chicago moms, suggestions please

[sirensrise]

hi, we are moving to chicago in july. i need major help with finding a nanny/sitter. i start working in sep. about 20 hours a week, but mostly nights and weekends. (except sept i will have to go to work daytime , still not 9-5 every day though)we will be at 4000N in the lakevew area. how do i find a babysitter? dh is on call every other week, so that means that every other week, the babysitter is on call whenever i am not home, she will come when i need to leave and stay till dh comes home, and then she can leave but be oncall until i get home, just in case dh has to leave. does that make any sense? the weeks when dh is not on call, she only need to stay till dh comes home.
any suggestions is welcomed! thanks
on the other note, i am looking for pediatricians and cleaning ladies too! :)
thanks

[C99]

Hi.

For babysitters, I recommend placing an ad through sittercity.com and chicago.craigslist.org. I know several people who have found great babysitters this way. I don't know of anyone who has done the "on call" situation, but I am sure that it's not unheard of!

Pediatricians... Pratically everyone I've met on the Northside goes to one of about 3 or 4 ped practices, so those are a good jumping off point: Lakeview Pediatrics, Town & Country Pediatrics, Weissbluth's group (I can't remember the name, but it's at Northwestern). I can't remember the other names.

Cleaning ladies... I went by a recommendation, but cleaning ladies seem to start off doing a great job and get lazy over time, so I ended up not using my original one. I have had great success using the ladies sent by Clean Sweep.

Other resources for moms in Chicago: Sweet Pea's Yoga Studio in W. Lakeview offers mom-and-baby yoga and busy baby classes. Beth (lizamann) does a sling workshop there actually. Northside Parents Network, http://northsideparents.org/index.asp and Chicago Mothers, http://www.chicagomothers.com/

[StaceyKim]

good luck with the move!
We used to live in Lakeview in the Southport/3000N block.
I take DS to Town and Country Pediatrics and I like the practice.
I found my nanny through an agency and I used several when I was doing my search. If you need names of nanny agencies I can provide them to you. As for cleaning help, word of mouth works best or Elizabeth's Cleaning Service is pretty good if you need someone right away.
HTH

[Jen in Chicago]

Daycare, you can call Caring Hands Learning Center. They have a in-home placement service. 773.871.5863. I admit, they are not the best business women, but they are great loving care providers. We use their center. Which is around 4400 N Broadway.

Ped's... Weissbluth's Practice is at 680 N Lake Shore. It is The Northwestern Children's Practice.

Cleaning Lady, we have an independent woman and I don't have her number here at work. Sorry!

You are going to love the Windy City! I have been here 11 years, and am sad about moving later this year.

[wagner36]

I can't help you too much with the sitter (our sitter is great, but she just comes once a week). Your schedule sounds confusing!! Finding someone to work kind of unpredictable hours can be hard, so I would suggest calling a service and see what they can do.

I love Town and Country Pediatrics - their website is www.townandcountry.com. Weissbuth's practice is great, but it annoyed me that you have to pay in cash and submit your own insurance claims. I don't have time for that! Town and Country has a good location, and they have parking, which is a huge plus.

Cleaning ladies: we use the Dust Connection (773-276-4200) and have been very happy with our service.

Good luck! We live just west of Lakeview in Roscoe Village, but we're moving next week! I'll miss our neighborhood....

[Jen in Chicago]

FYI for Weissbluth's practice they submit our insurance claims, we don't have to pay cash. They must have changed something.

[sadie427]

Hi, welcome to Chicago, our babies were born one day apart! The babysitter job sounds ideal for a grad student. I'm on the other side of town, on the south side, here we've had luck posting notices at the U of Chicago Campus. But I've also heard that there's a job board at Moody Bible Institute downtown, even if you are not Christian/not religious, apparently there are a lot of young women who graduate there with some childcare experience who are looking for a job for a few years. My friend has a great sitter who is a grad student at the School of the Art Institute as well. From what I've heard and experienced, it's hard to find sitters too far in advance of when you want them to start, so you should be fine starting to look when you get here.

We just started seeing a pediatrician named Laura Mikhail at a Northwestern-affiliated practice at 1030 N Clark. We really like it so far, she is great, took a lot of time with us. We were actually seen EARLY which was unheard of where we used to go and wait for an hour. And they have drop-in hours every morning if your kid is sick.
Good luck w/ the move.

[jennifer13]

Just wanted to second the sittercity.com recommedation. I found several excellent sitters there, I think it's a particularly good resource for looking for part-time childcare.

Can't help you with the rest, not thrilled with my ped, and have no cleaning help!
Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03

[wagner36]

Jen,
You don't actually see Weissbluth, do you? Maybe it is just HIM that you have to pay cash for? If you can even get an appointment, that is.....

One of my clients lives in the building where his office is and uses that practice, and I swear that she just told me about a month ago that they had to pay cash for the appointments with him, even though the office accepts their insurance. Weird.

Not that it really matters, but I always find it very intriguing when doctors only accept cash or when you make the check out to the actual doctor. We have to pay Charlie's pediatric urologist directly by check, and it always seems so strange to me! I don't know why....

[wagner36]

You know, I've also heard nothing but fabulous things about Dr. Laura. Everyone seems to love her!

[Momof3Labs]

I second the suggestion to try a college student - a college schedule sounds pretty compatible with what you describe.

[Sarah1]

We go to the same practice--it's called Child & Adolescent Health Associates, affiliated w/Northwestern and Children's Memorial. They are FANTASTIC. We primarily see Dr. Wilson, who we LOVE, but we have also seen ALL the other doctors and they're all wonderful, empathetic women. Also, as Susan touched on, we are never kept waiting there, and they have really convenient walk-in hours.

As for babysitters... I have had great luck w/students from Moody. You can call the student development office and post an ad. I've also found great sitters through craigslist.org.

I use Dust Connection for cleaning, and I really like it.

Good luck w/your move!

[sirensrise]

thanks everyone for the suggestions! i checked out the docs you recommended with a website, they look great! i am thinking about the Weissbluth group.( i like his book, eventhough we did not really do CIO)
the sittercity definitely is a great idea! my friends said i should have 3 sitters on rotation, just in case one cant make it, what do you think?
i am sooooo excited to move to chicago for good.(i was there for 6 months for work before dd was born)maybe we will cross path in the windy city!
we will be in wriggleyvill/ lake view area! 4000n? or so!

[sadie427]

I really did like her, the one time we've met so far. She's quite young, but she's had good training coming from Northwestern and really seemed to be up on all the latest info.

[mharling]

Check your e-mail. :)

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
[link:www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b370a2992536|Birthday Pics!!]