baby care.........

L hit the three month mark of her leave from work and started back up again today as a part timer. For this to actually work, we need a nanny / day care or something that will look after Rohan and keep him happy. As L is working from home, the nanny seemed the best option.

Admitedly, we got a late start -- and realized that using the placement organizations can be pricey. Between the application fee (about $100) there is a placement fee of roughly $1k....yeap....1 big fat G.....Of course right now, said agencies want us to pay the fee twice - once for the first three months (while L works part time) and again when they place a full time nanny (when L goes back full time). Lots of moolah.

Better yet is the fees required to actually calc all the taxes for said nanny. Breedlove is a recommended agency (roughly $500) -- but i don't know if their fee is a one time charge, or a per employee charge....Regardless, paying taxes allows you to capitalize on Uncle Sam's Dependant Care Spending Account.

btw...we tried using eNannySource to no avail...that's $99 down the toilet...Of the six people listed on their site as matching our requirements...only one bothered to write / call back and she was 30 miles away. (if anyone else out there wants to access their site for the next 29 days, let me know and i'll give you my account access info).