Grandma JoJo and her little pork chop

Sonia (who has been nicknamed "Pork Chop" by Grandma Jo), Andrew, and I had the most wonderful week with my mom! I honestly cannot possibly put into words how wonderful JoAnn Evans is. She spent her entire week in Lisle cooking, cleaning, wrangling Sosi, and worst of all, putting up with a sleep-deprived and slightly wacky daughter (for those of you from Rio Linda, that daughter is ME). Here's a list (most likely incomplete) of our activities during the week:

• My mom babysat for Sonia 4 times while I took care of some business (2 separate dentist appointments and 2 separate veterinarian appointments-- one for each kitty). This may have depleted my stores of frozen expressed breastmilk, but it was well worth it.
  

• She also babysat for Sonia while Andrew and I went on a date!! It was the first time we had been alone in over 6 weeks. We went to the movies and saw Terminator Salvation (which we both loved even though it was far from perfect). Nothing can take your mind off of leaving your infant daughter at home like large explosions, Christian Bale, and good old fashioned violence.

• As I mentioned in my last blog post, we met my friend, Jeanine, for a nice lunch at the Morton Arboretum.
  

• Sonia's Great-Great Uncle Leo and Great-Great Aunt Bev drove from Nappanee, Indiana to visit us. Uncle Leo remarked that he had now held 3 generations of his older sister's decendants. His sister is my maternal grandmother, Peggy ("Meem"). Uncle Leo was 14 years old when my mom was born, and she was a flower girl in his wedding. He held Niki and me when my mom brought us to visit Indiana as infants. And on Friday, he held little miss Sosi. So cool! I love Uncle Leo and Aunt Bev. I hope his sister isn't too jealous that he got to meet Sonia before she did....
  

• We sent out all of Sonia's birth announcements (thank you so much for helping stuff and lick envelopes, Mom!!).

• General baby care-- several baths, countless diapers and feedings, lots of schnuggling, and soothing the savage Sonia.

• Tons of housework.... it may not have been as fun as wrangling the baby, but it was necessary!

• We took positively ridiculous amounts of pictures of Sonia. The paparazzi followed her everywhere. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind much.
  

• Sonia is now fitting in to her 0-3 month clothes, so we tried out some of those outfits (including the hilarious "Tax Deduction" onesie!).
  

I love you so much, Mom!! The bonding time you had with Sonia this week was amazing. You deserve that silly, toothless grin that she bestowed on you the day before you left (one of her first conscious smiles ever!). Your son-in-law loves you, too-- I think he would be happy if you stayed all summer. How many sons-in-law feel like that about their mothers-in-law? You are a fabulous mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, and friend.