Oh I totally understand the dilemma, you already know her, she knows your routine, and that kind of comfort is genuinely hard to find again, especially with a newborn. The main thing I'd flag though is that going freelance means there's no agency backup if something falls through last minute, and you'd also need to sort out her Work Permit yourself since that's a legal requirement even for short-term hires. My friend rehired her previous nanny directly and said everything went smoothly, but she did mention it took some extra admin on her end compared to just going through an agency. Given that you've already had some friction with her before, I'd say go in with clear expectations set early, if the relationship was still good by the end last time, that's actually a decent sign, just make sure the terms (duties, timing, pay) are all spelled out properly this time around.
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