Our new Daycare

As I mentioned in my last Five For Friday post, Timmy and Tyler will be starting new daycare this summer as soon as my parents move to Florida.  I have literally been researching our options for two years and I was having a really hard time coming up with a situation that I liked.  I wanted Timmy to be able to finish preschool at United Christian Parish Preschool and I wanted Timmy and Tyler to be together when Timmy wasn't in school.  This eliminated Kindercare set ups, it just didn't make sense to me to take Timmy out of preschool for a year just to have him get into Kindergarten the following year.  But in home daycare was going to be problematic too, because the care giver wouldn't be able to pick Timmy up from school in the middle of the day. I was really getting worried about finding something that would work for us.  I was looking at places as close to my work as possible thinking that I might be able to run Timmy over after school but that wasn't going to be ideal either.  Not to mention that the quotes I was receiving were about to give me a heart attack!  I got to the point that I didn't know what else to do but pray about it, I pray regularly, but it's usually for other people or just being thankful for my blessings.  I am beyond blessed and rarely have a need to pray for this type of thing for myself, so this was different for me.

Mom invited me to a Mom's Night Out dinner through the church playgroup she takes the boys to and I decided last minute to go.  Suzanne, a woman we have gotten to know over the last few years through events and playgroup dates, walked in and I lit up, leaned over to Mom, and asked her if knew what kind of car Suzanne has (hoping to hear a minivan or SUV!).  Suzanne has an adorable son, Caleb, who is just a month younger then Timmy and goes to the same preschool already, and an adorable daughter, Stella, who is just a few months older then Tyler.  I knew Suzanne had recently become a stay-at-home mom and she had mentioned when I saw her at Christmas time that it was totally worth it, but the new budget was tighter then they were used to, obviously.  A little while into dinner another woman asked me if I'd found any daycare options that I liked yet, and I briefly started going over all the cons I'd come across.  Suzanne, hesitantly asked, "Well what would you like to find?" I answered that I was up for any situation that could fit us.  She rephrased, "But what would be ideal...?"  My response, as I restrained my excitement, was, "If you would like to discuss the possibility of you keeping my boys, I would be very open to that."  About a dozen emails and a week later, we had everything lined up for Suzanne to start keeping my boys in August!

We have had a few trial runs the last few months when Mom went to Ohio and the past week and a half while she got a new kitchen put in.  I am very happy to say that everything seems to be going well and that I could not be happier with the care the boys are getting.  Timmy is excited to go to Caleb's every morning and Tyler reaches for Suzanne right away!  Getting fun pictures throughout the day, which are breaking up this novel, is a nice perk too!  Suzanne and I have a lot in common besides our kids' ages.  When Mom first met Suzanne, she called me to meet them for lunch because she knew we would get along.  We are both married to our high school sweet hearts, her family is from the Akron area also, and we do get along really well.  In the past week we have gotten Caleb and Timmy on the same blast ball team as well.  I'm looking forward to continuing to all become good friends!  This is definitely an answered prayer!