The Au Pair

When I envisioned myself having five kids, I never once thought I would need "help." I don't mean the professional kind with a couch in their office. I mean the help as in Mary Poppins or Alice Nelson from "The Brady Bunch."

In all of my dreams of motherhood, I assumed that with five perfect children who never fought and who obeyed my every word, I could do it all myself. I would have the kids' laundry perfectly cleaned and pressed. A five coarse dinner would be whipped up every night, without so much a complaint from the kids about what I was serving. They would love broiled fish, steamed green vegetables, you name it…after all, and they were perfect children. And of course, my four-bedroom house (the two girls were thrilled to be sharing a room, as were the twins!) was always immaculate. I did it all. I was the quintessential chauffeur/ babysitter/ housekeeper/nurse/psychologist and I was a successful paediatrician too!

Reality hit me in the form of a positive result for baby number two. My first words to my loving husband were "Get the number for that Au Pair agency our friends use!" Mind you, we wanted our first two kids to be close in age. According to my mother-in-law, my husband and his younger brother were 14 months apart and they have always been close. Naturally, we wanted the same thing for our own children.

I don't know if my panic was because I saw that plus sign only seven months after I had my C-section. All I know is that I thought of the Au Pair agency as I was watching my petite, beautiful daughter moving around on her hands and knees, drooling helplessly and wishing she could get the right words out. And I never looked back.

I never understood why a good friend of mine needed a nanny. I figured, she had three children so how hard could that be? It didn't dawn on me that her kids were close in age and she just might need someone to help keep her sane. Three kids just seemed easy to me. My mother did it. I am almost three years younger than my brother and two years older than my other brother. She never had any help with us kids. She had a lady who came into clean once or twice a week but there was no nanny or Au Pair. I assumed that I could handle five (or for sure, two) kids without any hired help.

Wrong! All it took was one look at that plus sign (seven tests later!) and all of my principles went out the window! Of course, I reasoned that I wanted an Au Pair to help me balance my motherhood. I just couldn't see myself schlepping a newborn to my daughter's Mom and me playgroups and Gym boree classes. She and I were a team and I didn't want her to miss out on our special time out together, just because there was another baby in the house.

I began the search for an Au Pair. I filled out all of our application forms and waited for the girls to start a' calling. I don't remember how many applications we read through. Picking our first Au Pair was easy. She had a lot of child care experience, she was patient and she loved children. Her background check was impressive and she sounded like a dream over the phone.

Fast forward to my life today. I have my five wonderful children. My criteria for the perfect Au Pair has changed quite a bit since the kids were little. Granted, I make sure to check out the references and the childcare experience. After all, I don't just hire anyone to watch my precious babies. But I don't lose sleep over it. If a girl can stay on the line after hearing about "the five children" part, I make like Donald Trump on a finale of "The Apprentice" and let out a "You're Hired!"


Contributed by:Hildee Weiss