Grandpa and Grandma visit

Mary Jo holds Estella as Dad looks on

Two months before Cordelia and Estella were born, Dale and I started a calendar on which we scheduled the various guests who would be visiting us this summer. For three short days at the beginning of September, we hosted my dad and Mary Jo. Although they had seen the babies on skype, it was their first time holding them, touching them, and changing their diapers. Well, actually it was Mary Jo's first time changing their diapers; my dad's first time changing them still hasn't happened yet!

Dad carrying Adelaida through the zoo

The weekend was full of activity! Of course there was a lot of baby-holding, but we also went to the zoo and somehow Dale and Dad started two big projects at the house -- digging up and replacing a sprinkler water valve (they got the three-foot-deep hold dug and the valve replaced, but realized when they turned the water back on that there was a leak and would need to cut out and replace the valve again) and cutting down a very dead tree by our driveway (the tree was cut down and cut up, but they didn't quite get around to removing it from the driveway). Despite the fact that neither job was finished, I was so grateful to my dad for helping Dale with those two projects, as we'd been planning to do them for a long time, but really needed a second person to help out with them. And, Dale was able to finish both projects the following week while the girls and I were in Indiana.

Dad rocks Estella

For two of the three nights Dad and Mary Jo were visiting us, Estella had very difficult nights. She seemed to be having some stomach pains and just wanted to be held -- every time we'd try to put her down, she started crying, and would periodically scrunch up her little body and scream even when we were holding her. Although we tried not to wake Dad and Mary Jo, their room was just across the hall from the babies' bedroom and I'm sure they didn't get much sleep those nights either. One night around 2am, Dad came in to the bonus room and installed himself in the glider, where he spent the rest of the night, holding and soothing Estella while we slept. Thanks Dad!

Here are some wonderful pictures of that weekend:

Adelaida perched on the water buffalo sculpture at the zoo


Grandpa rocking Adelaida and Cordelia
 

Grandma holding Estella


A silverback gorilla at the zoo carries his new toy away from the other gorillas


Reese, the two-year-old orangutan, swinging at the zoo


We had a great visit and were especially grateful to my dad and Mary Jo for traveling back to Indiana with me, a toddler who was missing her naptime, and two infants. It was a surprisingly easy trip, but I couldn't have done it without them!