Heidi and Jen-I love the fabric/bedding you have picked out!! I agree with everyone else that it best to spend on your $$ on other things, but of course you still want cute bedding.

Krissy-Avery is in daycare 3 days a week so I know how stressful it can be to find the right one. She is in a home daycare since that is what fit our needs, but I know a lot of the daycare centers around here now have webcams, do any of the ones where you are have those? It would be a little peace of mind.

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Krissy - Yep, it sounds like its different in Texas. I guess the regulations are diff in each state. The montessori school sounds like a great option. I hope it all works out!!

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I hadn't ever thought to even ask about webcams; I am going to start! It is hard to choose. I kind of wanted a home daycare, since I think he might get more one on one time (and it wouldn't be a different person each day), but all of the ones that have been recommended to me are already full for next January. It's hard only having lived here for a year and a half; I don't know anyone, and I want to find a place that was recommended to me--Im too scared to just pick out of the phone book. Ugh!
Jen--Did you say you already have your daycare picked out? Lucky!

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Krissy

Krissy-here in Texas, the Dept of Health's webiste lists all of the licensed daycare providers so you can see how long they have been licensed, if they have had problems etc. Does your state have that? I wasn't able to find a recommendation either so had to interview on my own and do observations. I also made sure to call the parents of the kids currently in her care. I have a friend who used to do daycare so she was helpful in letting me know what to look for or ask about.

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Geez, does everybody live in Texas

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Krissy

Krissy-MI has the same thing. I can check out our web to see who is licensed, violations etc. That's what I've been using to find a licensed day care. Our day care licensing is part of our social service department. I would check and see if you have something similar. I've heard a lot of states have it. It should be public information. We don't really have family close either to help out. Kind of stinks but on the flip side I know that we can ask our parents to come for a weekend if we need some time and not feel guilty because they haven't watched her all week already. I figure that'll be the trade off. I have co-workers who use their family for free day care but then when they want to do something on the weekends can't becasue they feel bad asking for the additional time. Don't feel bad about cutting corners. I started to panic this week when reality hit how much day care was going to cost. Now that we got the furniture taken care of my plan is to start putting money away to have a little cushion for the start of day care.

Jen-I'm finding that even our licensed church day cares are just as expensive. The one close to our house is probably going to cost $800 for full time. I was hoping to be more in the $600 range too. The good thing is that I won't need it until about March because I'm taking 3-4 months off work. But I definitely want to be checking these places out and secure a spot before I deliver.

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Krissy - We have 2 options right now. One is the church daycare that our best friends use & love for $600/month. No waiting list & a $50 deposit, so I have plenty of time to decide. The 2nd option is a nanny - one of my good friends is due in Aug & has hired an in home nanny. We would have to take Jackson to her house, but she would do a 40/60 split b/c of that. That would end up being about $1050 a month, but I love the idea of a nanny & its on DH's way to work. If I could find one for that price to come ot our house.....I would.
I need to figure out if I want to work full time or part time afterwards, which will also play a part. I really don't like what I am doing now. If I can find a job I like, then I think I could work full time. I guess we still have some time!

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Sounds like everyone is as worried about daycare as me! I am lucky; since I teach at a college, I get to choose my schedule and office hours. By contract, I have to teach 15 credits a semester (5 classes), but I am scheduling it so that I will teach two night classes, and a class in the summer (which my contract does not demand). That way we will only need part time daycare, for the 3 classes and 4 of my office hours. I end up working from home a lot, and I teach online for extra cash, but you really can't beat the ability to choose a schedule. It is going to save us a lot of $.

Well, we put a lot of the nursery together last night! It is SO cute; my parents are coming to town today, and I will try to post pics tomorrow. They are taking us to the Italian Steak House---we would never pay that much for dinner, so I am pretty psyched! The doc told me to eat more red meat; I guess I can start tonight!

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Krissy

Krissy and Jen-I work part-time and LOVE it! I really feel like I am getting the best of both worlds. I felt guilty at first for actually wanting to work (plus financially I have to), but I am over it now. Of course everyone has to do what is best for their family situation when it comes to working, staying home, etc.

