Company

One of the great things about having a baby is family comes to visit! For example, my mom arrived the day Bryce was born and was able to stay almost two weeks - what a treat! Mom was also with me when Aubree was born and stayed to help for another week. It was certainly helpful having her guidance and assistance at that time, but this time it was way more helpful because she was able to focus on Aubree. It was a win-win situation all around. Aubree loved spending time with her grandma and this was the first time my mom really had a chance to spend a lot of time with Aubree; the last two times we went to visit in California were for my sister's weddings, so Mom was very busy being "mother-of-the-bride" with all the associated responsibilities. Being here, her main role was "grandma," and she got to play, play, play. Grandma and Aubree had all kinds of adventures - they went to the beach, to the park, to the library, to SeaWorld, shopping... Aubree even invented a special game with Grandma called "catch the light." Aubree would shine a flashlight around her room and squeal with delight as Grandma tried to catch it.

When Grandma wasn't playing with Aubree she was often taking care of Bryce so I could spend time with Aubree, cooking fantastic meals for us, cleaning, or running errands. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle everything after she left! The day she left (she left early in the morning), Aubree woke up and ran to the room where Grandma had been staying yelling, "get up, Grandma, let's play!" She was terrible disappointed to see Grandma wasn't there and for weeks afterwards would sigh, "I miss my Grandma." She tells me she wants to get on an airplane to go visit. Grandma says she's also having a hard time being away and says she gets "homesick" for her grand kids. Ugh. I wish we lived closer!
We also had the pleasure of having Mark's parents and both his sisters (Karen and Amy) come visit for Bryce's blessing. Karen also brought her one year old daughter, Ally. Although having so many people made for somewhat cramped quarters, we had a lot of fun. As you might expect from a trip to Florida, there were a couple beach excursions, plus trips to a couple theme parks. Aubree and I accompanied the crew for a day at SeaWorld. It was Bryce's first big day out. Thankfully, SeaWorld is a very family-friendly park. We saw lots of shows and they were spaced perfectly to allow me to feed Bryce without slowing down the rest of the group. Bryce did really well; he slept most of the day. Aubree liked that I could now ride the kiddie rides with her since I no longer have "a baby in my tummy." By the end of the day I was exhausted - it's so much work going out with a newborn! The next day our guests went to Epcot. We opted out and used the day to recover.
When not playing tourist, we were able to spend some time playing the traditional Winters Family game of MahJongg. As always, Amy won. How does she do that? Aubree LOVED having our relatives visit. There were so many people who could play with her and read her books and dance with her and on and on. She especially loved playing with Ally. For the most part, she and Ally got along extremely well. Again, Aubree was terribly disappointed when our guests went home. I also appreciated all the extra hands to help take care of the kids and to keep us company. Things felt pretty dull when everyone left. So, who's coming next? We love company!