Sorry, this may be long. I'm not sure how I feel about some things and I'd love to get some perspectives/experiences.
Basically I wanted to be a SAHM/WAHM, but a job offer has come up which is very good for me - it's at the company I worked for while pg, they made me redundant but are now doing better and very busy and looking for someone to help out part time to lighten the load. We discussed this when I was made redundant as a possibility and I'm their first choice as I know the work etc. So I have a little time to think about it as they want to discuss with me before advertising for anyone else. It's a small company so quite friendly.
They've mentioned the possibility of me doing some work from home, which IMO would be the ideal solution, but I'm not sure how realistic it is, because the software they use costs thousands of pounds per licence and I don't think it would run on my laptop/home computer (which isn't a huge problem because my DP works in IT and so would be able to sort out an upgrade for me if it was for work - the main problem is them getting an extra licence for the software really)
So, the question of if I go in, is childcare. When I was pg, MIL said to me that she'd be happy to have DS for me for a few hours a week if I wanted to go back to work. It's a really generous offer and I am grateful, but something makes me feel uneasy about leaving him with her. I think I'm probably being unreasonable and PFB but it still stands that she has completely different ideas to me about how is the best way to bring up children. I know if I was looking for a childminder I'd be looking for someone completely opposite to her, so I'm worried we'll find it too hard to come to a compromise. However, she has now gone back to work part time herself and I don't know whether she is still able to make that commitment. I'd rather not bring it up with her just yet as she's like a dog with a bone and won't let it drop until it's sorted.
My other options are nursery or childminder, I guess. From what I've heard from other mums, nurseries all seem to be booked up in advance here with long waiting lists and the only ones with immediate access are not very good, also I'm not really sure about nursery at this age anyway, would be happier with a childminder who shares my kind of views (more AP type) - but are they hard to find?