Work at Home Update

My work-at-home mom update at the four month mark. How we're doing with swapping work schedules and staying home with Alice, plus exciting plans for the future. I get very emotional at the thought of leaving my baby with anyone else, but we'll just have to see what works for our family.

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• katulka2
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[NaturalMommy100]

I work 2 days a week and we have a babysitter for those days. We went with a babysitter because it would be cheaper, it's more personal, our kids would get more one on one attention, and it's in our own home. If you find the right girl, it works perfectly. We LOVE her. She's been with us since our oldest was a newborn. It takes a lot of stress off of me knowing I can go to work and completely trust who my kids are with and never question the care they are receiving.

[katulka2]

@NaturalMommy100 Thanks for sharing your experience. That does sound better than a group setting... especially since we use cloth diapers too, and a lot of daycares won't take them, so then we'd have another expense. How many kids do you have? And how did you find your sitter?

[sunnysmom31710]

You're doing a great job! I hope you are able to stay home with her or find a situation that works for your family. An Etsy shop sounds like it would be really fun. I love Alice's little hat! And her Halloween costume was so fun!

[katulka2]

@sunnysmom31710 Thanks, Amanda. I swear, hearing "you're doing a great job" means so much & made my day! Especially coming from you, because I really admire your creativity and devotion to Shiloh. :)

[Launderlife]

Such hard decisions. Best of luck w launching your business. I looove miss a's hat- you are very talented. Xo

[katulka2]

@Launderlife Thank you, Renae!

[alandamandamama]

@katulka2 I am pro-immigration and I do not like how people are treated in immigration jail and how they are separated and deported from children, how they do raids, how they racial profile, how people that have their citizenship who get arrested for something minor will just get deported. I do not like SO many things and think it is very similar to racism. It gets me worked up and angry how much mistreatment and horrible stories there are!! Does that make sense?

[Maiiven]

@katulka2 Thanks for that :) The shop has been interesting. Just this week I've sold 4 soakers but I'm still trying to find that point where I feel like I'm getting enough for my time/materials cost and making it an attractive price point for shoppers. I do have high hopes for the holiday season though.

[sunnysmom31710]

@katulka2 Aww, thank you! I really mean it. I think it's incredible how committed you are to giving Alice the best. I just know she will benefit greatly from that.

[RedUmbrellaMama]

Starting an ETSY is a great idea!! When I saw Alice's hat I was thinking I wish I could buy one. It's so cute! I used to be a nanny before I had my daughter. I now have so much more respect and gratitude for the families I worked for. Now that I'm a mom, I can't imagine leaving my little girl with anyone. I know how tough it is, but know that there are people out there who will love your sweet girl as much as you do (almost as much at least!). Trust your gut and it will all work out!

[NaturalMommy100]

@katulka2 If we liked the sounds of her, we had her come to our home at a time where my husband and I could both be there. We had 7 girls over and we asked them more questions and showed them a little how we do things to see if she was comfortable with it. We also got to see them interact with our son, which was the determining factor in who we chose. We found 3 we really liked. We chose one as our primary babysitter, one as a back up, and a third one incase the first two were not available.

[LittleLunarLullaby]

I crochet, too. All my hooks seem to have been stolen by gremlins, though.

[NaturalMommy100]

@katulka2 We have 4 children and are expecting our 5th. When our oldest was 12 weeks old we contacted the local college and high school and asked for the early education teachers to recommend girls from their classes. We had about 10 girls call and we did a brief interview over the phone with questions such as, "How do you feel about cloth diapering? What's your experience with infants?" Things of that nature.

[allynedlum]

@katulka2 I live in Australia. Here we have something called medicare which is the government health sceme. medicare covers all public hospital care, most gp visits etc. there is obviously private care which you need for private hospitals, dental and optical. private health care generally costs a family approx $50 a week but when you're covered, you're covered. medicare is free! :) Come live in Australia! hehe