Childcare

So my original plan was to take 6 months off after Jack was born. I had saved some money - not a ton, but enough to not freak out about returning to work right away. But then on Wednesday I got a call from the people I was working for before he was born and they offered me the chance to finish up the project I was working on before. They kind of made it really hard to turn down, since they're cool with me working essentially from home 3 days/week and it will just be til Christmas, which is kind of a great way to transition back into things. So I'm going to do it. Now of course, I have to figure out who will watch the child while I make this work. I had long thought that a nanny would be the most sensible option - both because then she could be at the house with him so if I'm working in my bedroom, I could still come out and see him when it's a slow morning. I could also save a pumping session or two if we were both in the apt at the same time, which is always a bonus. I also figured with my work schedule, where I have certain times where I'm not working conventional hours, that it would be easier to work that out with a nanny rather than figure out each day who could pick him up from daycare. So I figured nanny now, and then when he's a little older, segue into a daycare scenario.

So just for the hell of it, I went to check out one of the in-home daycares in my neighborhood. It was kind of horribly depressing. There was about 5 pack and plays lined up on one wall, the tv was blaring in the corner, and it just seemed rather bleak and miserable. Now I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I think it was, I think I was just kind of shocked at the idea of leaving Jack there for 9 hours a day a week from now. Maybe if he was a little older it wouldn't have seemed so bad? But it only strengthened my resolve to find a nanny, even though it's triple the price of a daycare. I'm interviewing one woman tomorrow and one on Tuesday, both come recommended from moms on the local parents group who've had them taking care of their children for several years each, so I feel good about that. But it's very strange to think about interviewing someone not to work with me at my job, but to work FOR me in my home. Someone that I'm entrusting to take care of Jack all day long. It's going to be strange. How do you know who's a good fit for your kid and how can you guarantee they're not insane and they won't leave him crying on the floor all day while they talk on the phone and watch tv?

I'll let you know how the interviews go...

And I'll leave you with a little series of pictures I took of Jack yesterday in our chair. He is nowhere near being able to sit up on his own, but if you prop him up against something, he can fake it reasonable well. Until he can't...

Doing great.

Starting to falter

Tries to recover

Going down

Fail.