Sisters

The title of this post "Sisters" is probably misleading. Because I'm not about to talk about Addilyn being a sister. Nope. I'm going to talk about my sisters. Hold the phone---no, not blood sisters, but sister-in-laws. I don't have a sister of my own but do in fact have 4 sister-in-laws. One of which put a shout out for a favor.

It all started with Shirley, Scott's oldest sister, and her husband wanting to go on a cruise. A few months ago Shirley put out the idea of seeing if Addilyn and I could come down to Atlanta in January to watch her 3 girls for a week. I said that I didn't see why not, I should be in my "normal" feeling stage of pregnancy by that point. So after a very long train ride (8 hours) I arrived with Addilyn in Atlanta.

The train left at 12:30 AM Sunday morning. First mistake: we put Addilyn down just as normal, at 7pm. So she slept until 10:30, when we had to leave to the train station. She basically took a 4 1/2 hour nap and stayed awake on the train until about 4AM. So I had not slept until about then and I got probably about an hour or so. That was until they flipped the train lights on at 7AM and Addilyn woke up. The Westerns picked us up and we made it to their house at about 9am, in which Addi and I passed out on their couch in the basement until we had to leave for their church that started at 12:30. Since I was sleep deprived, it was hard to keep myself awake for most of the day. My attention needed to be it's best especially when we were going over the particulars of the routines the girls go through during the week.

Monday morning EARLY Eric and Shirley left. That meant I was now in charge. Now, I'm not going into a play by play of the week- because honestly it was a blur and I only remember the not so great moments. But, I do have some pictures of the good moments that I took.

Addilyn and Afton

 Addilyn is right inbetween Afton and Eila in age. So Addilyn was really good playing with both girls.

Addilyn and Afton

Addilyn and Afton

Afton, who took a spill down the stairs

Afton

 The above picture of Afton- I thought it was a funny picture, until later. Mostly it was funny because I was never able to get Afton to take a nap even though she needs one and her mom can get her to take one. So here she was lying on the floor saying she wasn't tired. Well, probably within an hour of this picture, she threw up. Yes, she did. It was on herself and in the kitchen so it was well contained. That was on Thursday, the day before her mom and dad came home. Thank goodness.

Eila and Addilyn

Addilyn

Eila and Addilyn

Afton and Addilyn

Afton and Addilyn

Loves her oranges

All 4 girls, Olivia, Eila, Afton, Addilyn

Addilyn and Eila

All 4 girls

 Shirley and Eric got home about 3:30pm on Friday. I was SO happy they were back! Mostly because that meant I could just be in charge of 1 child, mine. I was exhausted. Saturday we did a little this and a little of that while on Sunday Shirley stayed home with the girls because they were all getting sick.

At the train station going home

So really, for the week I learned a few good things. It was an experience I'll tell you. I told Shirley and Eric that really, they are not my kids. I mean that in soooo many ways too. For 1) I am not their mom, so when they cried for mom, they were not happy to get me 2) We have very very different personalities 3) I don't know the "tricks" with them- like what bribes really work or what words/phrases they are familiar with or how to get them to bed (the worst) 4) I don't know their cues- like with the 15 month old who can't talk etc etc etc....I really could go on. But ultimately I wasn't their parent and it's a good thing. Shirley and Eric are.

The ride home was different for sure. The train was 2 hours late. So Shirley and I hung out in the car until it was time to board. Then Addilyn and I had the very front of the train- where the door opens and closes all the time for people going in between trains. From about 10:30pm on the train until about 3:30am Addilyn would sleep for about 10-15 minutes and then wake up crying. I'd console her and put her in a new position (on me, because she refused to lay on the chairs). This was bad for me because first of all, she was lying on me and her brother was fighting back. Then I couldn't get very good sleep either being in these awkward positions. She woke up for a little bit, had a snack, and then went to sleep at about 4. Which at that point I just stayed up and watched a show on my computer. The train got in at 5:15AM Monday. Luckily Scott was able to take a half day and was home until 12:30 on Monday.