Mimi was able to spend a week-and-a-half visiting our family this summer! She timed her visit to coordinate with Marcus studying for his medical boards (which he took on Thursday!), so she could help with the kids while he was tied up 24/7. It was really nice to have her here: three different times, she kept Lydia at home while the boys and I enjoyed baby-free outings: blueberry-picking, a dollar movie at the theater, and swimming at the Rec Center. It was so fun to have some "Mommy & the boys" time again. I was very thankful to have her help out with Lydia like that.
Mimi got to enjoy some special one-on-one time with Caleb, too, while she was here. She unlocked the door to his heart by bringing a huge suitcase of brand new Scholastic books, most of which he'd never read before. He and Mimi read book after book after book together up in her room. He already misses going upstairs when Mommy is busy to ask Mimi to read to him. He is somewhat consoled by the fact that Mimi left us a big pile of her wonderful new books to borrow.
This also happened to be a week of several new firsts for me. We've stayed home a lot since Lydia was born, but I ventured out by myself with all three kids several times this week: a puppet show at the library, the rec center for a workout (I think getting all three kids there and settled in childcare was half the workout!), and to the grocery store (for the second time). I also took all three to a VBS program and to the McWane Center, though Mimi came along for those two outings.
At the end of her visit, we even had time to work in a little grown-up fun: the night after Marcus took his boards, we met our BFF's for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then spent the rest of the evening visiting at their house. Mimi scored with the best baby-sitting job ever for her first time to keep all three kids: she arrived home from shopping with Aunt Wendi a little after 7:00 pm, and we had already put all 3 kids to bed! We love overnight babysitters (i.e. family in town) because once the kids are asleep, we don't feel guilty about staying out as late as we want to.
Mimi didn't have it quite as easy her second time to keep all three kids, mostly because it was for more than a day! After pumping for weeks to store up enough milk for this trip, I was able to take an overnight trip with Marcus to Chattanooga, TN. Originally, it was supposed to be a little getaway/celebration for the completion of his medical boards test, but it turned out to be more of a job investigation trip. Marcus had interviewed with a group there a few weeks before, so we had dinner with two couples from the group and spent the rest of the time exploring Chattanooga as a possible place to live. Mimi did a great job taking care of all of our kids while we were gone. They didn't play favorites with her: they got her up during the night just like they do for us (Ethan wet the bed and Lydia woke up twice), and were up for the day before 6:00 am, just like they are for us. So Mimi was pretty tired when we arrived home Saturday night, but we had all had a good time overall, and we were very thankful for the break.
Thank you so much, Mimi, for giving up part of your summer to spend time with our little people!
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