Motherhood Monday-21 Weeks: Stranger Danger

So as you all know, I'm not really back to work consistently yet. Last fall Rich, Dad and I toured several daycares and chose one that we liked. It's in Maumelle, which is about 40 minutes or so from Cabot where we are living now. We ultimately want to live in Maumelle, and it's not far from Little Rock where we'll be working. The bad thing about daycare (well one of many, but I'll save that for now) is that you have to pay for the entire week, whether you take your baby everyday or just one day. I'm only going to be working a couple days a week so we thought about trying to find someone who does in-home childcare so we would only have to pay for the days we use.

My Dad works in pubic housing, and has an office that's directly in front of a large group of senior apartments. He told me about this really nice woman named Marilyn, about 70 years old, who keeps her grandson some and has a daughter who is an RN at the VA hospital where Rich is working. She said she would keep Lucy for us, so I arranged a meeting at her apartment, bldg 15 apt 1. I arrive at said apartment right on time for our meeting. I knock on the door and this older woman opens the door and instantly reaches her arms out for Lucy. We go in and start chatting and she tells me that she just moved in 3 days ago. First red flag: if she just moved in, how does Dad think he knows her well enough to trust her with Lucy? I'm beginning to question his judgment on this one. The apartment wasn't dirty exactly, but it smelled musty and stale and just didn't look the least bit child or baby friendly. I told the lady not to feel obligated at all to keep her, and she looks at me a little funny and says ok. She doesn't ask me any questions about our schedule or needs as far as a sitter goes. She tells me about her siblings, her kids and then gets to talking about the Japanese and Hitler and Ronald Reagan. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to history so I was doing a lot of smiling and nodding. I keep trying to steer the conversation back to Lucy, and am thinking that there's no way I'm leaving my baby with this woman. I asked her about her grandson that she supposedly babysits for, and she said "Oh yes, I used to keep him. Now I haven't seen him in 2 years, I think he's on the drugs again." I then ask her about her daughter, the RN at the VA. She says "Did I say she worked at the VA? She works at Walmart in the deli. My brother died at the VA though." Ok, finally I've had enough of this crazy lady. I said "Ma'am, what's your name?" "Shirley" she replied. Doh!!! Wrong lady!! I just spent 35 minutes in the wrong apartment. She probably that I was the looney one. I explained to her that I was looking for Marilyn, the lady who was going to be babysitting for us. She said she just thought maybe I was visiting all the new neighbors. She says she thinks Marilyn lives next door. I get next door and a lady yells out "Oh, there's that baby" and takes Lucy. I ask if she's Marilyn. Nope, she is Kathy.

Finally I figure out that there is more than one building 15 apt 1, find Marilyn, she is great and laughs at the story. So moral of the story is, a baby is extremely popular at senior living complexes! I couldn't believe I did that, and couldn't stop cracking up as I told my parents and Rich about it.

Now we still don't know if we're going to use Marilyn or daycare for various reasons, but at least I finally found her apartment.