Richard and Barbi have been together for sixteen years. We began our family in 1995 when twins, Helen and Fiona, were born. They will be eight years old in October and are beginning third grade this fall. Barbi completed her medical education in 2001 and works as a resident family doctor at Middlesex Hospital. Richard works at Yale University as a writer and publisher.

Before Barbi started medical school, Richard was a commercial photographer and publisher in Buffalo, New York for many years. Barbi, a writer, worked as a typesetter while finishing a master’s degree in Women’s Studies at the State University of New York. We were both serious amateur musicians (we met through playing music) and performed and recorded folk music for many years in Buffalo with our band Probably Still Primitive. Richard plays guitar and mandolin and Barbi plays the hammered dulcimer. Other interests include world and regional travel, hiking, camping, cinema, cooking, light gardening and home improvement.

Helen and Fiona are talkative, imaginative and active, and love going for walks and bike rides, to the movies, the parks and playgrounds. Swings and jungle gyms are very popular and we have a small set in the back yard. They also love sports like swimming, baseball, karate and gymnastics, dress-up clothes, arts and crafts and building with blocks and Legos. They love to sing songs (some they have learned from their au pairs), play piano and invent jokes and stories. The girls will begin taking violin and viola lessons in third grade.With a little encouragement, they can make their beds and tidy their room in the morning and have also taken great interest in decorating their room with paintings and cut paper artwork.

Barbi’s medical career has brought us to Connecticut, where we now live in a 140-year-old home in Southington. We have a front and back garden, a small fish pond with trout and many water plants, and lots of room for the girls to run around. Our home is near the center of a quiet old town in an historic neighborhood that has many single-family and some multi-family homes. There are many old trees, nice lawns and gardens and parks. The girls are just starting to explore the small woods behind our house. Southington is a small central Connecticut town of 27,000 people between New Haven (where Richard works) and Hartford, the state capitol. New York City and Boston are each two hours away, with great cultural offerings. Relatives are also close; Barbi's mom and a sister live in Connecticut, and Richard’s family is not far in New Jersey and Long Island.

Barbi’s schedule is the demanding routine of a third-year resident doctor at Middlesex Hospital. Richard’s workweek is a more regular daily schedule with evening and weekend time at home with the girls and taking care of the house. Family time includes socializing with friends and extended family including music: playing, singing and listening. Summertime often means traveling to family picnics or camping and hiking and sightseeing. We are relative newcomers to central Connecticut so there are a lot of sights to see and places to discover.

The main responsibility of the au pair is caring for the children, seeing them to and from school (two blocks away) and preparing some of their meals. The au pair’s weekday schedule (Monday-Friday) is to get the girls up around 7:30am, prepare their breakfast, and take them to school at 8:30am. The au pair is free until the about 3pm when it is time to meet the girls after school. Some afternoons the girls may have sports classes like gymnastics or swimming or girl scouts. Richard returns from work around 6pm. Sometimes the au pair may be responsible for preparing dinner for the girls. Other related chores would include keeping the children’s bedroom and play areas tidy and helping with their laundry. The schedule also includes some weekend or evening babysitting so mom and dad can occasionally get away together.

The au pair quarters is on the third floor of the house and includes a sitting room and an air conditioned bedroom. Our au pair shares use of a large second floor bathroom with the children. We wish our au pair to be a non-smoker and do not allow smoking in the house or the family cars by visitors and friends.
Our au pair usually has a car available in her free time. Shops, movies and restaurants, colleges, beaches and many other recreational attractions are within driving distance. In winter there is also skiing, both here in Southington and in the mountains a couple hours’ drive away. Our au pairs have enjoyed travel with friends (many of them also au pairs) around the Eastern and Western U.S., to Florida, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. They also enjoyed running and walking in the neighborhood and at area parks, and can swim and exercise at the local health club (YMCA) where the family has membership. Some of our au pairs have also had visits by their parents and friends from home.

With each parent involved in career pursuits, we had considered several ways to satisfy our child care requirements, and had heard many good things about Au Pair in America. We are just now completing our sixth year, and are very pleased with the program, each of our au pairs and the enhancement it provides to our family. The cultural exchange aspect is a wonderful benefit for both host family and au pair. By letter, phone and email, we are still in contact with our previous au pairs and follow their lives and careers enthusiastically.
We have had other experiences with both day care and live-out nannies and mother’s helpers. In-home childcare with an au pair in the family is very desirable. We welcome au pairs to feel that they are a part of our family. We have been very fortunate to find dedicated caregivers who love children and enjoy watching and sharing the process of their growth and learning. Ours is an active and joyful home and we are eager to find a young person to share in the excitement and challenges of life, and in helping to nurture our wonderful girls.

Photos:

Here we are: Helen, Barbi and Fiona (front l to r) Richard and au pair Simone (back).

Here are Barbi and Helen having a hug and a giggle.

And Fiona and Dad share a story which looks like it may have just a bit too serious a message.

We had a recent Sunday outing to a local childrens farm where the girls posed with popcorn snacks and then were captured unawares as they watched a musical performance.