The daycare drama

We planned to put Layla in a home daycare until we could get into a regular daycare (which we have been on a wait list for since 6 weeks pregnant). The home daycare needed approval from the city to start Layla, but 2 weeks after we had wanted to start she still hadn't gotten the approval so we started looking for an alternative. We interviewed some nannies, but after a long week we hadn't been able to hire anybody we liked. That was on Monday. On Monday night, the home daycare called to say they had gotten approval and we could start Tuesday. But on Tuesday the assistant couldn't make it, so the plan was to come back Thursday (although I went anyway and had a good morning there). On Tuesday night, we got a VERY unexpected call from one of the daycares in our neighborhood that they had a part-time spot starting in mid-May (when Layla will be 2 months). We were elated and took it immediately. I called the home daycare to rearrange our schedule so they could fill in the rest of the week (which they agreed to) and reconfirm we would start on Thursday. Everything seemed to be working out great.

But the home daycare continued to be a problem. On Thursday the main person at the home daycare was sick, and they called to tell us not to come. On Friday we took Layla and dropped her off, but then got a call 3 hours later to come pick her up because she wasn't taking a nap and they were worried about her. When the Studly Hubby got there to pick her up, he was able to get her to sleep before he even left, and we wondered whether they had really tried very hard. Friday night I called them to find out what had happened and I was told that perhaps this wasn't going to work out - and we agreed; whatever the problem, we hadn't been having much success with this place.

So now we are stuck again, waiting until the other daycare starts and trying to figure out how to balance the part-time daycare we were lucky enough to get with our two full-time jobs. With help from a friend and some flexibility in our jobs we are hoping it will work out. I'm pretty annoyed to be in this situation. Plus now I have a lot of anxiety about our next daycare experience. Hopefully it will be better (I think it will be). It turns out getting childcare in Seattle is as hard as they say it is. Ugh.