Friday, July 15, 2011

What my niece taught me..

This past week we had our niece for 5 days.  She is almost 8- just a year younger than our Little CC!
We had such a great time, we painted our nails, did a scrapbook, played games, went to the zoo, on a picnic and to the pool!

What I realized is that I do have pretty good mom instincts, but other things I was a bit slow at!  Sleeping, so my niece Vivien wanted me to sleep with her, not a problem, so we slept in the queen bed, as we have not set up CC's bed (which is a trundle), the first night I got zero sleep, as I continued to wake up to a foot in my back, an elbow in my side...now seeing how GREAT of a decision the trundle will be!  I can still be there, but hopefully not get beat up!  TV, ok so Duane and I watch TV, but not a whole lot Vivien lives for it...ugh...this will not be allowed for CC- there will be much outdoor time and activities, however if I turned off the TV and played games or colored with Vivien she was just as happy! So I did that a lot!  Eating, yes I did feed her she is 8 so she knows what she likes, but what we did notice on day 3...was that she needed a mid-morning snack, her blood sugar would drop and she became very moody- unfortunately we did not realize this in time to have fun at the zoo...oh well!  our picnic was great!
"I am good"- after she had crept upstairs...that meant I am feeding the cat MORE treats so he will like me! Putting a kids movie on did NOT make her wind down and fall asleep...it made her giggle and be silly!
Scrap booking- I had started this a year ago ( I am not crafty- I tried!) but had never finished it...that became our project- what a great time we had- on one page she would put all different stickers and flowers and stuff, the next would have 2!  But she was happy so I said nothing!!

All in all we had a great time! It gave me some reality- meals need to be scheduled, as does bedtime, there is no "me" time...while I definitely know this stuff already- it was real life!  I LOVED every part of it!!  I cannot wait to get CC home!
Vivien and I
Having fun with her Uncle Duane and the animals!