Gramsie (my dear, dear mother in law) came out for a visit twelve days ago, and was joined by Pops (dad) on Thursday of last week.
Together they left to go home today.
It was a full and wonderful nearly-two-weeks! Gramsie made the dinners for us, played with the children non-stop, read a ton of books, and gave me many opportunities to get extra rest.
THANK YOU MOM!
When Pops came he played more than his fair share of Gin and Battleship (was a very good loser to Clay, who learned all his tricks from Pops last Spring), and proved a worthy jungle gym every time he parked on the sofa for more than two minutes! :-)
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Because of their visit, AJ and I had a DATE! Woo-hoo!! (With Bryce, of course).
It had already been a long full day, and with no naps. I sheepishly admit that I left the house in tears, as it seemed crazy to try and enjoy such an outing with a screaming baby and napless momma. If the house had been empty (or at least quiet) I would have rather hunkered down at home for a date!
Since baby was crying in the back seat, we started out in the drive through at Starbucks.
The gal at the window heard Bryce and asked how old. She then commenced to tell of her eight year old son and his babyhood colic.
"Don't worry..." she said "...it gets better!"
Thanks for the tip.
We drove around for a while so I could unwind and thankfully the little fella fell asleep.
AJ took me to the bookstore and then we enjoyed a quiet dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Beyond my wildest expectations, Bryce slept through the entire date! It was bliss!!
Upon noting the baby carrier with us the waitress commented on our having "... full hands."
She just has no idea. What can you say to that?
I have a question for you.
Is it more romantic to sit across from your husband on a hot date?
Or beside?
I have thought this through a few times and never come to a final conclusion. If you sit across, you can gaze into each others eyes; but if you sit beside each other you can get really cozy! ;-)
I know which I prefer, but I just wondered if there is actually a right answer to this highly intellectual question.
Tell me if you know.
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Back to the title of this post.
Mom and Dad left today and it was a sad loss to our home. We had a wonderful time, and it reminded us how much we miss all our family.
Thanks Grams, for making dinner
for the extra hours of sleep
for the box of See's candy!
for my new jams
for reading to the children
for shopping with us; with me
for changing diapers
for holding children
for tucking in
for kisses
for being fun!
for being patient
for being flexible...
for being wonderful YOU!
We love you both so very very much!!!
Come back soon:-)
15 comments:
Across from the man of my dreams is best. I can gaze into his incredibly wow green eyes, we can hold both hands and...........share food that is in the middle of the table. :) So glad you had a wonderful night out with two of your men. :)
I say next to each other. What do you think?
It always makes me laugh when people give me pregnancy/baby advice when I have just one or none of the boys. :)
I have always liked to sit next to my date/hubby the best. Now our dates mostly include a child or two so it tends to be across though. But at least we are getting out :)So, what is your favorite? I don't think you shared!
This was a very sweet post, and sounds like your mother in law is great. (Arthur's mom passed away before we met, I've never had the joy of that)So happy you have had some rest. Now it's back to the real world as you know. I too love when people say things as if it's your first, we get that a lot..in my head I chuckle :)
Date night, I'd say I like to sit across from my hubby...you got it the whole looking into his eyes! Not sure that's the right answer, I guess it really is personal preference.
WELL SHAUNA DIDN"T SAY but Karl says...
I was pondering the complexities of vehicle decisions when my dear wife appears in the doorway to the room with an equally perplexing problem. Which is more romantic..(romantic!?...uh oh!) but then she continued "to sit across from each other or to sit side by side at the table"(Is this a reminder that we need to go on more frequent dates?) My answer is in the same fasion that I answer her when she asks an opinion regarding a sewing project: I rationalize, ponder, and then make whatever it is 100 times more difficult than it should have been. We have been limited to two compromizing choices at restraunts when it comes to romantic seating and hence I will promote a third. Why must we suffer the distance with a table severing our closeness in order to gaze into our loves eyes? Why must the candle light dialate our pupils so that our loves beauty is harder to be perceved in the dimness of the establishment? Why also must we be limited in our view as we sit close together holding hands facing straight ahead looking at our plates(though it does prevent stray projectiles from flying from our mouths toward our love of our life). I believe that the proper way of sitting at the table would be to sit at a right angle to your spouse(you know, a square table). This solves many disturbing problems. You can gaze into your love's eyes, hold hands, enjoy her beauty in the candle light as it reveals her face in the dimness of the room, and raid her food...;). Next time you go to the restraunt don't settle for a mediocure experience and insist on the ultimate romantic seeting position; right angles for Mr/Mrs. Right!
