daycare search

So I've been looking around for daycares for when I go back to work in April...which makes me really sad because I am going to miss her so much not being able to spend all day with her, but unfortunately the mortgage isn't just going to pay itself. Nor do we have parents that live nearby and are retired and ready to be baby caregivers all day long free of charge heh.

I went to go visit both large daycares and small family daycares (run out of someone's home) and decided that we'd probably go with the latter because I liked the feel of them better - many only have about 3-5 kids with 1-2 caregivers, so the atmosphere is definitely very different than in a large facility with 50 kids. Other advantages of home daycares are flexibility (if you happen to be running late one day, or need extra hours in the evening, for example) and cost. Of course, the disadvantage is that you need to do more background-checking than you would a large facility, and I'm guessing that the homes themselves are probably monitored less closely.

So after visiting about 7-8 places total, I've narrowed it down to two. One is near home and the other is near work. The others I didn't like for various reasons ranging from the condition of the home, or how the lady was handling the kids that were there, or just not cleaning the toys frequently enough (I am a clean freak and this bothers me a lot especially since babies put toys in their mouth all the time and then back on the floor etc). Anyway, so now I've been calling references and also the Community Care Licensing offices to get information on the two places I'm considering...so hopefully I'll have this taken care of by the end of this week.

Last night we had chicken soup, which I made because it was freezing in the house all day! I didn't go grocery shopping again so it basically has all the same ingredients as the shepherd's pie. Also I cheated and used some chicken broth as usual, since I'm too lazy to cook using chicken parts with bones. Here's the "recipe":

Saute chopped celery, carrots, and onion in olive oil. Add chicken thighs and chicken tenders. Throw in a big handful of chopped rosemary (this is what we have in the yard so it goes in everything). Stir in flour, then add water and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Let simmer for a long time and add a can or two of cannellini beans.

We had this with Trader Joe's 3-grain mix (rice, barley, and spelt) and a huge salad as usual (spinach with red bell pepper, broccoli, apples, pomegranate seeds, and avocado).

As for running...today and yesterday were just 6 miles w/ the stroller as usual. My default run, I guess. Tomorrow I may do hill repeats.