My brother-in-law and his wife had a baby several months ago, and now that their maternity/paternity leaves are up, they're facing that dubious milestone most working parents are all too familiar with: the First Day of Daycare Drop-Off. And thus will begin a new chapter in their lives, one I hope goes smoothly for them.

I had, by and large, a completely positive experience with the daycare we used for our boys. The people there were amazing and wonderful and kind, and both my kids absolutely thrived in that environment.

Still, I didn't want to have to use a daycare. I never did. Jesus, if I could have figured out a different solution back then, I would have.

Good news for breastfeeding moms back in the workplace. The government is cracking down on employers who don't accommodate women who need to take time during the day to express milk. So far, 23 companies have received citations at certain locations, including McDonald's and Starbucks.

These new requirements are part of the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in March 2010. The rules haven't been finalized yet, but the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour division has shed some insight, stating: "[Employers are required to provide] reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child's birth ... [as well as] a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public."

A) Pretty sad that this doesn't already exist, and B) not gonna lie -- kinda nervous to pump once I return from maternity leave.

I followed a link over to a post in the CafeMom forums a couple weeks ago, and I confess that I did so entirely because of the title. I kind of hate when I click things that I KNOW are going to make me crazy, but it's like when someone says, "Oh my god, this smells awful," and I'm all, OH LET ME SMELL IT TOO. Why, self?

Anyway, the post is titled "I think the death of the SAHM ruined this country" and the author posted the opinion that if "more women would/were able to stay home and raise their children this world would be a better place."

That's not actually the part that made me crazy, though. It was the follow-up comments, which featured the argument that anyone can be a SAHM—if they know how to manage a budget.

Hooray, I'm the happiest mom! At least according to the people who like to study things that make moms want to fight each other. But we can finally declare a winner in the Mommy Wars. It's not those working moms who are happier, or the stay-at-home moms who can smugly smile at their self-sacrifice. It's us part-time worker moms who have one foot in each world and can be smug while being happy at the same time.

While studying the happiness of moms seems, I don't know, weird, I can get behind the obviousness of this study. Once you become a mom your priorities shift. It's confusing when you want to be with your baby, and you also want adult interaction. We try to have it all and wind up completely exhausted and stressed out. So if you're able to have that happy place somewhere in the middle with part-time mommy'ing and part-time work, of course you're going to feel relief. Except for that one, huge, depressing thing.

There are a lot of misperceptions and inaccuracies floating around about the babysitting bill. And as a working mom, I was worried, too. How would Assembly Bill 889, which applies to all domestic workers (sitters, nannies, and housekeepers) affect me? I need in-home childcare while I work. Would this bill currently only in California, eventually pass in my state?

Andrea Cristina Mercado, co-director of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (United and Active Women), and supporter of the bill, helped clear up some of the confusion.

When we began the search for child care for my daughter, as new parents who were not wealthy, we were very overwhelmed. Once we saw the cost of day care -- and forget about the fancy developmental learning ones -- we were a little bit devastated. We were able to cobble together my part-time job with part-time day care that we could (barely) afford, but yet we still felt good about. 

We were lucky. Because the solution for some moms, according to the National Women's Law Center, has been to resort to "low quality day care." When I read this, I thought, "What does low quality day care mean? Does someone actually advertise that they are a 'low quality' day care?" Then I stopped to think about it and realized how awful it would be to be forced to make that choice.

This lady was part of our familyWhen I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I looked into the day care down the street and shook our heads at such extravagances like nannies. Nannies, we just knew, were only for the rich. As we were barely hanging on in the middle class, it wasn't even on our radar. And then reality hit, and we discovered three things about parenting in New York City.

1) Day care can be incredibly inflexible, and work hours in New York City can go much longer than day care hours.

2) Most day cares won't take babies until they're at least 3 months old, and even then, there's a waiting list.

3) Your baby will be sick all winter long, thus making day care an expense you're paying for but not using. A nanny with a tough immune system makes sure you don't get fired from your job.

And with that, we started a part-time nanny search and began to realize that all of the stereotypes we believed about nannies and the people who employ them are wrong.

My kids have learned a lot from their part-time day care. Social skills, like sharing, are a big one. Potty training goes a lot quicker if there’s peer pressure. My friends say kindergarten goes a lot more smoothly when your kid has already gotten most of the viruses that go around. And I don’t know why this never occurred to me, but day care workers trained to use sign language can get your little one started with communication, too.

I'm starting to think a little day care is a bigger help to mom than I had realized. It gives us more than a few free hours to fold the laundry and shower. It also amounts to having a parenting coach. I know I've learned as much from day care as my kids!