31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 24 – Who’s Watching the Baby?

  My daughter and son-in-law have two of the sweetest little boys you’ve ever met.  That’s a fact, not just a Grammy opinion. :) They are ages 15 months and 3 years old and are busy, busy, busy. When we started planning this wedding, I wondered how we’d keep an eye on them while doing all the wedding things the bridal couple and parents of the bride need to do. Plus, the ballroom where we held the festivities is in close proximity to a busy highway, so I had a real fear that one of those boys would get outside without an adult and tragedy would ensue.

There are many responsible family members who would help watch them if we asked, but they have their own children to supervise, too, and we wanted everyone to be able to relax and visit with relatives from far away. We wanted to avoid the whole “I thought you were watching them” scenario, which might not have happened, but let’s face it, it sometimes does. So we hired a babysitter for those two boys for the night. It was the BEST IDEA we had for that wedding.

We hired the boys’ adult daycare provider who they trust and  love. She drove to Lincoln and was there at 4:30,  the time the reception began. It was about that time that the baby fell asleep, so she sat with him while he napped, and kept an eye on the 3 year-old. We happily invited her to eat when supper was served, and she took care of feeding the boys, and all bathroom/diaper needs. It was close to 10 p.m. when she and I loaded them into her car, and she drove them to the motel to put them down for the night in my room. I followed in my car, since I wanted to change my clothes before we started cleaning up the ballroom. That was a good thing, since one of the boys fell asleep in the car, and she wouldn’t have been able to get them both up to the room without leaving one alone in the car.

I helped get the portable crib set up, then changed my clothes and left them to get settled in. We’d promised that someone would relieve her by Midnight, and were just barely started cleaning up by then, so our son went back to the motel and stayed with the boys, and she went home. I hated to have her driving on the Interstate so late at night, but she assured me it was fine, and she did get home okay.

We paid her $100 for almost 8 hours of babysitting, and just put it in the wedding budget. I don’t know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you, but it was totally worth it to us. There were several comments from our guests about “the girl in the pink sweater” and how wonderful she was with the boys. They still got to run and play with the other children, but we knew someone’s eyes were on them the entire time.

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series