I hate to type it, but my maternity leave is coming to an end very soon. My first pregnancy, I took only 6 weeks off before working again and this time, I took 8 weeks — still not enough for me! I enjoy my job, but you know how it is 🙂 Life resumes and we do what we must. Unfortunately, that means I have to think about childcare for my precious new baby girl.
The thought of sending her off to daycare right away made me very sad. At 2.5, I am still a little heartbroken everyday when I drop Jacob off and that’s no lie (Here’s my post from his first week of daycare two years ago). Sure, it’s easier than it used to be but I almost always hate it. Will I still feel this way when he’s in 6th grade?!
So I want to avoid quadrupling that feeling by leaving them both there. I think a good nanny or a good daycare are equally fine decisions for any mom but here’s what I’m going to do.
The Nanny Plan
I planned to work with Abby at home for 4 weeks, until we hit the 12-week mark. They are still pretty sleepy until then — napping a LOT and giving me plenty of time to work before wake up, during naps and when my husband gets home at 3:30 (yes, that helps!).
My solution for after the 12-week mark is an in-home nanny three days a week. Thankfully, I found a college girl in my neighborhood who was looking for this exact position while she is home for the summer.
The timing worked out great and after meeting & interviewing her, I feel confident that she is a good choice to take care of Abby. It calms my anxiety to know I will be working in the next room much of the time and that I’m more aware of what’s happening with her throughout the day. Plus, I hope she and our nanny can form a good bond and she will get ALL the attention, as opposed to various teachers splitting their time between a lot of babies — never mind avoiding sickness!
If I feel like I need her more than three days, she is going to add more hours but I just don’t know how things will go yet. With Jacob, I had childcare for only three days a week until he was about 11 months old but that was pushing it. It gets a lot more difficult when they are mobile!
And then…Daycare
Our nanny goes back to school at the end of August, and that’s when Abby will start up at the same daycare as Jacob (he is staying in daycare and will not be home with us — definitely couldn’t get anything done if he knew I was around!). I’m already sad about it! But I love knowing that she will be in our home and I can see her anytime I want. For some reason, I just hate the image of all those cribs lined up in the daycare — it reminds me of an orphanage (silly I know…) Of course she will be in the baby room when she starts in September but at least she’ll be almost 6 months by then. Maybe my momma heart will be feeling more up to the task.
I actually prefer daycare to nanny when they get older because they learn SO much. I love my kids but I’m definitely not a teacher or crafty-type and feel like Jacob would be missing out on so much if he weren’t going to a daycare that functions pretty much as a preschool when they hit toddler years.
So that’s our plan! I know quite a few peeps who are going to be expecting baby #2 soon and thought you might be interested in our plan 🙂