Day Care

I figured that finding the right day care environment would be difficult. There are so many decisions and things to look for - in-home vs. center, how many kids, do you like the provider, does it feel safe, etc, etc. Knowing that I won't be able to stay home with our little one full-time, we feel that in-home is our best option, at least for the first couple years. I started out by asking friends in the area if they had any recommendations and making calls. It didn't surprise me that most of them didn't have an infant opening, but they were willing to give me names of other providers who might. After making about 15 calls, we finally had six that would have an opening available next year for an infant. Out of those we interviewed five (one filled her opening before our interview). Once the interviews were finished, we narrowed it down to two providers - both charge the same amount and are within a 5-minute drive of our house.

On our gorgeous drive this weekend, we made the decision to go with the younger of the two providers. No, it wasn't because of her age, but we just felt like the environment that she was creating for kids was a better fit for what we wanted. She has five years experience as a nanny for a family and three years experience in a day care center. So, she has provided care for children ages six weeks to five years old (including her 2.5 year old son) and has experienced both in home and a center environment. Jason and I also really clicked with her and her husband which makes us feel even more comfortable.

I know that no matter what it's going to be hard to drop him/her off and the longer I stay home, the harder that might be, but I'm very happy with our decision and glad to have another task completed before Baby P arrives.