We were looking at whether DH would go back to work...

On one hand, we'd have his pay, less tax, less daycare fees, plus CCB/CCR, less car expenses (fuel, wear and tear, etc)... and we'd get less (or probably, nothing) from family tax benefit. And DH would probably either have to drop back to only one subject a semester at Uni, or we'd need to get a cleaner once a month (fortnight ...?) and possibly a gardener, if my hours stay as they are at the moment.

Whereas if he stays at home, we'll still have costs associated with feeding and entertaining the boys during the day.

Essentially, without getting into too much detail with the cost of Haydee-Ho at daycare compared to the cost of play centre on weeks it's too wet for playgroup to go the park, etc, DH would be doing a 40 hour week for the tidy sum of $2.40 per hour. Less if you take travel into account ...

When we were faced with this decision after DS1 was born, we needed that extra $100 a week, so he went back. He didn't like it, I didn't like it, but we accepted it.

This time, he's staying at home.

As the working parent, it's really hard. Frequently the boys are asleep when I go, and in bed when I get home. I'll go in and have snuggles with DS1 but DS2 would wake and not resettle and suffer the next day. I get lots of time with them on the weekend, but while I'm doing crazy hours, it's really hard.