We've never lived near family either. We're 12 hours away from my family. Before I became a SAHM, I was blessed to find a wonderful woman who did childcare in her home so DD#1 was well cared for when DH and I were at work. I've been a SAHM for 8 years now and we still keep in touch with this woman and her family (she lives an hour away). Once DD hit school age and DD#2 was born, I quit my job and started making lots of friends who have become like family to us. I could call on any of them to watch the kids for me and they would, but I rarely do that. We found good teenagers to babysit - found them through word of mouth recommendations. Now DD is 13 and we pay her to babysit the younger two.

My kids have lots of cousins and I'm sad that they don't get to see each other more than twice a year but when they are together, they have a great time. My ds is the youngest in the entire family --he's 3 and his oldest cousins are 31 -- they all still get along great.

It's hard to be so far away from family, but if you establish a strong network of friends, it's not so bad.

__________________
Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas