Friday morning another wrench was thrown at me. I work on base in a satellite office while the main office is off base. The lead guy in my office (not really my boss) put in a proposition to our boss to have me work 2nd shift beginning on January 3. Under normal circumstances, this might be fine. However, not once did he approach me with the idea before going to the boss. Until he dropped this on me Friday, he didn't even know that the ex and I were splitting up...shows how much attention he pays to things going on around him.

So now I'm pressed with finding a reliable person to care for Lexi from about 2:30-midnight. This is NOT how I wanted to spend the next few days. I have until about noon Wednesday to get something lined up. If I can't, well, I won't go to working evenings, but it would be a really good career move if I did...being in a leadership position and taking on more responsibility.

I just wish they hadn't chosen RIGHT NOW to do this!! Why couldn't they have either
a) told me about it before making the decision, or
b) waited until late-January when the crisis at home is closer to being closed.

The good thing is that DHS has an online listing of all home and center providers along with their certification rating (1, 1+, 2, or 3 stars...based on all sorts of criteria). So I have a list of about 15 places that are near enough to either home or work that (as far as I can tell) offer 2nd shift care. Now it's a matter of calling them all and seeing if anyone has an opening.

BLEH!!!!

I have 2 small pieces of good news since this morning:

1) the new shift schedule will start on 10 Jan instead of 3 Jan. I'm not quite as stressed, but I'm still stressed.

2) I found a "3 star" daycare center a bit north of base that is open 24 hours Monday-Friday and until 6pm on Saturday. 3 stars is the highest certification OKDHS grants. We're going to go tour the facility this evening after Lexi's nap.

Hope it turns out to be a good one - Good Luck!

Thank you, Zealand! We have an appointment to tour the facility tonight. I drove by yesterday during lunch and it looks like an okay place. However, I've learned that you really can't judge a daycare by it's exterior.

Ugh! Last night's visit to Kinder Castle was disappointing. The girl who gave the "tour" didn't give much information at all, and we didn't get to meet any of the rest of the staff or teachers. We left feeling like we didn't know any more about the place than when we went in.

So today I'm going to start calling home daycares in the hopes that someone has an opening. Wish me luck. I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of it!

Wish you the best of luck. I run first and second shift daycare and am thinking about opening 24 hours. I am the only one in my area that even has second shift care. I am full and with a waiting list for second shift. I feel for anyone who has to find care. One thing that helps me get clients is that I have a full security system. So if little one gets a bruse or bump I can go back through the tapes and show what happened. My parents seem to like it.
I really hope you find something.

Thank you. I need the luck even more than I thought I would. I called 12 places this morning and only one of them gave a positive response. The other 11 are full, no longer doing 2nd shift, rude, or simply didn't answer the phone. I told the one that I'd call her back next week to set up a time to visit.

I've been searching deeper into the DHS list and figuring out which ZIP code is where. Knowing that actually opened up several options. I plan to make a lot more calls when I get home this afternoon.