Saturday, July 18, 2009

From designer purses to designer daycare...

So there must come a time in every mom's life that she finally realizes it's no longer about the perfect outfit, accessory, or shoe... it's about affording quality, reliable daycare. I think I hit that point this week.

In this day and age, it's virtually impossible for Andy and I not to work. Like everyone else, we have bills, a mortgage, etc. So I'm finally hit with the age-old decision: in-home daycare or going to a center? Both have pro's and con's, it's just which pro's and con's I want to focus on. After being unsuccessful in lining up in-home daycare in our development I've expanded my search to include daycare centers as well.

Hence, the designer daycares... the perfect situation for us would be the daycare at Andy's work. It's a brand new, state-of-the-art, facility complete with a web cam at his desk for all day viewing of Lil P. The price tag? Almost as much as our mortgage. Now the inner voice in me is asking, 'okay can you really put a price tag on your child's care?' Not really, but we also have to be realistic. Having two payments a month that equal mortgage amounts is not really financially responsible either.

So what are new parents to do? I've been fighting an internal battle this week, hoping the right solution will fall into my lap without having to sacrifice too much. After all, I'm at peace with giving up the shoes, purses and accessories- but we still need to put food on the table!

I have some center tours lined up for the next couple of weeks and we'll see how things go... in the meantime, I'm going to return cans and bottles to add to the fund. Every little bit counts, right?

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