Get better, Grammy!

Last week, Oliver and I picked up a rental and braved the three hours between Nashville and suburban Atlanta to spend five days with my mom, who is recovering from a complete hip replacement, dad, and sister, who was in town to visit and help, too. It was a relaxing few days, being away from the chaos of our house and in the midst of other people who wanted to hold and play with Oliver. My sister, in particular, is a trooper when it comes to Ollie. She loves to do the fun things and never balks at the less-fun things, like changing the massively wet and sometimes poopy diapers that Ollie sports when he wakes up in the morning. Oliver had a grand time exploring the basement, where my parents are staying until my mom can handle stairs. There were baby toys, which are fun and all, but also a steep flight of stairs, lots of ledges and windows, and most importantly, my mother's walker and "grabber" that she uses to get dressed and open doors and such.

On Wednesday, my sister and I enjoyed a few hours of girl time, shopping for some new school clothes for her, while my dad played baby-wrangler. He went up and down the stairs over and over with Ollie, made tents using the afghan and the walker, let Oliver scale the couch to play with the coveted blind pulls, taught him peek-a-boo, and watched him play endlessly with an oatmeal canister and the top to a box of shape toys. Both the "boys" were exhausted that night.

My sister and I got to talk about books, husbands, houses, news, and school (her school is, sadly, furloughing teachers for three days due to budget deficits in Georgia). She's already one semester into her master's program in literacy, so she shared a lot of what she's been learning as I get ready to start my program. She and I worked through boxes of loose photographs of my mom's, helping her put them in order so they can go into albums. Laura, my mom, and I caught up on episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar, and Laura, dad, and I took Oliver to the pool one afternoon. We ate Extreme Moosetracks and made caramel corn one night. After she left, I cleaned and refilled mom's hummingbird feeders so she could watch the birds come and go in her beautiful garden.

Mom is recovering very well, being a real trooper but asking for help as she needs it. It was nice to have a week of time together. I've gone so many years seeing my family only once or twice a year that I really appreciate the extra time I've gotten with them in the last year. Though Laura is still more than seven hours away, I sense we'll see each other more often, if sometimes at our parents'.