When Chelsea Visits

Chelsea came to town last month and we had such a great time with her.

We hadn't seen her since Christmas and eight months is just too long to go without seeing your siblings if you can help it! She hadn't met Hannah yet, so we had planned for her to come stay a week to visit and help out however she could.

Jayce ran to the door when she arrived and then ran away so that she would chase him. Normally whenever Chelsea comes to visit Grandma comes as well, so she was excited to have Jayce's attention to herself, and Jayce was excited to have a playmate.

For the rest of Chelsea's stay, Jayce would periodically build her a castle, as he does with anyone who is in his favor. (Not that you weren't special, Chelsea.) But unlike everyone else, he went to work on this immediately when he woke up. As in, Chris and I would hear him get up in the morning, run across his room, and then hear the blocks banging against one another as he constructed a "cool very big castle for Chelsea." He would then push his creation (built on the wagon for ease of travel) down to the guest room to present to a still-sleeping Chelsea. Some mornings we held him off a bit to let her sleep, some mornings we didn't.

I was a little worried at first when Chelsea told me she was coming for a week, because unlike all of her previous trips which are filled with large home projects, trips out of town for shopping and other fun activities, I knew that this one would be pretty low key. As in, none of that. I was a little worried that she'd be bored and ready to go home early. But she wasn't. (Or if she was, she hid it well.)

Instead of any fun major activities, she helped out where ever we needed her. Things like Hannah's bath time. Normally I give Hannah a bath alone since Chris is upstairs giving Jayce a bath at roughly the same time. Not that I need help, I just want someone else there to keep a hand on her so I can get a few bath time pictures. Like these ones where she was working those legs up and down up and down. It was pretty funny to flip through these on the camera, it was like a little flip book...except on a camera.

There were also a few occasions where Hannah was being a bit fussy, so Chelsea took her outside and walked her around to calm her down.

She was in town for Jayce's open house and had agreed to watch Hannah while Chris and I took him to his school. We thought it was just going to be a "meet the teacher, see the classroom" type of thing, and she wanted to see his class too, so we all went. Which meant that Jayce had a serious entourage for his first pre-day. Mom, Dad, Aunt, and sister for a 2 day a week half day program. It was funny.

Chelsea helped me with the nursery, our biggest project of the week. She was originally planning to help paint and assemble it all, but since that didn't work out I saved the decorating for when she'd be around. Which was pretty easy to do with the whole "bed rest so don't go upstairs" and then the "I have a newborn so I need to sleep with any spare time" things I had going on.

So she helped me decide what to hang where, matted photos for me, helped me pick which fabric to make into throw pillows, tied the bumpers onto the crib with cheerleader-grade bows, etc.

Chelsea always keeps my ego in check when we work on these projects as well. Over the past several months she has told me, "You're painting the nursery GRAY?! Yikes, that will be so depressing. It's a baby's room!" When I told her about the crepe paper pom poms, "Yeah, don't make those," and asked with disdain, "What is this 'bunting' you keep talking about?"

Also, in the past,

"Wait, let me guess, you're going to paint it blue."

"You are obsessed with burlap."

"Why do you always paint numbers on things?"

I keep saying, "Chelsea, trust me. It will look good." She usually likes it in the end, but still doesn't trust me from the beginning. Maybe someday. :)

Regardless of the hard time that she gives me, I always sign up for more, saving certain projects for whenever she'll be around so that I can get her opinion, and then suggest something that she'll think is ridiculous. :)

We all loved having her here. Chris could get a bit more work done since he didn't need to rush home to help with the kids, Hannah spent plenty of time cooing and snuggling with her, Jayce had a playmate who would wrestle with him and let him play Angry Birds on their phone, and I had my sister around to hang out with and harass. It was a perfect trip.

The morning after she left, Jayce woke up and said, "Mom, I go wake up Aunt Chelsea?" and we were sad.

Come back soon Chels! We love you!