I'm interested in feedback from other grandparents who are raising grandchildren either full or part-time.
My situation is that I am a step-mom who is very close to a wonderful step-daughter who has recently given birth to our first granddaughter. Although she had planned to stay with the child until school age, the recent economy has drastically changed those plans. With the current state of the economy, Dad had his hours drastically cut and it is necessary for DD to go back to work. She is a family social worker, and she is just devasted. The baby is 2 months old. After some discussion, DH and I agreed to offer to care for our granddaughter. We are recently retired in our late 50's and never invisioned this. We have been enjoying our retirement and this is coming out of left field, but we feel strongly we should "be there". Actually we very much want to be there! The kicker for me is that I have never had a child! My "children" were my steps. We all have a good relationship although I am closest to my step-daughter.
Sorry for the long post, but in the end DD decided on 2 days per week for us with a very reliable sitter who comes highly recommended for the other 3 days. It makes perfect sense because I also now have to be available for aging parents as well.
We had our first day with baby today and I think it went well. She is only 9 weeks old, and breast fed to this point. We are switching to bottled breast milk and she is not happy!
My background is nursing and I feel confident with the baby. However, my DH was quite nervous! He was not prepared for the reality I think. I know we will adjust in time, but he got so nervous because the baby was crying, that he called the mom!
O.K., clean baby, full baby, no obvious illness...I can take a crying baby :)
But Mom was missing baby too, and this is her Dad, soo....
I just wanted to vent! Send me your thoughts..Please!