You've got to be kidding me....

I started to blog because I was upset and rushed to find a day care for the boys when I had to get back to work from maternity leave. So starting a blog helped to alleviate my feelings of anger with letting me vent in an open forum. Whether anyone read it or not didn't matter. I was able to get out what I wanted to say and not have it bottled up inside. Which is what I think Blogs are the greatest thing for.

I had to rush to find a day care because the babysitter that I had used prior to getting pregnant with little monster number 2, decided to let me know on a Wednesday (prior to the Monday of my return to work), that she would no longer be available to babysit my boys. Now mind you, I had been on leave for quite some time because I had issues with the pregnancy and ended up staying home for the last 6 months of my pregnancy. So I didn't need her to watch Glen. He was home with me, why would I pay her to watch him when I'm home collecting disability. Money was tight enough as it was. And even though we didn't pay her that much money.. it was still money we didn't have to just give away when I was available to be home. Granted I had physical limitations where Glen was concerned, but he turned out to be low maintenance in that department. I had Connor and then was needing to go back to work after 8 weeks of being home with him and Glen. Disability was over and done with and we were (and are still) very broke. I called her up weeks in advance and asked her if she was ready for both the boys. She said she would let me know. She did. With very little notice. That she was going to sew for a friend that was offering her a more permanent gig and she wouldn't be home to watch the boys during the day. OK. If you need the money you need the money. But in reality she was only going to be making 40 dollars more doing the sewing, compared to what I would have been paying her BUT, her choice, and that's ok. It's her time and how she wants to spend it. She could have given me more time to find a sitter or day care, but she didn't.

I found a day care. A pretty nice one. People are ok and the set up worked for us. As did the price!
There's been moments where you want to shake the workers at the day care and find out what planet they hailed from. But all in all. Pretty fairly pleased. They have structure, they have little lessons, they have many other children to learn with and socialize with, they have outings and events. They give the kids a preview of what school life might be and I like that. Glen even performed songs with his little 2 year old group on stage at a little theatre and he loved it. They have the caregivers themselves that can instill in my boys how to respect people other than your own family. Which when they are your own kids, they will respect strangers quicker than they will their own parents. Anyway. The boys have finally settled into day care on a level that works for us. Glen is a little off his comfort zone since they moved the building he is used to being in, but he'll adjust and be fine in another week or two. Till then, I will bring him and he'll throw his fit at the door and after about 5 minutes join his group. But they are doing very well.

I received a call from my old friend the babysitter. Seems she's doin ok, but has had issues again with her feet and is home on disability. She debating whether or not she wants to return to working full time in the evenings (like she did before, that's how she was able to watch Glen during the day), since her job would put her on her feet all night long. And at the moment she's having too many issues with her feet. So much so that she's back on short term disability. She makes the comment how she's babysitting two kids during the day and charging $25.00 a day for each kid. And she's been doing this for a while now. And it's got to be $25.00 a day for each kid cuz she's got bills to pay, so that would have to be the price for everyone. Seems the sewing gig didn't turn out as long term as she probably hoped it would.
So she's telling me how she's watching so and so's kids and how she's considering not going back to work and just doing the babysitting thing full time for people. But she would need to have one or two more kids in order to make her bills every month.
I basically keep her at bay and say that her pricing isn't unreasonable considering it's only a little less than what I'm paying now. She then leads in to say how with me it would be $40.00 a day for both boys and not $50.00 a day for both. I didn't respond with anything to that. She continues to tell me about the kids she is watching and the friend that is their mom. And the other child she watches on Saturdays.
I'm sitting here listening to her over the phone telling me all of this and saying to myself, 'you've got to be kidding me.. you can 't be serious??'
Thinking to myself, 'I sure hope you don't want me to suggest that I bring my kids to your house again after you bailing on me last minute. I sure hope you dont expect me to take my kids out of a structured environment where they are progressing and learning with other teachers and children to come to your home and possibly do nothing but watch TV and play with toys all day and not learning anything that might prepare them for preschool or Kindergarden?'
But I don't say this to her. I let her continue to tell me the latest news about the kids she's watching and how she's feeling and blah blah blah....
I used to have such a hard time with her. She's older and used to doing things her way. Raising her kid and her friends kid her way. She didn't do a horrible job of it, which is why I asked her to babysit to begin with. But we would clash many times about how I wanted things done compared to how she was doing them. And of course I was always wrong and she was always right. I remember having to take so many days off of work because she wasn't feeling well and couldn't watch Glen that day. I used up the majority of my vacation days last year just because of her and her not feeling well enough to babysit.
Now tell me, WHY in the hell would I go back to asking her to babysit my boys when I know that we will but heads again on SEVERAL different things concerning the boys? And that was never pretty and always putting the "friendship" on the line.
WHY in the hell would I have her babysit when I would end up using all my vacation time on having to babysit my own kids because she couldn't watch them that day, because she didn't feel good or had a doctors appointment?
Not to mention she's not all that physically well enough to watch several children and keep up with them. I mean she is home with an issue with her foot and not able to walk much. How stupid do I really look.. I mean COME ONNNNN!!!

I let her know that I know she's still got my stroller and that I'll be there to pick it up sometime soon. I'm sure she's used it for the kids she's watching now, which means I need to pick it up sooner rather than later. I don't want her breaking it considering it was like new when we got it from a cousin.

We ended the phone conversation on a very happy no problem kinda note. Without any confirmation as to whether or not I'd bring my boys back to her to babysit. I left that alone considering my initial reaction is to tell her that she's f*cking out of her mind to think I would!
When the time comes, I will just tell her that the boys are settled at where they are and the environment is more of a structured school like that I want them to continue to have. They like their caregivers as well.

And most importantly, I'm not going to uproot them again from their daily routine just so that we can get screwed on occasion by her again. They need the routine they have now and it's working out just fine. I'm not going to change on them again.

I don't understand people sometimes.. I just don't.