OK, so got home today from doing the groceries and MIL was here. *Gulp*

DH saw her yesterday and she was nagging him about minding the kids again. So he said "look mum, I don't have a problem with it but you know what Willow's like, she's just worried about the kids. We need to sit down and set out some ground rules if it's going to happen".

So, I knew why she was here. Thankfully she waited till FIL left the room to bring it up. I just said to her "look - it's not a big deal. Mainly, I just need to know what's going on with the kids. If you want to take them to the drs or you think they should go, I want you to ring me first. If you want to take them somewhere or do something with them, then I want to know what's going on." pretty lame but she kinda caught me off guard. I guess little things like that though I will address with her when and if needed.

We also discussed the car seats. We told her we'd brought a second seat for DS and we would look at getting one for DD, that we wanted them to stay in her car, they were for our kids only and SIL was not to use them or take them to put in her car (something she does ALLLL the time). We also told her that we don't want her driving the kids all around the country side, that we want them to be at home with her as much as possible. Of course we don't mind if she wants to take them out every now and then or she has an appt or whatever, she has a life too, but we'd prefer they were at home with her. She agreed with this and said she probably wouldn't go out much with the two of them anyway. The other thing is, DD's preschool drop offs and pick ups will restrict her from going too far anyway.

I also told her we'd set up our porta cot at her place for L because I don't want him and his baby cousin sharing a cot, I want him to have his own space (let alone SIDS recommendations).

So, at the moment, I think this is what we'll do. If it doesn't work out we can always make other arrangements. We also need to work out how much she wants to be paid, we asked her today and she said "I don't know yet" *sigh*. DH and I think $60 a week is reasonable. She never wanted to be paid for minding DD but this time will have fuel expenses etc in dropping off and picking DD up from preschool. We provide all food and drink, nappies, wipes for the kids too.

Do you think $120 a fortnight (4 days) is reasonable?