am i looking for the impossible

[Herhonesty]

I now have 2dc 3 months and 4.8 (starting school in September)

I will go back to work in January 4 days a week, after working full time with dd1. we had a perfect mix of nanny and nursery with a cleaner who did 3 hours per week for us. we'd like to do the same as I believe that nursery to an extent is good for children. Our wonderful nanny has just handed her notice in as she feels she is too old to work with a new born/toddler which to be honest isn't a surprise but I am gutted

Ideally I'd like to employ a nanny/housekeeper for 4 days a week, with her looking after dd2 and school run etc for 3 days and spend 1 day cleaning, housekeeping between school run and nursery pick up so DD2 can have one day of nursery a week. (approx. 6 hours so basically cleaning and putting on a few washes, maybe some ironing.)

So am I looking for the impossible - do you really either get good housekeepers or good nannies and the two don't really mix? has anyone got experience? I am not at all house proud so not pernickety.

sorry for the long thread, only just starting to get my head round this as we thought we had it all sorted.

I hope you don't say that your nanny is in their 30's... with luck 70's.

As a nanny I do quite a lot of laundry and do clean a bit. So a housekeeper role 4 days a week where one day is more dedicated to the cleaning could well work - saves having a cleaner come in. Many of their duties would be the same as that of a nanny but with the one day of child-free time for more intense housework.

I would like to think that as I get older that I would take on more of a housekeeper type role. My cleaning skills could do with improvement (would have to dig out my copy of How Clean Is Your House) and maybe I could even learn to iron. I am experienced in the care for babies and toddlers, so what you are proposing certainly sounds like the sort of job I would like.

So I do not think it will be that hard to find someone it would suit. Someone in their 30's, 40's, 50's perhaps, though it could well suit someone in their 20's. So don't let age be a factor - your current nanny may feel they are too old but there are many nannies out there who do not feel they are too old to care for babies and the home at the same time.

61, but over the last year she has had real probs with her lungs and I know one of the factors was she didn't want to let us down with absence.

So one more question: for a jan start when should i start looking?

Active looking September but no harm to start looking now as some people may know that their current job is coming to an end in Dec.