Daycare & Swimming

Well I said I'd follow up with the other 2 topics that were keeping me up Wednesday night so here it goes...

Topic 2 - enrolling Layla part-time vs. full-time in daycare

Like I mentioned previously, we found a daycare that we really like. However, being teachers, there are many days throughout the year that we will not be utilizing their services (not to mention summer). Obviously this lady has her business to run and maintain and she requires payments each week based upon how your child is enrolled. So if we enroll Layla full-time then the 2 weeks of Christmas break and the week of Spring Break we'd be paying for nothing. If we enroll her part-time (3 days/week), we'd only be paying for 3 days of non-use instead of 5. Make sense? And the cost to reserve her spot over the summer for the following year would also be cheaper because it's based on how she was enrolled that fall/spring. So we'd be saving money all around to enroll her only 3 days/week rather than 5.

We asked around our church and found a lady who would watch her on Mondays and Fridays. Perfect! Mondays and Fridays are always the days we have off for holidays during the school year. So we wouldn't be paying the daycare or her on days we would be keeping Layla.

But Wednesday night I started second guessing this decision. It seems to be more of a hassle to have 2 locations for daycare. And after figuring how much we'd be saving, it seems more miniscule than I originally thought. Every penny counts, don't get me wrong! I guess it's more of a convenience thing. There's also the problem that occurs if the lady were to get sick and we couldn't find someone else to watch Layla for the day.

So in the end, I think I'm going to be enrolling Layla full-time and explaining everything to the lady who was planning on watching her.

Topic 3 - Masters Swimming

For those of you who don't know, I was a competitive swimmer for 12 years. I have always loved swimming and believe it to be the best form of excersie. I attempted (pretty miserably) in college to continue swimming on my own. Now 8 years after high school and 1 child later I am in the worst shape of my life! I have found that phrase to be a re-occuring one as the years have gone by. I would hate to see what I look like in another 8 if this keeps up!

But hope is around the corner! When I was roughly 6 months pregnant I came across some information about a Masters Swimming progam with the local swim team. It sounds more elite than it actually is. Basically it's anyone over 18 who wants to swim in an organized fashion (i.e. coach w/ workouts). However, being 6 months pregnant I was NOT fitting into any of my old suits. I emailed the man in charge and told him I was very interested but couldn't quite start at the time.

A few months later my precious Layla was born and I completely forgot about the program. Then one day, a few weeks ago, I received an email asking how my baby was and letting me know that they were still in full swing with the Masters Swimming! I quickly ordered some suits seeing as I only have 2 left from high school. Although I can still fit in them b/c they are beyond worn and used, I would rather start fresh....and I'm done with layering my suits just to practice. Okay, worn and used is a pretty lame way to describe these suits. The elastic is hard and cracking...they are thin and see-through...if you can picture the most pathetic suit you have ever seen just multiply that by 10 and you've got my suits. They were good to me through college...but if I'm going to get serious about swimming again...and be in the presence of a coach...I would like to look a bit more put together :-)

I just became a member of USA Masters and am excited to head to the pool Monday evening to register with the team and get started!

The suits arrived today and I think before I go to bed I'm going to try them on to see how they fit!!

I mentioned in my last blog that this topic ulitmately led back to Topic 1. I figured that I'll be spending roughly 4 hours with Layla a day when I have to go back to work. That will be slightly shortened because of swimming. So that night I was really questioning getting started with it. But after much thought, I decided to go ahead and join. I'll only be swimming 2 times a week. One week night and Saturday morning. I'm sure I'll drag my feet b/c I'll want to be with my sweet Layla...but the long-term benefits of doing this are enormous! She's soon going to be all over the place and I need to build up my stamina so I can play with her...I don't want to be a mom who can't play all day with her child b/c I've been a bum for 4 years! Sheesh...I've had my 2.5 year old nephew for just one day and I'm already worn out!! That's made me question exactly when we want to have our second child...but that's another post. :-)



So there it is...everything that kept me up until 5:30 am Wednesday night/Thursday morning.


*I would appreciate encouragement with this swimming thing. Just keep on me by asking me how it's going. I know the more people who hold me accountable, the more likely I'll be to stick with it.


**On a side note...I have found that I now think about things as topics to blog about instead of just thinking. Something will pop into my head and I'll begin thinking about how it would read in a blog. Does that mean I'm already addicted? I have at least 4 topics on hold already....


***I also promise that not all my posts will be this lengthy!