Day Care- The not so bad option!!

It turns out the business was busier than I wanted to believe and I'm recently found myself without my ever so reliable, superhero, babysitter. I posted want ads and looked up preschools and finally found my child care answer.

It's a program locally called PDO or "Parent's Day Out". It mostly caters to the stay at home mom that needs time here and there to take care of errands or part-time work. In my situation there couldn't be a better solution! I have both the kids attending now on Tuesdays and Thursdays for four hours a day.

Certainly, this gives me a good amount of time to work hard on my job, but also gives the kids a bit of time to hang out with other kids their age. This probably is more important to Claire than Sammy, but it's the most important for me.

Giving me this break to do my job well is the best gift I could have given myself. I still have the kids nearly full time at home and I couldn't be happier with the help I get when they are away.

I guess I was unfair when I thought about daycares in the past, but there isn't anything better (at least for me). I guess I shouldn't be so quick to judge when I hear about what other parents are doing with their kids. Experience is the only way to know if any particular situation is going to work out for you and your children. I've learned this is a good one.

Full time again...

Lately my florist business is taking a slow down. I still have weddings and corporate events, but not enough to sustain a full time nanny. This means that by default I am now a full time stay at home mom, working in the evenings to keep the finances flush. Anyone who tries to say that staying at home is a releaf next to working a 40 hour work week must not have young children. This is hard! Keeping my toddler engaged while maintaining a clean diaper and a full belly for my baby is terribly time consuming. Those moments when all is well and both kids are happy is horribly boring. I've found the only way to keep everyone sane and, even more, happy, is to have activities. Sometimes Target is the best I can do, but often times we can do better, by creating crafts, going to the park or meeting with some "friends" Claire's age. Certainly, even on a good day this is exhausting. I'll vote with the other working mom's that it makes a mom happier to be productive and away from the kids from time to time. Let's just hope I can make it through the slow winter and still be sane enough to work in the spring! Wish me luck!!!