Thank you for your honest advice here. I did a lot of thinking last night and opening up my own home daycare would be such a perfect fit for me. I can completely see myself doing it. I would only need 2-3 kids to earn a little extra income so I wouldn't have to go back to work full time. I was thinking of getting everything all set and ready to go with the daycare and then after I have my baby start advertising to line up some kids to enroll into my daycare. I wouldn't be able to afford to stay at home and do nothing and wait until I have a second child to start this. The absolute most I could stay home for would be a year and then my baby would have to be put into daycare anyways, so I figure why not run one myself!
I spent all day yesterday calling other home day cares in the area to see what their rates are, what's the max children they have at one time, do they offer food, diapers, wipes or anything like that. I received a lot of helpful information. You really need to do your research on this and do it well! My husband owns a web design company on the side so he will help me design my own website for the daycare when that time comes and he will also help me with the advertising and marketing since he's a business man anyways. So I think he will be a BIG help in this process! Love the hubby!!
I also spoke to someone about what my next steps are and signed up for the Provider Meeting to get me started.