Day [S]Cares

For many years prior to this one, I have heard the woes and frustrations expressed by my friends, family and random parents lamenting over the search for "The One". And now, I can fully empathize and understand why.

Whatever you want to call these places - daycare, childcare, school, child center - the differences from one place to another, regardless of location and price, drastically differ.

Below, I impart what I've seen so far from some of my dayscares to dreamcares (without naming names, of course):

• When we're talking about daycares, franchises aren't all bad. You see consistency and stricter guidelines implemented at each that provide some reliability and assurance of quality.
• More money does NOT necessarily mean more quality or peace of mind and vice versa.
• Infant rooms MUST have clean floors. Clean means no outside shoes allowed, no wet substances and no food.
• Location, location, location.  I will be bringing two infants to daycare. I don't want them to be in the first room from the front door (that is also coincidentally NOT locked or attended by anyone).
• Show Me Organization! It goes without saying that you probably don't want your child sleeping on someone else's linens but how about eating your hard earned breastmilk? I don't want to see mismatched and disorganized food bins and fridges as much as I don't like to see strewn bags of belongings all over hallway floors.
• ABCs. I'm not talking about learning them. I'm talking about the credentials backing up the people I will be paying to watch and care for my new additions. I want to know that everyone is educated in childcare, certified in CPR and experienced in working with infants.
• Ratios. You never thought you'd have to know this math stuff after school was over, right? Well, brush up on your ratio know how. I'm not entirely comfortable if they tell me that they are always maxed out with the number of infants that the state allows and short on the number of caregivers consistently available at any given time.
• Open Door Policy. If I'm nearby, I'd like the option to stop by anytime to check in on my babies. I can understand if they'd like notice of a visit though. All in all, most places where you would be bringing infants have this policy in place.
• Schedules & Feedings. What time is drop off? What time is pick up? What is the feeding schedule? Now, to each facility's credit so far, each had fairly flexible pick-up/drop-off availability and tried to match your feeding schedule as closely as possible.

We have a few more tours to take and haven't committed to any one place in particular quite yet. When what you are most concerned with is cleanliness, professionalism and organization, it doesn't seem like a lot to ask for in a daycare but as I've already seen, those terms are highly subjective and open to interpretation.

I'm not rushing or worried about not finding "The One" (yet) but we'd like to be prepared and check this off of our list of things to do.

"A goal without a plan is just a wish."  ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Nursery

In the impending arrival of hurricane Irene here in NH, Ken busied himself in the nursery while I tried to be equally as productive on my laptop.

What happened?

Hubby finished ripping out all the walls of the nursery and bagged it all = Productive.
Hurricane Irene never showed = Annoying.

And me? I tried but became sidetracked with taking a shower, giving myself a manicure (see photo) and browsing the internet for bathroom vanities = Not So Productive.

Just for the record, even after perusing over a hundred of them, I did NOT find a vanity to love. Ditto with the medicine cabinet. (We're also renovating our master bathroom.)

Our power never went out (thankfully) because it would have derailed the destruction of all the brain cells I've wasted watching DIY and HGTV shows today.

Pictures to follow of the gutted nursery room. One day soon, it will transform into a lovely nursery that will hopefully keep content babies.

Today, I am 26 weeks and 2 days. Doctor is hoping babies will be happy where they are until 38 weeks. That's about 12 more weeks to go ... or another 3 months. Those are a lot of numbers but the smallest one seems the most daunting.

My next ultrasounds are scheduled in the week after Labor Day. We are especially excited to get to the 3D/4D ultrasound appointment with a wonderful ultrasound technician who we both really like and is much better than the ones at the hospital. I'll be sure to post those pictures as soon as they become available.

By the way, how did anyone manage to navigate bottles and breastfeeding paraphernalia?

Exasperated with looking, I just picked a few of each thing and vowed to panic after the babies are born.

One day next week (maybe even tomorrow?), I am determined to START my crib quilt. I've had the fabrics ready to go for over a month now and my sewing space is set up. Should I make progress, I'll post pictures to share.

Many more of everything to follow ... another day.

