It's time to ramp up the Childcare Search. Seeing as how my due date is in 109 days (thanks thebump.com) and my maternity leave is 12 weeks (84 days), we will need childcare in roughly 193 days (yay, math). This still seems far off, but I'm getting nervous, very nervous.
Until last week were were still only on one waiting list - The Canterbury School, which I wasn't psyched about after taking the tour. The tour guide was 15-20 minutes late for our appointment, didn't have any handouts to give us because the printer was broken, promised to send us the handouts but never did, and was generally less than enthusiastic in her demeanor which didn't do much for "selling" the school to us. I got the vibe that she didn't feel like she needed to impress us because she's well aware that supply does not meet demand for quality childcare in Atlanta, and that parents will take whatever school/daycare has a spot for them at the time. But, she's partly right and we're keeping our name on the list. The teachers seemed nice and the school is somewhat close to our house, so it wouldn't be a bad option.
We then got our sh*t together and applied to the Frazer School, which I'm really excited about, even though I haven't toured the facilities or spoken with any of the staff/teachers. I like the idea of inclusive education/care giving and think Lukas will benefit from being around all sorts of children. We've also heard wonderful things about the school from Mr. Cob's co-worker, so it's my #1 choice right now. Also, the Frazer School has part-time programs, so my mom could watch Lukas for 1-2 days a week if she's up for it. We're on the waiting list, but we received a letter confirming receipt of our application that more or less said they're inundated with applications and will let us know if our number comes up. Otherwise, they wish us well in our search.
Today I filled out and mailed in the pre-registration form for the new Primrose School opening up in Midtown this August. Our name will be placed on their waiting list and we'll be notified if a spot is available for February. The location is OK, but the price is high - $1340 per MONTH! And they're only taking full time applications. So it's not perfect, but it's brand new and I'm sure it would be fine.
And now I feel like I've hit a dead end. There are some church daycares in the area that we could look into, and some other schools that aren't very clear about their application process. But it seems with all these "schools", you apply, get put on a waiting list and then simply wait to be notified of an available spot. So what happens if February rolls around and we don't get a spot anywhere? We need a backup plan, which I guess is a nanny, but I don't even know how to begin that search.
I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. Deep breathes. In. Out. In. Out. Sigh.
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