"Fall"ing into place

One big item on my to-do list for this summer has been to find care for Charlie for the time when I head back to school this fall. As a full time student, I find that I do a lot more piecing together of my schedule than I would if I were working the same amount of hours at a job. School is good in that it does allow some flexibility with when I study, and how I work out my out-of-class time. Still, my load is full, and my school days are jam packed this coming semester. I'll be leaving the house at 7:30 a.m., and not getting home until 9:30 p.m., with very few breaks between classes. Ugh...I am definitely NOT looking forward to two entire days where I won't see my little boy at all when he's awake.

However, I am well aware that it could be much worse. My sister is a full-time working mom, and I see how hard it can be for her at times during the school year, especially when she's just going back. Plus, that's my future...the life of a FT working mom, and I know there are aspects of it that are not going to be easy.

Having said all that, I am feeling very comfortable with our arrangement this fall, and very thankful that it's worked out the way it has. One of my oldest (length of friendship, not age of person) friends, Nancy, lives only two houses down from us. She and her mom, Sharon, were among the first people to meet little Charlie after he came home. I could tell immediately that Sharon was enamored with the little guy as soon as she saw him. A baby person definitely knows another baby person when she sees one! When my friend told me a few weeks later that her mom had been offered an early retirement package from her full-time job, and that she had mentioned possibly watching Charlie for us...well, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. A few weeks after that, I called Sharon, and sure enough...she wants to keep Charlie for us!

I can't even begin to tell you the feeling of peace that came over me as I talked to her. She's even willing to come to our house so he can still be in his own environment, which was not something I was counting on. She sounds thrilled to be able to be spending some of her time with a little one...she sounds the way I used to feel when I would be asked to care for my friend's babies, or for my nephew/nieces. I will miss my sweet boy on the days he's with Sharon, but I will not worry about his well being, and that is truly priceless!

On top of having worked in one for two-and-a-half years, I went to one daycare center back in June, and I just can't do that. I always said I would never leave a baby in a daycare center when I worked there myself, but as a parent...it's completely different! I'm not making any judgments about people who use daycare centers, own them, or work in them...but that arrangement is simply not for us at this point in time. I could envision when Charlie is a little older/more able to be self-sufficient and tell me about his days that we might do that, but I wouldn't feel at peace at all if I had to leave him at a daycare center this fall. I'm certain there are some excellent centers out there, but my heart just isn't in it while Charlie is this young.

It's also working out nicely because Michael was able to work out his job #2 schedule so that he can be home on the evenings I'm in class, and he has a fair amount of flexibility with his day job as well. They are letting him work from home one day per week, which means Wednesday afternoons when I go to my practicum class, Charlie's Daddy will be at home with him. Now if I can only get the boy on a schedule that includes regular afternoon naps (right now he is still sleeping in shorter spurts throughout the day) we will be golden! Oh, and we will definitely have to find some way to work in time for Charlie's Mommy and Daddy to see each other as well...yikes!

Summer is quickly coming to an end. To spice up this boring post a little, I shall leave you with a couple more pictures of Mr. Baby. He is growing SO MUCH right now...every single day he looks bigger to me, and he seems to learn something new every day too. Such a tremendous blessing!!!

Charlie and Cousin L. out for an evening walk to the park!