As anticipated, my in-laws are great. When Mad was born, they came out but stayed at a hotel (we had a tiny apartment... they'd stayed with us there before, but for this they gave us space). Whenever they came to our place, they called first to see what they could bring. While there, Judy probably used every bit of her self-control to not hog the baby. Instead, she cleaned and organized my kitchen and backyard... and then she held the baby. I guess her mother-in-law would come to visit when the boys were born. She'd tell Judy to go ahead and deal with her chores; Grandma would take care of the baby.
So yeah, I'd like to say a little thanks to Tom's slightly selfish grandmother.
The other day I was talking to Gina, who is married to my brother. We were talking about my in-laws and how long they were staying. She seemed to think that four nights was a long time, but I disagreed. I told her about some of their previous visits and ended with, "My in-laws are great! Everyone should have in-laws this great."
Her response? A wistful... almost sad, "Yeah. You're right."
Ahem... 'scuze me? Bah! So, some of my in-laws are great. Namely, the ones on Tom's side, haha.
Judy and Larry have arrived at what seems to be the perfect time for Madelyn. She was sick last week, but seems to be better. On top of that (and more importantly), she has been much more receptive to others lately. I did arm the grandparents with a secret weapon: knowledge of the Boop (grapes). Mad's a full-fledged Boop Addict (it's early for coffee yet). So Wednesday evening Gramma gave Boop and yesterday Grampa did. Last night Mad gave Gramma a kiss before bed, and today she let Gramma pick her up from her nap and bring her downstairs.
The only downside so far was that Corey couldn't sleep last night.* He was apparently up and down the stairs pretty often, and then chose to watch something with the volume too loud. (Larry and Judy are sleeping in our loft, so no doors for them.) Combine that with the fact that Tom and Judy's chatting yesterday afternoon apparently kept Larry from getting a good nap. He has MS, so naps are not uncommon (heck, I don't have it and I can appreciate a good one).
Today, we spent the late morning shopping for Halloween costumes and decorations and clothes for Mad. After lunch, Mad and Grampa were ready for serious napping. Grampa was determined to snooze:
Seemed to work. I think I'll try this next time I'm trying not to hear Tom shaving/brushing his teeth/opening the shower curtain 900 times in the course of a work morning.
*Okay, really, there was one other downside, but I can't talk about it right now.
In anticipation of Judy and Larry's (the in-laws) arrival Wednesday evening, Tom and I purchased a sleeper sofa.
***Back in "my" day, they were called Hide-A-Beds. You can't find those anymore. In our list of things to do for the house, I have included, "Hide-A-Bed for the loft" and "Hide-A-Bed for the office." Now I'll never get done, guh!
It is a lovely purple sofa (the picture makes it look sort of wonky brown, but it's not). Surprisingly, the mattress is reasonably comfortable in the, "Please come stay with us for a week or two, not much longer" sort of way. Oddly enough, when I saw it in a store the other day, I never checked out what the sofa feels like to sit on.
Rock hard, just like my abs (in my dreams). Meh, it's in the loft. We're usually only there for story time and "looby loo" with Madelyn.
***What's looby loo? Some song I learned when Corey was a wee bebe.
"Here we go looby loo,
Here we go looby light,
Here we go looby loo,
All on a Saturday night."
Mad and I do this while stomping around in a circle over her foam letters mat. To hear a tiny thing such as herself ask for "looby looby loo"... well, I will stomp in a circle as many times as she wants. For some reason it segues nicely into the Mexican Hat Dance song, so we end with a flourish.
The furniture store, thankfully, has night deliveries (here's where we would be missing our old truck, except that it wouldn't have been up to the task). We were scheduled for 6-10. They called at 5:30, arrived at 5:40, brought the couch in, hefted it up the stairs and put it into position. In the midst of it all, a neighbor's PITBULL managed to get loose (a-freaking-gain) and get INto OUR HOUSE.
Maisy was in her crate, so that's right where Big Poppa went. (I have no idea of the dog's name... but someone who would have one would probably call their dog Big Poppa, right?) One of the delivery guys, Jose, told me to pick up Mad.
***Uh, why didn't I think of that? Because I was remembering what the woman said to me right before she married Tom and I. There was a wasp flying around and she said, "Don't give it any energy and it will go away," so I didn't and it did. Yes, my big plan was not to give any energy to the dog.
But Jose's, "I think you should pick up your daughter. That dog looks dangerous," got me moving. I picked her up. Corey said maybe he could get the dog out the back. He opened the screen and went out. The dog followed. Jose's partner closed the slider. Jose closed the front door. I hoped my son wasn't being mauled on the side of the house. All the windows were up and I wasn't sure I'd hear him. Corey got the dog out the front and came back inside (we don't actually know where the dog lives, only that we see it 2-3 times a month). Jose and his partner delivered the sofa and went on their way.
Having the couch up there means that room is almost done. Corey and Tom both seem to think that we need a TV up there (sorry, but I like being a one TV family). It clearly needs something... a photo or other artwork... over the couch. But it's close. The only room closer is Mad's (natch... that girl has everything).
Tom and I tried out the bed. No, not like that, you perves. We just laid on it. It's pretty comfortable. The view outside was of a late sunset, all different shades of blue with a sliver of orange at the bottom. Lovely.
