aaaahhhhhh sleep!

Me and Melissa at Girl's night out!

Terry and Renee and the kids joined us for a Boursin burger night!

Mary and Annie with Emery

Mary and Renee at Piazza del Pane for Girl's night out!

Auntie Amy and Annie at Girl's night out!

Annie sure loves our little girl!!!

Well the last 5 days have been a blast! My sister-in-law, Mary from Seattle, said (while I was pregnant) that she wanted to come help out once Emery was here. We set the date for 3 weeks after my due date. She said that's when all the help is gone from locals but when the exhaustion truly sets in. Well, as we all know, Emery came 2 weeks early. Mary was so bummed that now she would have to wait 5 WEEKS before she could see her beloved niece. But that 5 weeks flew by and she and my niece, Annie, were here before we knew it! We were both wondering how she could help me as I'm not necessarily needy any more. Bottle feeding has definitely made life easier. I'm up and around and (almost) back to life as I knew it before. Just now I have a little munchkin who is always with me. She prayed that she would be a help. And boy, was she!!! I thought if she even does 1 or 2 nights of feedings for me, that would be worth the trip! Well... she did every night feeding for all 5 nights!!!! It was heavenly. Although, I did not feel rested until after 3 nights of 8-9 hours of sleep! Its crazy how long it takes to catch up on sleep!!

I have such a hard time letting someone help me, especially when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself. So I finally told her after the first day of trying to do things for me, that she would just have to jump in and do what she wants. She did and after a day or so, I finally was able to rest in, and enjoy, her help. She helped pick up, clean up, make dinner, etc each day. And we finally did a couple projects before she left. She does interior design and I wanted her help in decorating Emery's walls. We bought a great mirror and hung it. Other than that she gave me some great ideas and now I just have to be diligent to do them (given time and money). The other project was hanging a second wire shelf in Em's closet. It all looks great and I'm excited to hang up more clothes!

Her interior design skills also moved into my living room where she took the things I already have and moved them around until we had a room that looked like a professionally decorated model home. (she would humbly say... naaahhhh... but really!!)

I was so grateful that I was able to enjoy their time here. I hated the thought that she would only come to help and serve and I would not have the energy to enjoy girl time together. But we were out just about every day eating, shopping, and enjoying this beautiful weather. Sean had a three day weekend and so we were able to enjoy his company as well. Friday night we had a girls night out where my other two sisters-in-law in town joined us for dinner. Saturday night my brother and family came over for dinner (a crazy, loud night!). And Sunday, she sent us out for a date night. Dinner at Pismo's courtesy of one of Sean's frequent customers.... a baby gift of $50 gift card for the restaurant! (Thanks Roger!)

Can't wait for her to meet the whole family up in Seattle!! It was a fabulous 6 days!! But the vacation is over and we're back to reality... back to life. Time to rest and get Emery back on her schedule after many days of going going.