Daycare searching

With less than 2 weeks left of my maternity leave, I am on a quest to find daycare. Yes, I know I waited until last minute-that's how I do everything in my life. As I have learned, it's a bit of nightmare. So I started searching on the Dept of Human Services website for registered day-cares. The first couple of places I called were actual centers and charged over $150-$200 a week. A WEEK! That's $600-$800 a month! That's a months rent, two car payments or 3 months of food! If I didn't have tens of thousands of in school debt, I could just be a stay at home mother with those prices. So, obviously centers are not the way for us to go.

Now, I start searching for in-home daycare. I look on Craigslist . This is where it gets interesting. Several of the ads are pretty vague. Some are too detailed, some are just creepy. I found several promising hugs, kisses and snuggles. Of course I want my baby to be loved but the thought of a complete stranger snuggling my daughter gives me the heebee geebees. Some ads specify which gender they prefer-why? I thought this was for daycare, not a personal ad. Anyways, in-home is much cheaper so I am determined to find someone. I had my first interview tonight.

The woman who runs the place is very nice. That's the only thing I liked. I arrived at the home the daycare is set up in. A mobile home in a park not more than a 10 minute drive from our apartment. The woman who answered the door was in her late 30's sporting a Marilyn piercing in her lip.I thought this piercing was only okay on college students or people who have piercings and tattoos all over the place, not middle aged stay at home mothers who have haircuts like the Mom from the Duggar's family on 19 Kids & Counting. As we started the interview, I quickly realized she wasn't what I was looking for. She wasn't registered with DHS, she had no CPR training and her home was, for lack of a better word, trashed. Like I said, she was nice, I guess she had that going for her.

This is a bit discouraging to say the least. Wish me luck on my future interviews.....