What an effing battle it has been to find a daycare for Maddie. It has been overwhelming and eye opening.
After getting over the fear of putting Maddie in daycare, and having to relinquish control of my baby to a total stranger, we found a place. Her name is Laura and we absolutely loved her. Maddie had a great time meeting her as well. Laughing & shrieking.. it was a perfect fit... Until she lost her license after a surprise visit. There is a retaining wall at the back her property that has a hairline fracture in it. Since it's on her property, it has to be fixed before she can open up shop.
I spent Monday calling day care centers and in-home day cares from 10am-7pm. Places were either too expensive, extremely ghetto, crazy rules & non-open-door policies (wtf?), 15+ kids, I mean the list goes on. Im frantically leaving messages and trying to negotiate prices, as Im just getting back to work, when I get a message from a craigslist ad I responded to.
It was a lady named Karen. She had wanted to watch kids in her home, but up to 3 only. I was interested because of such a low child to caregiver ratio. She said that she no longer was able to provide child care, after getting a job offer over the weekend. However, she referred me to the sitter that she just placed her son with starting this week. Her name is Tammy and Karen said she loved her, and so did her son Tyler. (I think that's his name)
I called Tammy to get her rates and what they include, if anything. She quoted me one price, and it was way over our budget. I politely declined and we ended the call. A few hours later, she called back and offered a price that was within our range. I was elated. We agreed to meet at her place today and we hit it off almost immediately. Her house is better suited for children and she has her daughter there as helping hands.
All of the kids (4.. Maddie makes 5) were eating lunch and watching a learning video. Adorable. They've been learning shapes lately, so they were excited! Maddie loved Miss Tammy and let her hold her pretty much the whole time we were there. She didn't get upset or cry at all. I think she liked it as much as we did. The kids were getting ready for nap time so we told her we'd let her know by tonight if we would like her to watch Maddie.
I just called her and we are set to go. I am so excited that I feel so good about this person. I know it will be tough at first but Im doing what I have to to make a new life for us :)
Here's to new beginnings!