The biggest change has been for Blythe and her new schedule. Jason has decided that he is ready to get down to business and hammer out this PhD (applause!). While Jason has enjoyed and will miss his T/TH mornings with Blythe he feels that he needs a solid 40+ hour work week to really make progress. This means we had to find alternate arrangements as far as child care for Blythe. I would have LOVED to quit my job and stay home with Blythe full time, but lets face it a student salary isn't exactly where the money's at. I thought oh Blythe loves to go places and have a change of scenery so she would probably enjoy a mother's day out program. I did some research and got some strong recommendations for St. Anthony's which is just around the corner from us. I was very excited to go visit after talking to them on the phone about the music and outside time the kids had on a daily basis. This would have been a MWF 8:30-2:30 gig, but I would have worked 7:30-2:30 to make my 20 hours. I went for the tour and while I was hopefully that I would leave there thinking Blythe will have an excellent time here, but that wasn't the case. There really wasn't anything "wrong" with the place. It had a great ratio 2:1, it was clean, and they did have activities, but Blythe would be in the nursery which was tiny and stale and lined with cribs and just not the environment I wanted Blythe to be in. They also didn't have a good age range for Blythe. She would have been in the nursery because she was too young for the 18 month toddler room. I really felt like she was too old for the nursery and too young for the toddler room so there really wasn't a good fit for her. I left there a little discourage, but planned to visit St. Thomas on Friday.
THEN the best thing happened! Answered prayers. {Side Note: The Romansky's (couple from our birthing class) have a little boy just weeks older than Blythe who had been coming to our house on T/TH mornings while Thaddeus had class. Thaddeus had similar thinking to Jason in that he needed more time working in order to finish his PhD.} When Robyn dropped Michael off on Thursday she told me that her cousin had just moved to town for a PT assistant program offered at Blinn College and she had been applying at day cares for a job. My eyes immediately lit up because I knew what Robyn was thinking! Long story short (or at least shorter) Robyn's cousin, Mandie, is now watching Michael and Blythe 20 hours a week and doing an awesome job. I love that Blythe is interaction with someone her own age and that the 2:1 ratio. I love that Michael and Blythe spend 2 days a week at our house and 2 days a week at Michael's house so they have some variety. This really is a sweet deal and I couldn't be more thankful!
This is our second full week of the 'shared nanny' and Jason and Thaddeus are getting a lot done, Blythe and Michael are enjoying each others company and Mandy is getting to hang out with 2 wonderful toddlers instead of a room full!
Blythe is really moving these days. She is the funniest to watch when you get her in a wide open hard surfaced place (the grass slows her down). My mom and I learned this when we ventured out to the mall and let Blythe out of the stroller. She was literally running faster than her feet could carry her! She would run, run, run, then SMACK, face plant, laugh and get up again! It was fun to watch.
Blythe is also saying a handful of words (bye bye, hi, baby, all done, vroom vroom, dada, momma, ball, door) and signing as well! The most recent thing she has learned to sign is please and it is SO cute. It beats the heck out of the point and
Live is good in the Wilkes household. There are a few families who don't have it quite as good as we do right now so if you get a chance say a little prayer for the Robinson's, Whittakers, and Baby Sam
No comments:
Post a Comment