Good that lovemummy has resurrected this thread. And like many of the posters here, I'm amazed there're so many weekend mummies here! None of my wife's and my circle of relatives and friends is a weekend parent. I do know of a vendor who puts her kid at her mum's place, but that's about it.
My wife and I believe in staying close to our kid, who is 7 months old. Both mums are still working, and there's a nice daycare centre where I work, so we have been using the centre's services for the past 3-4 months. It's a fetch-and-send routine for us daily. He sleeps in the same room as us at night. Of course, our parents do get to see their grandson on weekday nights and weekends.
Our kid isn't one who's easy to take care of -- in fact, my colleague called him a high-need baby. Indeed, my wife and I have had to withstand his tantrums and all. Still, it's extremely rewarding to see him grow. Just the other day, it suddenly dawned on me that he could almost sit upright on my arms and has started to move his head, observing things around him. At that time, it felt just like the day before when he had a fragile neck and we had to support it with great care! Life is tough for us, but we're taking it in our stride. Even as I type, I'm down with tonsilitis and flu. However, seeing that cute kid smiling at me just blows any unhappiness away!
Despite the difficulties in raising this kid, we plan to have a second one. Perhaps not now, but say, 1-2 years later. We're not high-income earners, but we'll get by. As for the third one, well, we'll see how things go!