Karl
Why Karl, you leave me speechless (while laughing!). I didn't expect such a rational well thought out answer to such a complex question.
Oh the things that keep me awake at night! ;-)
I think you have an extremely valid solution. I'll keep you posted!
Hilarious! I've thought long and hard about the "across from" / "next to" conundrum, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I do think that I like either across or next to better than right angles (unless, maybe, we have a corner table; there's something special about sitting in an out-of-the-way corner together).
Your new little man is adorable! We just had our own little guy on the 1st. We also have an 11-month-old (whose corrected age is 8 months, since he was born 3 months prematurely). Little ones are such fun!
Awe! Congratulations Lauren!
I was wondering when your little guy was due! I hope you're feeling pretty good. You've got your hands full truly. I think two or three at those ages is much harder in some ways than six when the older ones are old enough to help (a LOT).
I'd love to hear what you named him:-)
Love!
Across from or next to, hmmm, definitely depends on the day. Mostly I/we prefer next to. But, if we have a lot to say it's probably going to across from on that particular day... ;-)
Ahh... that's a good observation Sarah. It's true that next to can be especially nice if you're too tired for much talking. It's also true that across facilitates easy conversation... as you gaze into each others eyes, of course!
:-)
Accross from when you're eating so you don't elbow each other in the ribs while trying to snuggle and cut your steak. Next to any other time! My last date, I went into labour on the way home!
Sometimes I smile when I think "You really understand!" I'm so glad you got out with your hubby! And Bryce's nap coincided so well!
Well, our little guy was due November 4 (two days before his big brother's first birthday), but came 5 weeks early (October 1), after 10 weeks on semi-bedrest. He just spent a week in the NICU, which was so much better than 3 months in the NICU with our first!
I'm feeling great! Those C-sections take a little time to recover from, but they're worth it! (My original dream was to have all of my children either at home or at a birthing center. I really wanted to have water births, since my mom had one with my youngest sister and loved it! Unfortunately, I had to have an emergency C-section with my first little preemie guy, and they had to do a "T" incision, which is the weakest possible kind of incision you can have. The risk of rupture in a future VBAC is more than 5 times that of a normal C-section. If I had had a normal incision, I would VBAC in a heartbeat, but as it is, all of my children have to be delivered via C-section. It took me quite awhile to reconcile myself to that, but - if that's the way our children have to come, that's the way we'll welcome them!)
I definitely think that having more kids, with some of them older, is easier (though not easy, by any means!) than having just a couple of very young ones. I come from a large family (my youngest sister is just 2), and us older ones were constantly helping and trying to make things easier for Mom. (Though of course, looking back, I only wish we had done more.) Things are going well here with two little guys, though. The hardest thing is that I can't lift my older baby, who weighs 24 pounds, for another 3 weeks. I have help from my husband and his family, though, so we'll get through it somehow!
We've been awful in coming up with a name for this new little one. I think we're finally - more than 3 weeks after he was born! - going with either Miles Standish (pilgrim father) or Miles Coverdale (who was instrumental in translating the Bible into English). We're going to read a little more on both of those men, and come to a final decision soon. Very soon. My sister has said that we have to have a name by one month. : )
Okay, I've rambled on long enough here. I'm taking a little bit of a "down day" today, since I've had a bad headache and feel like I might be coming down with something, and just worrying about keeping the babies fed - which is quite a job by itself!
I've really enjoyed reading your blog and getting to know your family a little. And I always love it when you put up a little something about how you try to streamline things as much as possible with so many children, since our hope and prayer is to have a large family!
Blessings,
Lauren
Ahhh... Miles was was the other name up there beside Bryce on my list - I like it a lot! I'm sure Little Guy will get a name before he turns into a man!
I have been extremely blessed with easy textbook labors and deliveries. I've been grateful to have our last two at home, but I know that the way in which baby comes to join our family is insignificant in the scheme of things. I think you are very wise to not make something like birthing a child a certain way, an idol.
Besides, in the end we both have precious, squeezable little fellas to love and cuddle! What more could a woman ask for? :-)
Thanks for the encouragement. It is a delightful journey, this mothering business, but it is not always as perfect as a blog makes it look.
The Lord is gracious and patient, however, so whatever goo there is, I give Him all the glory for that!
All my heart,
Analene
Oops! I don't necessarily give Him glory for "goo" but most definitely for any GOOD there may be in our lives!!!
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