We are alive (mostly)

Sorry I have not posted in awhile, I will explain. We had a wonderful week long visit from Vic (guy that helped raise me) & Deb (his wife). It was a great visit, we have not seen them in 10 years so it was well over due (more on that visit in another post). Then it was Daimen’s Birthday Party, I will also be posting about that soon. After that we had another visitor, of the unwelcomed type, he probably looked like this.

You got it, Gage got a new stomach virus and it has been a long 8 days and going. In the middle of fever, missed work, Tylenol, pedialyte, and tons of fussing/crying I said ENOUGH with the virus ridden, no sleeping, and smelly daycare, raised my search for a better institution for my precious package. I have been searching for some weeks now but this just made me get more aggressive in my search.

I am happy to announce that he started his new summer experience today with a wonderful, quiet spoken, Christian mom of a 4, 7, and 10 year old, we will call her M for the sake of blog discretion. The kids were so excited to have a new addition this morning; it was delightful leaving him there. The sticky part of this new situation is this mom works TUE, WED, and THURS at a Mother’s Day Out (MDO) program at a local church in the 2 year old room. I also explored that place and it was just Amazing. I found M and the program by tracking down a teacher who use to be in Gage’s daycare class and quit because the center did her wrong. I only had her first name but used some great detective skills and found her, lets call her P. P is the infant teacher at the MDO and urged me to come by and see the difference between where he was at and where she is now.
Pros:

• The place was huge and did not smell like a daycare
• I walked into the infant room and they had 8 babies ages 0-12months and I am not kidding you, ALL of them were sleeping. The lights were turned off, lullibys playing in the background and the two staff were whispering in respect of the sleepy lumps of preciousness, a baby napping paradise I tell ya. (Gage never gets sleep at daycare because it is always loud; the infant room is connected to the toddler room, so there is never peace, dim lights, or quiet staff.
• When one of the little ones woke up, he got rocked by a staff member until he drifted back to sleep. Yes that is right people, they actually hold the babies there.
• Finger paint with Jello projects lined the walls
• The room was 3 times the size so no walking over babies
• They sanitize the toys every night (I found out that his daycare only does it once a week, if that, no wonder he is virus ridden)
• The directors were very helpful and spoke with me for an hour
• It is a drop in facility, so if the baby is not there, you do not pay. (so far I have paid a months worth of daycare bills because Gage has been to virus riddin to attend school, HA, and school is where he got the stinking bugs from.

Ok we all know there are going to be CONS right?
CONS:

• Baby paradise is about 25% more expensive
• It is only 3 days a week in the summer
• Is only 830am until 230pm every day (which is difficult when I have to be at work at 7:30am

It seemed worth finding solutions to the cons and so we did. The extra cost will just have to be delt with, I am paying a ton in doctors’ bills and missed work that the extra cost is just that extra and well worth the peace of mind that he is being taking care off. P referred us to M for daycare on Mondays and Fridays and to bring Gage to work with her the rest of the week. I met with M that day and decided that she is greatness and set up a time to see her house and meet the rest of her family. We had our meeting yesterday and loved it, she is so sweet and seemed extra caring. We had to purchase a bunch of baby stuff for her house but it will be well worth it.

Today was his first day, Jer just picked him up and had to call me. He said “ wow what a difference, Gage was asleep when I got there and had been for an hour and a half, he also took a long nap this morning and went swimming in the kiddie pool, he seemed upset that I was taking him home.” Can we ask for anything more? I think not. (ok maybe we could ask that M decides to stay home after the summer and becomes Gage’s full time caregiver, she is thinking about it)

I will be posting Gage’s 5 month letter tomorrow, (late) but it will not be very positive for it has been a rough month on the little guy.