Mom to the rescue!!!

I love summers for lots of reasons. But new to the list of why I love summers over the past few years is that my Mom generously gives up a week of her summer vacation each year to come help. They are shoes only my Mom can fill and I'm certain that because we don't have family living in town, it's a week I'll never take for granted.

In 2008 it looked like a week of Mom cooking food, freezing food, cleaning our house, and cutting watermelon after watermelon while I puked the days away. I was pregnant and so so sick. All I could keep down was watermelon, hence the never-ending watermelon cutting job. The hubs wasn't getting to eat much because not only was I too sick to eat I would throw up with the scent of so many foods. So the cooking and freezing was to make sure he didn't starve either. It was a GLORIOUS week of help.

In 2009 it was a mostly fun week of playing together with Cupcake and having an extra set of hands around to wash diapers, make or clean up dinners, and watch girly movies. My Mom's college roommate came to town the same week so we got a visit in with her and the Hubs' mom came for a visit that weekend so we got to have two Grandma's together too. I was thrilled to have my Mom's companionship that week as I was still in the super tired, didn't leave the house much stage.

In 2010 I spent the week unboxing. After being in the house for just a few short months we still had endless piles of boxes and with a very curious new walker around, unpacking wasn't happening. Somehow it's 2011 and I still have a few boxes. Eep. BUT, the week of Mom 2010 was the biggest unboxing dent of them all.

Now....Week of Mom 2011? Well, it was strangely a combination of all previous Week of Moms. I'm still "recovering" in some ways from the hurricane that came through. My sweet Mom literally worked around the clock! She painted the new baby room, took uncountable layers off some chairs I got at a garage sale for the girls, took off all the layers and sanded down beautifully Cupcake's dresser (that was the Hubs' at one point). And in all the in between time managed Cupcake with multiple pool trips, playing kitchen, reading books, painting, snacking, and rarely resting! I could have gotten tired just watching her. But there was no time for watching her or taking my normal naptime pregnant naps. I cleaned out the Hub's and I closet, completely emptied, cleaned, and organized our pantry, cleaned out all the baby clothes from Cupcake's closet and moved them to the new baby's closet, and I cooked dinner each night without having to worry about entertaining a 2 yr old or keeping her from getting cut or burned in the process. I forgot how much I LOVE to cook! If that wasn't enough....we finally got a portion of our attic finished out so that we can actually store stuff properly up there so Dad and the Hubs loaded an un-named amount of boxes up to the new attic. They also hung a shade on our back porch. (Of course they worked a full week too). Sooooo, in one week, while pregnant, Week of Mom was like an extreme home clean out. Whew. Like I said I am still recovering. But it was WONDERFUL!!!

We're still finishing the furniture so I'll have to post some more pictures of them once they are done but here's a peak at a few of the projects. (Sorry for the gross blue tint coming off the tarps. We were in project mode...not perfect picture taking mode).

The dresser:

The drawers:

The chairs:
I know I'm not the only one who sooooo appreciates my Mom. In fact, it's humbling to be along side some other old friends, who like me appreciate their Mom to no end. I can clearly remember the days when we all wanted to desperately to get to college, away from our Moms, and be independent. I know we're all thankful that while our emotional pendulum has swung over the years, our Moms have stayed there, by our side, taking our love, our frustration, and our needs in stride and returning love and grace each step of the way. It is what makes a Mother-Daughter relationship so dear. Now while I get to be a Mom to a daughter (almost 2) I'm so thankful to still have MY mom standing there taking each step in stride and giving me love, grace, AND a week of her summers. She's irreplaceable and I'm so happy to have a daughter of my own that I can offer the same support to for many years, decades, and really....my whole life to come.

Thanks for a great week, Gigi. We all miss you.