Visitors and jockeying for position

My brother Brian, his wife Beth and their daughter Kate came into town on Wednesday night of last week and we've been spending lots of time with them at my parents' house. Swimming, eating, laughing and playing with three beautiful little girls is not a bad way to spend your week!


Because Kate is such a hot commodity, there has been lots of jockeying for position as Most Favored Cousin to Play With. Kate seems to be at this point willing to smile, laugh and make raspberries at either one but my girls want to be with her, play with her, offer her toys, and generally entertain her at every moment and if I make them do something silly like EAT DINNER the other sister gets upset that I have stolen this time with Kate away from them.


This culminated (for the first time) on Thursday night on the way to Dan's softball game. Michaela was complaining and crying that Brian and Beth were HER godparents and Jenna gets to see her parents all the time and Michaela never gets to see hers and Jenna always gets to see her god-brothers and Michaela never gets to see her godsister Kate. Michaela ended her tirade by declaring with as much vehemence as she could muster: "She's trying to STEAL MY GODSISTER!!!"


So I, in a very un-social worker type tone, answered back: "Suck it up and pull it together!" and then reassured her that Jenna's godparents love her just as much as they love Jenna and noone was stealing anybody. Michaela continued to cry and so I reverted back to my "suck it up" line of parental counseling.


But we have had a wonderful time with them and watching them care for a 6 month old brings me right back to those days with each of my girls and I realize how far we've come. And it's a good feeling. I love having children who can talk and walk and sleep through the night and have senses of humor. Of course, I love six month old babies as well: their delicious smell, their rolls of baby fat, their sweetness, their joyful, smiling faces, and their inability to argue with their mom in July about their Halloween costume.


While we were all together, my mom threatened to not feed us anymore if we didn't pose for a Christmas Card picture all together. Well, that's not really true. But it did take a little wrangling on her part to get us all dressed and gussied up Friday night and we even coordinated the girls' dresses. Here are some of the results:





Brian and Beth and Kate are on a little mini-family vacation right now to Lake Placid but will be back tomorrow evening. Then they are here for another few days and then fly home Thursday. The girls will be devastated when they leave, but thankfully we have our vacation to the Cape coming up as a distraction.


More pics of the visit to come in the next few days!