my mother

 A week after Charley was born (I promise her birth story is coming!:) my mom and sister Danielle came to visit and stay for a week. They were SO MUCH help! Having a baby is hard work, but bringing the baby home and being all by yourself to take care of this little person is even harder. You are trying to figure out so many things! (how to nurse, how to burp, how to be the best parent possible). Along side that there is still loads of laundry, messes houses, dishes to do and dinner to make. I seriously don't know how people have more than 1 kid! Anyway my mom and Danielle were such a big help! I have a new respect for my mom that I think only comes when you have kids of your own. She is so patient and loving. I learned a lot from her the week she was visiting and I know Spencer did too. He will rock Charley to sleep and rub her read or hold her a certain way and tell me he learned that when Velma was here and he watched her do it.
   My mom is the baby whisperer. She can calm a screaming child in .2 seconds flat! It is amazing to watch. I try to do it just like her and Charley still screams!:) While my mom was here she helped me with so many projects as well. She made Charley's blessing dress which is beautiful! She helped me make some holiday banners and she sewed a cover onto the changing table. My mom is one talented lady!

I wanted to share this experience as well to keep for journaling sake. One day we went to her cousin Patty's house for a little brunch. Patty did our flowers for our wedding day and is just the cutest lady there is. For brunch she had made this amazing quiche, fruit and yogurt parfaits, fruit and OJ. She had decorated her back patio and had everything all set up for us. Anyway, we sat down with their other cousin Shelly and those 3 reminisced about the good ol' days for a few hours. It was so fun to hear their stories and to gain a greater perspective of life. I don't know why this helped me so much, but I was overwhelmed at the time with having a week old baby and my life changing drastically, and for some reason, listening to the ladies talk about their life growing up and their mom (my grandma) helped me gain an appreciation for my heritage and the life they lived. I thought my life was rough at the time, but my grandma and my great grandma were so strong worked a lot harder than I will ever have to. Patty said she could feel that her deceased Mother and Mother's sisters were with us that day and since then, I have prayed to have those angels watch over me and Charley. To help me be strong and be able to take care of our daughter the best I can.

 Shelly also said something I will never forget. She told me to cherish these times when she is still so little and she said that she LOVED getting up in the middle of the night with her babies to nurse them when the house was so peaceful and quiet and you could spend that time with your baby. I have tried to do this more and have learned to LOVE getting up in the middle of the night and have that special bond with our daughter. She will soon sleep through the night, so I have learned to love that 3am feeding no matter how tired I am.