In a perfect world....

I think one thing that every parent needs is time. Time for themselves, time for each, time to relax, time to regenerate, time.
Last February, we went to Victoria to visit Richard's only relatives living here in Canada. Richard's uncle and aunt (who are some of the most wonderful people who'll ever meet) have three daughters (beautiful, talented, smart and super nice). The two older girls are married to wonderful husbands and the oldest has three super cute, super great kids.
Richard's uncle and aunt give to their oldest daughter and husband the gift of time every Saturday. All three children, who are 3 months, 6yrs & 13yrs, spent the Saturday overnight with their grandparents. What a gift. Richard's cousin and her husband get to spend good quality time with each other. It's an evening where they can go out without frantically trying to search out a babysitter. Their evening also doesn't have a time limit. No worries. How wonderful would that be.
The kids get the gift of bonding and really knowing their grandparents, of knowing they are 100% worth any effort and/or lack of sleep that may come. Richard's uncle and aunt get the gift of their precious grandchildren, of a special bond that will forever enrichen the lives of these children.
What a gift. Everybody wins.
I would love one day to hear the words "relax, have fun, enjoy yourselves, don't worry, come back only when you're ready". Of course, we do appreciate the help we get and when you're going to have a couple of 12 yr olds babysitting, you know its going to be an early night.
I really wanted to just express how beautiful it is what Richard's uncle and aunt are doing. Just beautiful and they really look forward to the kids coming over and they hate having to miss any Saturday for whatever reason. Beautifully wonderful, just like they are.
In a perfect world, I would like that for myself, however, I will put my mild jealousy aside :) and pledge that when my children become parents, as long as I am healthy enough of course, I will give them the gift of time. Richard and I have discussed this already and we would be more than delighted to do the same thing his uncle and aunt are doing.

Bebes, Parents, Gazouillements and other things...

First an update on the diabetes front. Most of you know I has gestional diabetes while I was pregnant with Xavier. On Monday I had my post-delivery check up. Everything is A-ok, all of my sugar levels have gone back to normal. The specialist said that if I lose 15 lbs (my goal is actually 30) by this time next year and maintain it, I should have no problems in the future! That is very good news!
On Tuesday, we had the Bebes, parents et gazouillements programme to go to. Emma always has a lot of fun when she goes there. She stays with a babysitter and all the other little kids over 1 year old. Mommies and babies go upstairs for an information session. Yesterday's session was about how to get the father involved in your child's life and help you out at home. I have no problem on that front! The lunch they made for us was a spaghetti with lentil tomato sauce. Very yummy. There's another mom besides me who doesn't eat meat, so they always make sure to make something we can also eat. I like that, very nice.
After we finished our lunch, we went to visit Memere who doesn't live too far from the school. Emma always has a lot of fun visiting with her Memere. Memere made us soup, fish and veggie eggrolls for supper, very hearty. We stayed just until after supper, I didn't want to come home in the dark.
All in all we had a good day yesterday, except that Emma napped in the stroller, making her a tyrant to get to bed at the bedtime. She ended up going to sleep maybe sometime after 10pm! Oh well what can you do :-)