5.25.17 - Mom's visit

It was really nice having Mom out.

She got to spend a lot of time with Clara, which I know they both really enjoyed. She took Clara to the playground and the apartment complex pool.

Everyone has the same face in this picture.

They played games together like "Horsey Horsey" and sang songs and Mom gave Clara a couple baths.

Mom made Clara a tent fort under the dining room table.

 

I know Mom loves to get to spend time with her grandkids, and I am grateful Clara had people to pay attention to her while Jack and I were so preoccupied adjusting to Jane.

Clara enjoys Jama's hat.

Sporting the sunglasses Jama got her. Even checking herself out in the mirror.

Mom also made a bunch of my favorite recipes for dinners: chicken stir fry, fettuccine, and spinach sausage loaf. In each case she made enough for dinner and then more for us to freeze in the new mini freezer Don and Merlene got us. On top of that, she made some truly delicious citrusy wine drinks - half Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling and half pineapple juice with some ice and fresh strawberries and other fruits thrown in. They were excellent.

One morning Mom dropped Clara off with Beth but then took a really long time getting home. I eventually called her to make sure everything was okay, and it turned out she had taken my car to get detail cleaned! That was very sweet. My stress goes way down when everything is clean (and vice versa). Mom said it was funny to be at the cleaning place with all these much newer and nicer cars. She also thought the guys cleaning my old beat up Corolla were amused by how excited Mom was about it. So that was very sweet. It hasn't looked that good probably since I bought it 6 years ago.

At different points Mom ran errands for us, which was super helpful. In particular she found me three solid color ultra comfortable flexible tank tops at Target. I've been wearing them almost nonstop. They aren't actual nursing tops but they are flexible enough I can nurse in them, and I pretty much only want to wear sleeveless clothes at this point (it was in the high 90s almost the whole time Mom was here, ugh). She really hit the nail on the head with those tanks.

She also wanted me to have a chance to get out of the apartment. It really doesn't bother me much to be in the apartment a lot--especially when other people are helping keep it clean. But I didn't want to miss the chance for free babysitting for a date with Jack, so one afternoon he and I went to Leatherby's to enjoy fries and ice cream. It was nice to get out of the apartment but I also was getting sore by the end, as my tolerance for movement is still relatively low.

Pouting because there is no way I could finish all that ice cream.

I also like how Mom takes so many pictures and videos. It's nice to have a chronicler around besides me, and it's nice to actually be in some of the pictures.

The last day she was here, Mom talked me into taking Jane and going with Mom and Clara to the playground. It was a nice day for it, actually. I mostly just sat next to Jane, who was sleeping in her car seat. She did eventually wake up and I nursed her. That's my first time ever doing that in public. No one said anything to me and at one point a young girl (maybe 5) came up to check out Jane and her father explained "That's a little baby, isn't it?" He showed no signs of being at all bothered by me nursing Jane right there, and I actually found that very encouraging. Imagine if everyone were that comfortable and cavalier about it.