ARC – In Indiana, we can get Public Library Access Card (PLAC) for an annual fee. You have to have a “home” library for which you pay taxes. With the PLAC, you can get a library card from any library in the state and use it fully. Maybe your state has something like that, or your library may have some sort of reciprocity program with other libraries.

I also use the library’s electronic resources extensively, mostly through Overdrive – ePub books, audiobooks, and Kindle books. It’s great!!!

@Kathleen – yes, definitely, the travel time issue can be huge. My daycare was an 8 minute walk from my apartment, which is where I was working, so that was fine. But in I Know How She Does It, I profiled a woman who had to drive quite a ways in rush hour traffic to drop her sons off, then more time in the car to her office, then repeating it, the whole thing turning into a potentially 90-minute hellish event each morning and evening. Plus the daycare only had street parking! Ponder that, and the logistics of dragging two kids in the snow an uncertain amount of distance each morning. Eventually something had to give. The family moved, and chose a daycare 4 minutes from the train station where she’d commute from. Plus her husband got a different job that meant he could do half the drop-offs/pick-ups. Totally different life.

One thought about choosing daycare location: consider home location, office locations, and travel schedules. We had the chance to use my office’s awesome on-site daycare but declined because it was 20 miles from home and 15 miles from my husband’s office. Fine for most days, but a non-starter for the many days I would be traveling.

Also, I cannot give enough high-fives to your comments on amortizing childcare across a career, and on accounting for the long-term wage depression that comes from taking time out of the workforce. Yes, it’s hard to work full time with littles. Yes, good childcare is expensive. But it’s an investment in your future!

Oh, I hadn’t even thought about breastfeeding – yeah, that would be perfect. I used to come home from work mid-day to feed the baby when my husband was home with her just to avoid one pumping session (and it helped that we lived <5 min from my job!)

@omdg – thanks, so glad you liked it. Au pairs can be wonderful, especially for families with school aged children, or as a supplement and back-up to daycare, but it’s not going to work for families where both parties travel overnight. I’m sure you’ve discovered some valuable insights on what you request from the au pair agencies too. I know I’ve learned a lot about hiring caregivers the more times I’ve gone through the process.

@Meghan and ARC – all 3 of my older kids will be in the same school this year. I am so incredibly excited about this idea!

I am a little sad that our new library is not nearly as fabulous as the one we had in WA. It’s kind of run-down and musty and they have hardly any new books. I lost my (new) library card already, so I haven’t yet explored the online options. But their kids’ section is decent. I’m guessing in our county it’s just not very well-funded and I’m trying to figure out whether i can also use the library in the next county over (which is HUGE).

My parents live in Savannah 🙂 Right now our public elementary/middle is a hybrid Montessori model and I am so excited about that. It’s unfortunately NOT mixed-age, but they do use a lot of the Montessori materials.

Just as I was reading this, my friend posted on Facebook that her local community center aftercare had 70 kids on the wait list (!!!). I imagine there are a lot of parents scrambling right now to figure out what to do. 🙁