Daycare Shopping

Gotta love Hollywood. Over the past several months I've told many high-level execs about the new baby -- and their response is almost always the same. "What are you doing for help? Do you have a night nurse?"

Rather than give them a primer on journalist salaries, I just tell them no -- Maria and I are handling things ourselves.

But with Maria's return to work fast approaching, we're starting to freak over how to take care of Evan. Finding a nanny to come to our house between 9 and 6 would be nice, but we're also being realistic and taking a look at daycare. But from what we've seen so far, we're not impressed.

We checked out one home daycare last week that was run by two seemingly nice people (a mother and daughter) but the place itself was rather shabby -- dirty walls, old rug, etc. The caretakers also seemed slightly overwhelmed, with five screaming kids competing for their attention. And this was a place that came highly recommended!

Here's where the blog comes in handy. I'm sure some of you have the scoop on good daycare -- any recommendations? (And, just as crucial, any spots we should avoid?)