Preparation

Last weekend, Ken and I finalized the registry. Now I'm actually glad that I did most of it online because going to the actual store armed with a scanner with floor to ceiling baby items (you know how small they are, right?) was so overwhelming! I only wanted to touch and feel a few things such as the stroller, playmats and swings. We weren't there too long (much to Ken's delight).

The nursery is just being started now. We seem short on time but I think we will be able to finish it within a month. It could also be wishful thinking on my part. All the walls and ceiling must come down. The windows also need replacing and the hardwood floors installed. Ken is doing most of the work himself so the task is time consuming for someone who lacks such a commodity.

Babies, however, are oblivious to all of this business of preparation. They are happily kicking and punching (hopefully not each other) within. I can feel their movements all the time now and even though I don't really know which one is which, it's comforting to know that they are active.

Have we already talked eggplants last time? In the sixth month, that's about the size of these little guys. I can't imagine how much room they now have in there. In an attempt to gain more in utero real estate, they are stretching my stomach and I have the stretch marks to prove it (much to my dismay).

By the way, as an aside, stretch marks are not totally preventable and lasering them afterwards is the only way I've found (other than fading over time) that will totally remove them.

Ladies who've been there, there now or plan to be there:

Stretch marks are part of the pregnancy journey and should you be part of the majority that get them, it isn't as traumatic as you might think it will be. Now, I won't be modeling my bare buddha belly for a portrait either but I'm comfortable in my skin ... even if its a little dinged up.

Measuring Up

Yesterday, I had my weekly doctor's appointment to check on the babies' development and progress. Nothing out of the ordinary (which for this lady is great news). Blood pressure is excellent. Both heartbeats are beating in normal ranges. There is much more movement down below especially after mealtimes and when I want to sleep. I suppose this will start breaking me in to the sleep deprivation that is to come!

They decided to measure me (just for laughs) and no surprise that I am currently measuring the same as a woman with one baby at THIRTY-FIVE weeks! 

That is a THREE and a FIVE (35), folks!

It explains the ligament pain, back aches and puffy feet. I also feel about 35 weeks along but still have a ways to go before I hit that magic number.

For now, I'm appreciating each day, every movement and even every pain as a part of the collective joys of pregnancy. No one can quite explain the experience so I'm blessed to be a part of this "club".

And just so you know, even though I've complained that nine months (about 270 days) seems like a really long time to make a baby, it takes an elephant SIX HUNDRED PLUS days!! That comes out to something like twenty months or almost two years.

Comparatively, I'm quite happy with nine months.

Babymoon

If you're unfamiliar with this term, don't feel bad. I only came across it myself a few years ago while browsing through pregnancy sites.

The term is intended to loosely describe a final hurrah for couples before and/or during pregnancy prior to the birth of the baby to enjoy a final trip together sans baby ... or in our case, kids. The overall general notion of this is that once they enter the picture, its a totally different kind of vacation. Then again, so is this "babymoon".

Most vacations I think of involve tropical locale, beaches, nightlife and most certainly more than a few libations to ease any jetlag and calm the senses.

Babymoon vacations can still involve a tropical locale and beaches but not so much a nightlife and forget the libations. My nightlife consists of a warm shower before putting on PJs and sipping on milk or water while enjoying a late night and much needed snack.

So, there you have it folks. Nothing terribly exotic or exciting about a babymoon because the most exciting part takes about nine months to produce and sometimes the person producing needs a break from all this 24/7 work she goes through.

Ken and I just booked our last getaway (aka Our Babymoon) to The Essex in Vermont. If you've never been and looking, we both highly recommend it! http://www.vtculinaryresort.com/
We're considering it both our babymoon and anniversary rolled into one. Got to multipurpose with double the not so tiny expenses for our new arrivals!

We were there just this past February over Valentine's Day and LOVED it!
It will be something new and old to enjoy the drive during fall season (my favorite season).

We're taking my parents along this time around. Apparently, there is a spectacular golf course up there that everyone except me will be playing on but I certainly won't feel left out. I'll be at the resort spa for several hours. We should all make it back to our rooms around the same time with no harm, no foul...just in time for our dinner reservations.

Yes, at this stage of babymaking, all I'm planning and thinking about is my next meal or snack.

Sad, but true.