Childcare is by far one of the most stressful parts of being a full-time working mom. No matter what type of childcare you decide on you will never have the perfect situation, believe me I have tried. Shortly after discovering I was pregnant I put Beck's name on waiting list after waiting list in search of the perfect daycare. I quickly discovered the perfect daycare does not exist but we did find one that we loved. However, this situation did not last, mainly because I am a neurotic control freak and also because I could not handle Beck being sick as such a little thing. Beck got RSV after a few weeks in daycare and needed to be home for at least a week. How do you take a week off after just being back from maternity leave?
I quickly decided to share a nanny with our friend Jordan and her adorable daughter Parker who is 6 weeks younger than Beck. This worked great and I was content. Beck was still getting socialization but never went off schedule and was never ever sick (told you, control freak for real). We found an amazing nanny who I trusted 100% and who was amazing with the babies. She weaned them off of being rocked to sleep, being swaddled, she took them for walks with my 90 lb. dog, I just loved her. Unfortunately she moved after being with us 6 months and I cried like a baby for days. Like I said no situation is ever perfect or can't be perfect forever.
We did find a new nanny who was wonderful and just as trustworthy. She had experience with twins and was more than willing to take them out and about which was new and exciting. But when Beck turned a year I noticed he seemed bored and frustrated and I thought he was not being stimulated enough or getting enough energy out during the day. I gave it about 5 more months and enrolled Beck in a neighborhood preschool two half days a week. The first month or so was rough and David and I questioned our decision constantly. As I mentioned before he got sick immediately, hand foot and mouth disease, and screamed his head off whenever I left him there (leaving me crying in the car all the way to work). But we both adjusted and now I am even thinking about adding more days in the fall because he loves it and as my pediatrician says Beck is a "stimulant driven, active child" read: wild boy.
Overall, everything has worked out for the best. I still have stressful days where Beck wakes up sick and I don't want him to expose Parker or our nanny takes the rare day off . But I would say we are pretty lucky to have the best of both worlds, Beck gets a ton of one on one attention and takes 3 hour naps in his comfy crib, and he also gets to go to school and paint and run around with 9 other babies his age. But mostly he is lucky because he's gotten to hang out with this cute girl every week for over a year now!
