Money

So we got our enrollment package from Dutch's daycare yesterday. (After next Tuesday, Dutch is out for the summer.) Dutch will be in the oldest preschool class, where she can practice being the oldest kid in her class, a role she will play for the next 14 years. Skipper has a fulltime slot in the baby room. We will be paying just under $1200 per month for both kids, starting at the end of September. I would guess that those of you without kids are thinking "My god! That's so much money!" and those of you with kids are thinking "Wow! Only $1200 for excellent fulltime care for two kids including an infant! Way to go!"

We have a dilemma. The way things stand, we can't afford the daycare unless I manage to nail down a parttime job (which around here these days is exceptionally difficult).* But if we give up the slots, and then work miraculously appears, finding good daycare will be a huge problem.

Cook showed me the enrollment info last night (he'd picked it up along with Dutch that afternoon) when Skipper and I got home from school, and I said "yikes." I'd known that it would be expensive, but somehow, looking at the numbers made it very real. "Yeah," he said cheerfully, "I've been thinking about which bank we should rob. The one down the street looks pretty vulnerable."

We know we can't stay in Portland. There are way too many highly-qualified people here looking for jobs (did I mention that the City is cutting jobs left and right, including a bunch of planning jobs?). I don't know where we'll go. We had been planning to move next summer, after I get my degree (I still have 17 credits left) and before Dutch starts kindergarten. But I don't think we'll make it that long, and I don't think I can do 17 credits in one quarter. We'll probably try to have me finish by March. But then if I don't find work anywhere in the world, we'll be stuck, and I won't have health insurance anymore. (And don't forget that I'm uninsurable because I grind my teeth at night.)

Ugh. Anyway, if anybody knows of any poorly-defended banks, please let us know.

*Plus there's the painful calculus of working parenthood - if I get a job, it needs to be worth leaving the kids (especially Skipper, who will then be only 5 months old) in daycare to do it - either seriously lucrative or really great for my career development.