I am pretty much the same situation as you Mickyc. When I started, I was brand new to the area (literally 1 week) so I had only the joy of other daycare ad postings to base the 'going rate' in my area. And for the most part, it was/is $25-$30/day, with one or two at $35.
Being that I just moved to the area and knew nobody AND just found out that I was preggers, I decided to start at $25 in order to bring in some families. Then I decided that come the end of January, I was going to jump to $30/day for any new families, and that did not stop anyone. But have keep my other families at $25/day.
I figure that now that I am full and have gained a rep and have great references, I will continue to slowly raise my fees for new families.