the SEARCH for a SCHOOL.

Since this will be Kamden's first time going to day care, it took us a while to find the right one. Over the past few weeks we took tours of all the ones close by. I've concluded you should always go with your intuition on these things. The first one we looked at was absolutely perfect in every way. It is through the University where I work and Keith attends school. It was literally like Harvard for babies... with Stanford prices! Annual tuition is around $14,000 dollars. I never thought I would be paying college tuition at age 2! But this place really was worth it. As MeeMaw Joyce said it best, "You can't put a price on your child's well being."

This place had a five part curriculum, they stayed with the same kids and teachers every year they were there, and every room was set up so magical with forts for nap areas and such. Not to mention every teacher has a minimum of a Bachelor's degree. Since Florida is so hot, the center also has multiple state of the art playgrounds covered with sun tents and a water fountain that shoots up water out of the ground so the kids can play outside and cool off. Plus, all of the four year old kids were reading writing four letter words before they even advanced to kindergarten. When we went for a visit, Kamden didn't want to leave each of the classrooms, so I knew that was a good sign. He was actually crying to stay, rather than leave, and that has to be a first! That is where we wanted him to go, and he will definitely be there next year. I get an employee discount in six months, which will make it much more affordable. We were going to tough it out until then, but it just wasn't possible considering our other bills factored in. So the search continued...

The second place had a nice large facility. Of course, nothing compared to the prestine environment of our first choice. I don't think anything could top it. The price was about average, still almost $9,000 per year. Yeah... you hear about how expensive raising kids are, but you don't ever know until they start growing up! I would of been okay, but I had negative vibes from the director the whole time. First, he was dressed like a scene from CSI: Miami, except one of the suspects not the detectives (haha). He had a 5 o'clock shadow, hair slicked back, pin striped pants, and a polo. Looked like he just left one of the clubs in Miami and headed straight to work. Then, we got to the 2 year old rooms and this precious little boy (reminded me of Kam) was crying during nap time. The whole time he was trying to explain everything to me, he kept interupting himself to threaten the little boy by calling his mom. My ears are still bleeding hearing his voice echo in my ears, "Do I need to call your Mommy!?!" Ugh. To top it off it smelled like someone had a stinky in their britches and the teacher didn't even crack a smile at me. The thoughts in my head kept telling me no...no... no... the whole time. Disgusted.

They say third times a charm... not in this case! The third site, I felt positive about the faculty (all 3 of them). They were really nice, but they only had a space half the size of our condo. In a little single wide trailer, made of 3 classes. The 2's were sharing a room the size of a bathroom, literally. The price was only a grand cheaper than the last. Thanks, but no thanks.

After freaking out a few days wondering what we were going to do, I finally started looking into some churches. Most of them are Catholic down here, I have yet to pass by a Baptist church. Not that I am necessarily denominational striken, but this is nothing like what we're used to in North Carolina. I did come across a Christian program that was reasonably priced and would fit in our budget. When I went to visit, I didn't have any negative feelings. The building wasn't fancy but it certainly wasn't the worst. The teachers were friendly. I took Kamden with me that time, and he didn't want to leave again. We thought it over for a few days and decided it would work.