#17

I'm thankful my PARENTS LIVE SO CLOSE!

So 10 years ago, I would have NEVER DREAMED of living close to my parents. In fact, it was everything I could do to continue living with them at the time I'm sure. You know, bratty little teenager. But I love being only 10 minutes away from a shopping trip with my mom or handy man help from my dad. It's especially nice now that I've got a baby in tow as they love to see her. Free babysitting is a great perk!

I do have to share a funny story on the free babysitting note. Avery was about a month old and I had been hanging at my parents when we decided we needed some peanut butter kiss cookies...mmm...don't those sound delicious? We were going to run to Target to get some kisses and my dad offered to watch Avery, who was sound asleep, while we ran out. So off we went!

Target is one of those stores I go to just for fun and browse all the isles. It was especially delightful since I hadn't been out much...it felt like a whole different world. So, we were enjoying our Target run (for Kisses of course) when my mom's phone rang. It had been on speaker and all I hear is my baby SCREAMING! Then my dad said, "It's been 8 minutes and she hasn't stopped crying!!" He sounded a little panicked. I had to laugh because he had always considered himself a baby soother, but then I felt bad because it was the time of night Avery gets a little cranky and my little girl can really wail. So we wrapped up our adventure and while we were checking out, the phone rang again..."WHERE ARE YOU?? (baby still screaming in the background...)" We assured him we were on our way out and would be home in 10 minutes.

There was another call of "How much longer? and Where are you?" But the best as we were a couple minutes away the last phone call with a very distraught Grandpa saying, "Hurry! I think there's something really wrong with her!"

This actually sounds kinda sad now that I think about it. But I promise, it was funny at the time...for my mom and I anyway. We could hear Avery and knew she was okay. It was just her 'I'm overwhelmed with the world and need to be swaddled and rocked to sleep' cry. So we got home and rescued the Gramps. Kind of an anti-climactic ending but I did need to document the funny phone calls. I don't think he'll be offering to babysit anytime soon. Bummer.