Where is the Babysitters Club when you need it?

How do you know when to call it a day with a babysitter? Ours is a sweet woman who seems to really enjoy spending time with our baby. When she shows up, that is. Unfortunately, in recent weeks that averages about 50% of the time. If you have someone babysitting only two afternoons/eight hours a week and she cancels one of the days, that is only FOUR hours a week of help! Four hours is not enough non-baby time for me. I realize how lucky I am to have any help while being a SAHM but, believe me, this is as much for Mr. Monk's benefit as my own. We don't have any family around here, so I have to hire someone so that I can go get my hairs cut/cavities filled/bras purchased without a baby in tow.

This babysitter has only been working for us for a little over a month, but she has managed to call in sick four times. I don't think I called in sick that much in my previous three jobs. My husband thinks that I don't react strongly enough when she cancels. If a grown woman tells me that they are sick and in pain, I don't exactly feel comfortable asking for a doctor's note. I generally don't enjoy being confrontational, but her unreliability is starting to become reliable. Hooray for the ability to be brutally honest in email format.

To be honest, I was sort of happy that the babysitter bailed this afternoon so I could sneak in a few more hours of strolling with my little man before I head away for the weekend. As excited as I am to laugh it up with some girlfriends, it will be so incredibly strange to wake up and not immediately be bombarded with his starving mouth. For 8 months (8 months on Saturday, whoa), I have spent nearly every one of my waking, and many non-waking, hours consumed with his care. Now, for two days, I only have to worry about the frequency of my own poops.