@shaelovey:

I work a second job for the sole purpose of paying for daycare. Both my jobs i end up with about a 100 hrs a week around the clock. It sucks, but I have to do what I have to do as a middle class American to provide for my family. We cant even afford to have a second baby, because of the childcare costs, somethings gotta give, cant save money for college and pay for child care at the same time. If I can only afford one, I can only afford one. Its dissheartening, because I love kids and wanted a big family, but the cost of living is so high we rely on two incomes, so theres no option.

Klimawife -- wow. I wonder if your kindercare charges more than mine, or if the prices have gone up since I was researching them (January 2009).

At this point I'd rather save money so that perhaps we will be able to afford to send my daughter to montessori when she turns 3. I may go back to work closer to full time soon and the plan is to have my mom watch her the 3 days a week she already does, and then ask one of my friends who is a stay at home mom to watch her one day and pay her for it, and then try to work out a schedule where I am able to be home on Fridays. We pay my mom $105 a week and I'm thinking I will offer my friend $50 per day, so that's $155 a week or about $620 a month, not horrible.

Alh071 I'm guessing I pay more because I live in Northern VA/DC area and cost of living may be higher. I choked when she told me how much for an infant.

We live in DC and pay 2k a month for our 4.5 month old twins. We were lucky in that we got a discount on the price! We supply everything until our boys get older and can have snacks.