3-1/2 week update, family drama, nannies, nanny cams

Things are going a bit more smoothly for us in this household. It's not a breeze yet - just a tiny bit better every week. I consider that progress.

As I mentioned before, DH takes the night shift. He is alone from 10p - 3 or 4a when I get up to relieve him. I am alone until 8:30 when he gets up to take his older kids to camp. This is working out okay, but he has NO time to work on his resume or to interview. And we're running out of money.

I have been interviewing nannies from Care and found someone I love. I interviewed her yesterday and made her an offer before she left my home. She will start full time in September when I return to work, but for now, we will have her 10 hours per week which will allow her to ease into caring for my children, learning each of their likes/dislikes, schedules, etc. and will allow me to monitor her for a month before she starts full time. It will also allow me to catch a cat nap during the day and allow my husband 2 days per week of uninterrupted time to work on his resume, etc. Good all around.

On the flip side, I've been having family drama with my mother. She is a wonderful, caring person, and she helped me out BIG TIME when we first arrived home from the hospital. She came up twice week and slept over, and did all of the laundry and cooked us a few meals. She was an extra set of hands during the day so that one of us could nap and get our bearings - she was execllent. However, it gave her some sense of entitlement. Before you know it, she's in my bedroom changing the sheet on my marriage bed! WTF? Then she's trying to tell me how to push the stroller in the park. Then she's telling me my DH is ignoring her. (which was true). My mom is weird. An angel, but weird. She cooks by tasting food and DH will not eat it afterwards. She talks BABY TALK to my babies. I know some people think this is ok, but to me, it's gross. Examples: Pretty Girl is PITTY GURRL.... Bottle is BA.... Grandma is GAMMY.... Diaper is DIAPEE, Poop is POOPIE, Burp is BURPEE. All this in a sing song voice that is just adding insult to injury when your mother is in your face for 24 hours already and there is no place to escape her. AND - we get like 45 minutes MAYBE between feedings since they're on separate schedules since only one of us is usually up at a time. My mom talks and does dishes and is LOUD. She wakes them and them rushes over to comfort them, but I feel like it's a total disruption to our household. If the baby is quiet - BE QUIET!!!! Ugh. Anyway - I've thanked her for her help and told her we're good and don't need her to stay overnight anymore. Told her she's welcome here anytime, but we've really gotten it under control and we're good. Then I asked her nicely, not to baby talk. Hey, they're my kids. I expect that someone will honor my wishes regarding my own children. If I want them spoken to in Mandarin, that's my perogative. Well, last Thursday we had a blow up about DH's reclusiveness while she's here. Then on Monday she came up and proceeded to treat me and DH like total SHIT and baby talk my kids in loud voices, rubbing it in and smiling at us over the baby's shoulders. Enough. She is crazy and I decided to set some boundaries. Now for the past 3 days she's been profusely apologizing. Weird. Just get on with your life, please. All of a sudden I'm not physically and psychologically dependent on her for 2 nights per week and she's offended at everything. I think that's called co-dependency and I have no tolerance for it.

So, on to nanny cameras. Anyone have any advice for me? I haven't started looking yet - it seems overwhelming to me. I really need some help here if anyone has any suggestions.

I had a photographer in on their 2 week birthday and they turned out amazing. I am so in love with these kids - I get tears in my eyes at least once a day when I'm holding them. I can't believe these angels are mine. As BLOGGER is not cooperating at this time, I will upload photos later this evening.