More sitter woes

So, as if the 3:00 pickup wasn't bad enough...on Thursday, the sitter informs me that Grandma fell and broke her wrist. They have decided grandma can't live on her own anymore and guess who gets to take care of her during the day...yep. She can't watch the kids AT ALL anymore starting in February...Panic central. Again. I literally just feel sick that we have to look for childcare once again.

So, here is where I stand right now with choices for childcare:

1) A national day care center. 420/week Yikes! Not to mention the fact that I have a very hard time taking my baby to a day care center (think Eliana would probably like it well enough though...) near my house (5 minutes away)
2) Home day care #1. 360/week. Owner is a grandma who decided to get licensed to earn some extra money while watching grandson with Celiac disease (supposedly family was worried other day cares wouldnt take him?) Won't do much preschool activities..sounds mostly like babysitting, won't transport kids anywhere (such as preschool). About 8 minutes from my house
3) SAHM of 2 boys 4 and 18 months. 225/week. Goes to my church, nice big house, plans on doing some preschool worksheets with the kids and going on a few outings every now and then. Downfall: 15 minutes from home, adds at least 20 minutes to dropoff and pickup.
4) SAHM of 2 boys 4 and 7.5 months. 300/week. Lives in a townhome, not a lot of space, but will go out do and lots of activities. About 10 minutes from home.
5) Home day care #2. not sure of rate yet, going for a visit tomorrow night. Highly recommended by a lady at MOPS. I have heard great things about it every MOPS meeting. Does a lot of preschool activities and works very hard on potty training. about 15 minutes away from home, adding about 20 minutes to dropoff and pickup.

I am leaning heavily towards #3, but am scared to commit, worried about the extra travel time, and just that another SAHM might up and quit like this one....what do you think??

Oh, and there is one other option...there is one woman who lives in the next town north of me who would watch the kids for 600/month AND pick them up to take them to her house...seems awfully peculiar to me...that is a 20 minute drive one way at the best of times...but not at the hours I would need....

And also, for reference, I currently pay 300/week, with good old sitter I would have paid 250/week and with horrible sitter I paid 325/week.

Big week for Jacob!

I have been trying to find time to blog since getting back, but we have been so busy, and so has Jacob!

On Sunday last week, I sat Jacob down in Eliana's crib so that I could change her diaper, when I turned around, he had pulled himself up to standing. He was so proud of himself, smiling and laughing and then boom! Down he fell (in the crib...so no need to worry). He is sure strong!

On Tuesday, his first tooth finally cut through.

And on Thursday, he said mama for the first time. He has no idea what it means, but I suspect he will soon since I get so excited each time. :)

What a week for Jacob!!

On another note, my new sitter has informed me that she wants me there by 3:00 every day. This has caused great distress for me. First, I can not guarantee to be home from school every day at 3. Some days I have parent conferences, students getting help, papers to grade, meetings etc. (school gets out at 1:50, we aren't allowed to leave until 2:20 unless of some emergency, and it takes 20-30 minutes to get to the sitter's) Second, this really means I can't go to the doctor or the dentist or what have you...especially my doctor because she is in the city where I teach while the kids are in the city that I live in and it is virtually impossible to pick up the kids and run back to the city I teach in in time for an appointment. As for the dentist, how can I go to an appointment with a 2 year old and infant? Very stressed about this. And thirdly, I had been coming home for about 30 minutes before picking up kids, to get dishes in the dishwasher or laundry in the washer, or check email, or just plain have a 20 minute nap when needed....I am very stressed about this. I told her that 3 was just plain not feasible on a daily basis, but I would try for 3:30. In the meantime, I don't want to change sitters again as we have had so many changes for the kids this year, but I will definitely be looking for someone new for September....