Back to Work I go

So I got a new job and finally get to start it. I'm doing Direct Care work part-time. This will be good cause it fits around my school schedule this fall and I still get to spend alot of time with Gretchen during the day. Its sort of like what I was doing at the group home but with only one client.

Back when Gigi was about 6 weeks old and I was here alone I went to the library often. I would check out books about learning to be a mommy and things to that nature. Two books come to mine now. One was a book about transitioning from working woman to stay at home mom. It really tried to sell the stay at home mom job to you. It made you feel that it was your duty as a parent to stay at home with them. The other book was written by a mother urging parents to go to work to save there sanity. Both books I can totally agree with even though they are complete opposites. Staying at home for most families just makes more sense finacially. When you think about the extra time you spend getting you and baby ready, cost of daycare, cost of gas to and from daycare and work, worry of baby getting sick and having to leave work, it really is worth staying at home. On the other hand being at home all day with a screaming baby, no other human contact most days, and a sense of failure, and financial worry can be depressing.

Despite out finances right now I am grateful that I got to stay at home with Gigi for the first year. Come fall between school and work I will be working full time. However I will still get to spend a lot of time with my girl. Putting her in daycare would have limited her. I went to a daycare and in the babyroom all you saw was crib, crib, crib, swing, swing, swing, bouncer, bouncer. I totally understand the workers needing this stuff however there was no floor space for a baby to get down and explore. At home Gigi is pretty much free. The majority of the day she is on the floor playing and exploring.