My eyes are red…puffy…and swollen. I’ve cried my fair share of tears: my mom left today and I spent the whole drive home in tears only to come home to Steve’s open arms reassuring me that everything would be okay.  Two days ago, even the thought of her leaving made me tear up.  I blame it on postpartum hormones, but when it comes down to it I think it comes out of admiration and love for my mom.

Whenever she comes, it just doesn’t seem like its long enough. I was explaining to Steve that not only is she great company, and fun to be around, but she is a neutral third party.  She doesn’t get frustrated with Hallie after the 15th tantrum for the day, she doesn’t get annoyed when Hunter decides he wants to be awake at midnight, or he needs a diaper change after the last three in 20 minutes.  She wakes up to Hallie early in the morning and plays with her.  Steve and I “rock, paper, scissors” to see who has to entertain Hallie an hour before the other has to get up, or call out who changed the last dirty diaper!

But not my mom, she just does it. She knows eventually she gets to go home so maybe that’s why she’s so willing to do the dirty work! My mom is also a motivating factor. As Steve so kindly points out, I tend to start projects and it takes me a while to finish them. So when my mom comes to town we always have a list of projects, and we always complete them.  She keeps me focused and pushes me to finish, when it’s so natural for me to say, “Oh, that’s easy. I’ll just finish that later.” She replies, “It’s so easy, lets just finish it now!” Steve is convinced we need to have her visit more often just so she can help me finish projects.
Some highlights from her visit:
Cleaned out Hunter’s room
Replaced moulding
Fixed the hole in the wall (long time in coming!!)
Went shopping
Visited the zoo and went on the train ride, Hallie’s favorite
Went for daily walks and admired the beautiful fall colors
Watched conference
Went to the apple farm and enjoyed some delicious carmel apples
Played multiple games of memory with Hallie
Painted Hunter’s room
Played Settlers of Catan
Made delicious cinnamon rolls
Hung up Halloween decorations
Watched Gilmore Girls Season 7
Went to the Pumpkin Patch and decorated pumpkins

Thanks mom for making the sacrifice to come spend time with us and help out with Hallie and Hunter (and occasionally Steve when he got out of line!) We love you and miss you already!