They joys of living 2 miles from my parents.

In Minnesota we lived less than 10 minutes from Andy's parents and we rarely saw them. They never offered to babysit, never had us over for random meals, and rarely initiated any type of get togethers. I was fine with that! And since my mom lived 50+ minutes away, I was used to having little help with Isla and seeing family sparingly.

Now we live less than 5 minutes from my dad. We see him all the time. If he finds out Isla and I are at the park, he literally jumps right in his car and drives over to meet us there. He called on Monday to do a "stop by" and ended up taking Isla home with him for 3 hours. Now that he has a carseat (he stole our 2nd seat) he takes Isla on adventures once or twice a week. It is heavenly. Isla still has her Friday sleepovers and we try to go over there on Sundays for dinner. Today I needed a babysitter so I could see the chiropractor. I called my dad, he cancelled his morning meeting, and I dropped Isla off. Tomorrow my step mom is watching Isla so I can tutor. My dad often stops by on his way home from work for 5-10 minutes just to give Isla kisses.

IT IS SO NICE HAVING HELP! I didn't know what I was missing out on while living in Minnesota! It also helps that my parents are IN LOVE with Isla.

Aside from all of the babysitting help, their house has become a lovely getaway for us. We stayed there when our power was out. I spent the afternoon there today while our AC was being fixed. If Isla is getting bored at our house I'll drive over there and we'll play in her playroom for a while.

As much as I miss Minnesota, I'm starting to wonder how I ever managed without much outside help with Isla. I guess we did have an awesome daycare provider who was willing to keep Isla from 7am-6pm which helped if we needed to schedule appointments before or after work. But still. I'm amazed at how much easier life is with a little help.