Thank God for Grammies!

In case you haven't figured it out yet -- my mom ROCKS.

Seriously. She just left and I already miss her. Jon was gone for most of last week between school and a trip to visit his brother, so I was more than ready for some adult company (and a helping hand!!) by the time she arrived late Friday night. She reminds me SO much of my grandma -- her mom -- whenever she comes. She always brings tons of extra stuff with her and goodies for everyone. This time she brought Tanner some puzzles, a new bath toy, a pair of adorable monkey slippers, and material to make him a cozy blanket. (She says Tanner is her hobby :) My grandma used to always bring us those candy orange slices covered in sugar --- mmmm ... I loved them. And then, as we got older, she would bring the bonuses she got from makeup counters like Clinique or Estee Lauder! We always knew we were loved and thought of!

Anyways ... after she got her Tanner-fix, we put him to bed and got our jammies on to watch a movie. I had rented "My Best Friend's Girl," not really knowing what it was about. Yeah ... not a good one to watch with your parents. Very Very Very inappropriate. (Think "American Pie," but 1000 times worse.) I put myself out of my misery halfway through and fell asleep while my mom stayed up laughing. The best part about going to bed when my mom is here is knowing that I can sleep in as long as I want in the morning since she can't wait to get up and start the day with Tanner.

I finally mosied out of bed on Saturday morning around 8:45 and joined in the fun downstairs, where my mom and Tanner were playing "store" and Tanner was ringing up groceries and bagging them. He's actually really good at it which tells me we spend waaaaaaaay too much time at Target. We spent the morning trying to call my sisters and make them jealous that they weren't here, then eventually got our act together around 11:00 and headed out to run some errands and take Tanner for his first visit at Chucky Cheese's. Our first stop was Babies R' Us, where I got almost all of the baby items I needed to be prepared for Landon's arrival. I got to shop in peace while my mom wondered around with Tanner on his new monkey leash. Yes ... it sounds barbaric, just like locking him in his room at night. But ... he LOVED it. It is the cutest little stuffed monkey that he wears like a backpack and it's tail is a leash. He actually cried when it was time to take it off. I'll have to post a picture of it soon -- he's been making us put it on him around the house and follow him around with the leash. Hilarious.

Chucky Cheese's was quite the experience. Not exactly what I remember from the Showbiz Pizza days, but Tanner had a lot of fun. He was very upset when it was time to go -- we can't do anything fun without tears at the end. He was asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot, though, so my mom told me she'd stay in the car with him if there were any more errands I had to run. It was AMAZING being able to run into 6 different stores and get what I needed without feeling rushed. We even stopped for ice cream on the way home. I TOLD YOU -- my mom is super-cool :)

Now it was time to get down to business. The main reason my mom came was to help me get all of the baby stuff ready. We did some SERIOUS laundry since Landon has inherited a RIDICULOUS amount of clothes from his brother. I think even if he wears 1 outfit every day from the time he's born until he's three months old, he still won't be able to get through all of his newborn and 0-3 mos clothes. We also organized the nursery as much as we could and I got my bag packed for the hospital. We finished the evening off watching "Made of Honor" with Patrick Dempsey while my mom worked on Tanner's new blanket.

This morning I got to sleep in AGAIN and woke up just in time to get showered and pick up Jon from the airport. Tanner was SO excited to see his Daddy when we walked back in the door! I spent the rest of the day getting all of our baby gear out, and generally doing as much as I could to feel prepared for the big day. I feel REALLY good about everything I accomplished this weekend and I'm starting to feel very excited and "ready" to meet my new little boy! My mom offered to watch Tanner so that Jon and I could go out to dinner like real adults and have a "date," so we took her up on it and headed to Applebee's for boneless buffalo wings and their Oriental Chicken salad. I fretted all the way home about what my doctor is going to say at my appointment this week "NO MORE COOKIES FOR YOU!!! YOU CANNOT GAIN ANY MORE WEIGHT!!!!" But when I walked in the door "1/2 Ton Mom" was on TLC and now I just really don't feel so bad anymore!

So, all in all, the weekend was fantastic and I am feeling incredibly lucky to have spent it with my wonderful mom. I only hope that I can be half the mom she has been to me!