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Toddling Through the Silicon Valley

By Cheryl Bac

E-mail Cheryl Bac

About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...  (More)

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When Grandparents Visit

Uploaded: Jul 26, 2014
My parents recently flew out to visit us. It was my dad's first time in California, so we were very excited to show him around.

Before their trip, I came up with a list of fun activities to do, did some light cleaning, and bought a few easy-to-prepare groceries. I was a little nervous about entertaining relatives during my third trimester. Not only had my energy level plummeted, but my growing belly was also making certain activities more difficult.

Well, I definitely had no reason to worry. When my parents arrived, they took initiative and decided to just finish any task that looked like it needed to be completed...cabinets organized, laundry folded, veggies chopped, dishes washed. They found projects to complete that we didn't even realize were unfinished! And while my husband and I enjoyed a free night of babysitting, they surprised us by cleaning the floors! We thought they were spending the evening enjoying a movie with our son.

Throughout their "vacation," my husband and I were pushing them to be tourists. Somehow we did convince my parents to take a break and go to Sausalito, walk around Stanford, hang out at the beach, take our son to a museum and search for the tigers, lions and bears at the zoo.

At the end of their trip I felt much more prepared for the arrival of baby #2 (the crib is assembled). And much more well-rested than before they flew in. Apparently they also enjoyed the trip, because they are working on buying their next set of plane tickets.

Now that my home is clean, toddler-proofed and organized, I couldn't think of a better time to host my next play date :)

Did your parents visit you during your pregnancy? Or did you visit your daughter/daughter-in-law during hers? How was the experience?
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Comments

Posted by Sally Torbey, a resident of Palo Alto High School,
on Jul 27, 2014 at 2:07 pm

Thanks for bringing back some happy memories for me. My parents were also incredibly helpful when they visited. My dad told the kids stories during dinners out at restaurants. Once the folks at the table next to us even bought us all dessert as a thank you because they were so entertained by his stories! And my mom was always a wonderful extra pair of hands to have around, pitching in wherever needed. If my husband and I have the good fortune to someday be grandparents, I only hope we can be half as helpful as your parents are and mine were!


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Jul 27, 2014 at 9:46 pm

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

Sally Torbey - Great to hear that it brought back happy memories for you. What wonderful memories about your dad's storytelling.


Posted by LJ, a resident of another community,
on Jul 28, 2014 at 7:48 pm

Your parents sound like an incredible team. I bet they could tour the world helping to prepare parents and households for the next baby!


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Jul 28, 2014 at 8:33 pm

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

LJ - We are definitely very lucky that they were able to visit us this summer and help us prepare for baby. I'll be sure to share your comment with them.


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