Fall is here and that means so is cold and flu season. If you are a parent you know that a child’s first few years in daycare, preschool and school can be a roller coaster of runny noses, weird illnesses (Hand, Foot, and Mouth or Fifth Disease, anyone?) and subsequent sick days.

As a child, I remember thinking that staying home sick from school was a special treat – even if I didn’t feel great. Sometimes we would try to fake it with mom, but she was too smart for us. I learned from an older sister that I could touch the end of the thermometer to my bedside lamp light bulb to bump the temperature reading up a few notches. I think I was busted when the thermometer read 105 degrees but I appeared to be fine. (Sorry, mom!)

Now that I’m a parent, I realize how difficult it can be to stay home from work unexpectedly. Sometimes staying home with a very sick child is the only option. (There’s also something extra special about cuddling and caring for your kiddo when they aren’t feeling great.) It’s nice if you’re able to take the day off work and do this, but that’s not always possible for parents to do. Sometimes your day must go on and last minute childcare is needed.

So, how can you best prepare for the unexpected? Here are five tips for successfully navigating your need for last minute child care:

Continue reading “Finding Back Up Childcare Like A Boss – 5 Tips When You’re In A Bind” →

One of the things that used to boggle my mind as a parent needing child care was the whole background check process – it felt very intimidating. Which background check was the best? The most thorough? Would it cost a fortune? Would it take a long time to do?

Rather than tackle these questions and find out, I chose to work with childcare providers who came highly recommended from friends and neighbors. If my friends and neighbors were using this person for childcare, they were probably ok – right?

About two years ago I was chatting with a nanny about the possibility of helping out our family with occasional childcare. Her previous employers recommended her and she seemed nice enough. She even had a child of her own. But we never ended up moving forward with her as a care provider for our kids.

Continue reading “Don’t Skip The Background Check!” →

It’s hard for me to choose a favorite season around Seattle, but fall is a pretty strong contender. The kids are back in school, I’m not longer wishing my home had air conditioning, the fall colors outside are AMAZING, and helloooo everything pumpkin spice flavored! 

Halloween is a favorite holiday around our house. The boys (husband included) started decorating our front yard before October first this year! The “tricks” run rampant around our house…including (but not limited to):

• Realistic toy mice placed in cupboards and under things the kids know I will pick up

• Our five foot tall pumpkin reaper decoration placed in front of closed bedroom doors to “greet” the unsuspecting, sleepy person just getting up

• Huge spiders tucked carefully under the covers of the bed before bedtime

• …and a Jason mask placed in the corner of the bedside window (me playing a trick on my husband)

And we may or may not have dressed our toddler up as Chucky…two years in a row!

One of the things I love the most about October and Halloween is that there are so many fun, seasonal activities to go check out with the kids! We always go to the pumpkin patches (check out my pumpkin patch map here), and head out for trick or treating on Halloween evening.

When I started looking around at what other Halloween activities we could add to the mix, I found that there are LOTS of incredible things to do with the family all month long!

Continue reading “The BIG List of Family Halloween Activities in the Seattle Area” →