in Boston. OK, try doing it when you wake up every morning at 4:15. OK, try doing it when you wake up every morning at 4:15 AND everyone has a cold and you're running 3 treatments a day." This week's iteration: "OK, try doing when you're waking up every morning at 4:15 AND everyone has a cold and you're running three treatments a day AND do it without the nanny that's been with you for two years." 
As you loyal readers will remember, back around week 113, our nanny had a bout of pneumonia, and unfortunately she never quite got back all of her strength after that. Not only did she never fully recover strength, but her job has gotten progressively harder. Lime continues to put on weight at a rather astonishing pace. Lemon is all long limbs and sharp corners that are in constant motion. It has been clear for some time that we were going to have to make some kind of change in our child care arrangements eventually, but we'd sort of been putting off dealing with it until things "settled down," whenever in the mystical future that might be. But, our hand was forced this week when the nanny had yet another health issue arise and it became clear that things could go on no longer. Her last day with us was Thursday. Lemon, who has known her since he was 5 months old, doesn't really know or understand yet that she's not returning, but I suspect in the coming weeks he'll figure it out. I do care about his feelings and whatnot but, OMG WE JUST LOST 25 HOURS PER WEEK OF CHILDCARE AND WE HAVE TWO FULL TIME JOBS AND AAAAHHHHHH!!!!
Ahem. I mean, we responded in a totally rational and controlled manner, composing beautifully written advertisements and CARPET BOMBING THE INTERNET WITH THEM. Luckily, we got quite a number of replies quickly, and I spent Friday evening and part of Saturday doing phone interviews. One candidate goes to a church in our neighborhood and said she'd be happy to stop by our house before the Sunday service. I said that sounded fine. She seemed great (arrived on time, had a pulse, did not scare the kids), left a list of references, and said she could start right away. I checked her references, they confirmed that their respective children were still among the living, and she's starting tomorrow. Phew. I've spent much more time hiring people to do jobs that are (sorry, if any of you are reading this) much less important than taking care of my children. But, honestly, this candidate seemed great both on the phone and in person, and I've screened a lot of babysitters lately so I do have some basis for comparison. One of the great things about working from home is that I don't have to wonder how things are going. I'll just know. I'm planning to move my office from the basement to the bedroom at least for the next week or so, so that I can get her situated and get the kids used to her and be right on hand for any urgent matters.
Aside from the nanny crisis, we kept up with 3 treatments/day for Lemon for a full week and he seems to have kicked the cold in about the same amount of time as the rest of us, so we're feeling good about that. For the first time in his life, Lime expressed some enthusiasm for solid food. I've tried every fruit flavor of baby food out there, thinking that's where he'd want to start. Nope. Carrots, people. So, with any luck, at some point I'll get more than 2 hrs consecutive sleep for the first time in 7 months. Who knows?
OK, next week, what else you got? On second thought, please don't tell me.
