The girl next door

Back in November, Jeff and I started thinking more about childcare and realized we needed to get on the ball with exploring our options. It’s difficult to think about only being with our baby for such a short time (six weeks) before giving up my stay at home mommy status while on maternity leave. But, off to investigating childcare for us it was since the day we’d need one of those options would come before we knew it. We found out rates through a friend for an in-home daycare in a neighboring city at the start of our search and had gotten a follow-up email sent out to them to figure out how the whole process was supposed to work. Do we discuss details over the phone? Do we come to visit first, or is visiting a waste of time for both parties before discussing details over the phone? But what if everything sounds great on the phone and we find out the commute ends up being too long? Worse, what if we just don’t like what we see when we come, then wouldn’t the time on the phone be a waste? Obviously we had more than a few questions.

Later that week, we stopped by our neighbors’ house and the daycare subject casually came up. That conversation was a pretty short one since the only thing we had accomplished at that point was sending an email out to one place. The next night, our doorbell rang and our neighbor, Mary, who we had just been with that night before was at our door. (At times I dislike using the neighbor title because it almost negates the fact that we consider some of our neighbors a few of our greatest friends first and foremost.) We chatted briefly and then she told me she wanted to talk to me about something. Did it irk her when I egged Matt (her husband) on by continuing to talk politics knowing that he gets fired up on the subject? Was she sick and tired of the bundlebreeder over-serving himself on their wine? She proceeded with saying she didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable or obligated and I could definitely say no without any hard feelings. Hmmm. I wondered if the confused dog feeling I had on the inside showed on the outside.


I was taken aback not knowing what to expect and then she says, “I would like to offer childcare for your baby.” Gasp! I could go on and on about how the conversation progressed because I remember it vividly, but I know I should give the short version (which clearly I’m terrible at!). My shock quickly turned into tears of joy and gratitude and I think I hugged her at least ten times as we finished talking. I can't leave out one of the cutest parts: she told me she could supply me with references if I wanted. As if her fabulous kids, Katie and Patrick, didn't speak volumes as to what kind of a job she'd do with our own child! Wait a second...Matt and Mary did say they moved to MN because of Matt's job, didn't they? Goodness, what exactly did they mean when they called it a "job transfer"? Ha! Totally kidding.

Jeff wasn’t home, so the whole time I’m just dying, wishing he was hearing this discussion first hand. I mean, how unbelievably lucky could we be to have this proposition on the table? Did I even have to ask Jeff or could I just scream that we accepted? Knowing my husband and our mutual feelings about Mary, I probably didn't need to ask him, but Mary and I left the conversation as Jeff and I would talk about everything (my gosh, thank you so much...hug) and we’d nail down some details (does your family think you are crazy?...hug) and get back to her soon (are you sure you really want to do this?...hug). Then I gave her the tenth hug, told her again how I just couldn’t believe this and how thankful I was for her offer and we parted ways.

Our probe into childcare options came to a screeching halt that day and we are very happy to announce that Mary will be taking care of our baby when the time comes for me to go back to work! We’ll do a six month review to see how everything is working out, but knowing we'll have someone who we adore there with our baby at the most difficult time to be without him or her, in the very beginning, is a blessing. Did I mention she is our next door neighbor? Just when you all thought the arrangement couldn't get any better. Grandma Tricia will also help in the summer for a couple days a week which is so wonderful too. She had offered to help with more days, but we basically told her she could not completely give up her favorite pastime of golfing during the week while on her much deserved break from teaching. Reluctantly, she agreed. :) The bundle is definitely spoiled already.

Ever since we figured out all the details with Mary and made the decision final, Jeff and I have constantly been talking about how fortunate we are to have her doing this incredible thing for us. We'll never take for granted the generous offer or the piece of mind we've been given. Even though going back to work will undoubtedly be tough at first, the transition will be so much smoother knowing our baby is in such good hands while we're away.