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DH just got a nice cushy day job and will now be doing 9-5 so I think I'm going to do 6p-3a... I just don't want to leave him at a daycare and I HATE my MIL so there will be none of that. Period. She seems to be convinced that SHE's having a baby, and SHE gets to make the decisions. That one will be nipped in the bud. Anywho. I'm a night owl so it shouldn't be too awful to do it 3 nights a week and then work up once I feel comfortable. I'm also looking into getting a job in a daycare center. It's something I was looking into before and I think I would enjoy. Plus, Mommy will be down the hall instead of across town.

Oh and home daycare is out of the question. I have very STRONG reasoning for this.

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There are a lot of us here.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend; my parents just left a few minutes ago, and we got a TON done with their help. Put in a new basement door, cleaned up and dealt with the drain problem in the basement, and bought LOTS of nursery stuff. I am going to post some nursery pic's in the thread for those; we got a ton of pictures to hang and cute stuff to decorate with, but I haven't put any of it up yet. Also, we picked out material for the window shades, which don't have anything on them yet. Things feel like they are coming together, which makes me feel so relieved! And the room looks so cute!

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Krissy

Hi all. Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. The weather has been beautiful here in MI!

We started our registry yesterday! Of course now I cna't stay off of it. We've strated with the big items and I'll need to go back in fill in all the little things. Which leads me to this question:

What car seat and stroller is everyone going with?

I'm going back and forth. Trying to pick ones that aren't all girly becuase who knows we may done this again and don't want to have to worry about it. But I've heard mixed things about doing the travel systems as they tend to be heavy. So I was looking at doing separate car seat with a stroller that it'll still work in or even one of those framed strollers with a different stroller for when she's out of the car seat. There's just too many choices!

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Heidi- I registered at BRU with my sister's help. She suggested that I register for a travel system as well as a smaller, light-weight stroller for trips around the house (ie: walking the neighborhood, our Sunday walks to Starbuck's, etc.) I actually received both strollers at my family shower. Some questioned my decision to get 2 strollers, but when I explained that the travel system one will most likely stay in my car due to its heft, and the smaller one be used in everyday situations, or in DH's car, they seemed to agree that it was a good idea. My prints are fairly boyish. I think it's easier to go not-so-girlish than not-so-boyish, if that makes any sense.

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Heidi--We just registered on Friday, and we decided that we wanted two strollers, as well. My sister is giving us her stroller/carseat, but we still registered for an easy umbrella stroller. She advised us to do so; since the big strollers can be such a pain.

-Question for those of you who have successfully breastfed in the past: (I may post this on the mom's site, too) I wanted to register for some bottles, but am not sure how bottles work. I plan on breastfeeding, and will have to pump some, so are there only certain bottles that you can use? I am assuming that maybe the drop in bottles are easiest with breastmilk? Any advice would help; none of my friends/family breastfed and I am lost.

I have tons of work to do, but all I want to do is hang out in the nursery. I am so excited. And, we did it all for SO cheap. We figure that we can buy him some really nice furniture in a few years, when our financial situation is a bit more stable. In the meantime, we decorated the whole nursery (so far) furniture included for under $500! I am so proud of how crafty we have been! That should really help us to afford the cord blood banking and daycare without going broke. And I still think it turned out cute!

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Krissy

Heidi-I remember being so overwhelmed and spending HOURS in BRU trying to decide on everything (I tend to be obsessive about projects, lol). We have a travel system, but then later got a lightweight stroller too. The travel system stroller is great for when we are out as a family, neighborhood walks, trips to the zoo etc because it has all the "extras" but the lightweight is the one I use when I am out on my own going to the mall, etc. It is nice having both!!

Krissy-post pics of the nursery when you can, it sounds so cute.

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Heidi- I had the frame as well as the travel system. I left the travel system stroller at home because it was so much bulkier and kept the frame in my car and it was perfect because it was narrow and light. Once he was out of the bucket car seat (at like 7 months because he is a chub LOL) I put all that in the attic and started keeping my umbrella stroller in the car HTH

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