Another daycare

DH and I visited another daycare yesterday. I'm very lucky as there are 3 day care centers within a few blocks of my office (which is only 10 minutes from home).

We were very impressed with the first one we saw, and not as impressed with this one. Not that there was anything wrong with it, I just think we liked the layout and the environment of the first one better. Also, it didn't help that this one was only a few months old and there was a very small enrollment, made it feel a little like a ghost town rather than a thriving place. I'll be interested to see how the third one measures up - we're going next week.

Some of the things I liked about the first daycare - outdoor play areas, indoor play "town", very sanitary conditions, the "feel" I got from the people caring for the babies, all kinds of cool toys, great security, the hours: 6am-6:30pm, before/after school and camp programs for older kids. And especially the video cameras in every room so I can watch our little one while I'm supposed to be working! (Realistically, though, this will allow me to see when little one is waking from his/her nap and run over to breastfeed during lunch if I'm available).

What I didn't like was that the ratio of caregiver to infant is 4:1. How does one woman handle 4 babies??? I guess realistically some are sleeping at different times, but still... A part of me thinks that maybe a nanny would be better while the baby is real little (maybe 6 months or a year?), then a daycare once he/she can benefit from interacting with other kids? For some reason, though, a nanny makes me so much more nervous than a daycare. I'll have to think more about this as I explore the options.

What I really enjoyed, though, is the discussions with DH that night. We both had the same reaction - liked the first place better. And we talked a lot about what we liked and didn't like, and what kind of parents we want to be. We definitely have a lot of the same views on things, which is good to know. Something that's probably not talked about enough before people have children together.

And you know... I'm finding that I'm taking all the time I was putting into the fertility treatments (docs, meds, research, etc.) and now putting it into learning about parenting, child care, baby nurses, birthing. I just switched from one topic to another. I'm hoping that once the baby comes, I'll just be able to switch from all the researching to actually caring for our child.

It will be that easy, right? :)