The Journey of Parenthood…

Visit from Grandpa and Grammie

I am so blessed to have such amazing in-laws and am thankful that so many people were able to be at the hospital when Tess was born and were able to come visit us in the days (and weeks!) following her birth. She was loved right from the start! 

Prior to Tess being born Dad and Audrey talked about coming down to visit and I was really looking forward to it. Although I have such great friends and such great inlaws in town…I miss my Dad and wish my children were able to know him better. Especially since I no longer have a lot of my family as part of my life, it makes my desire to have that bond with my dad even stronger. Even more than my selfish desire for that relationship with him, it’s SO important to me for my kids to have that. They make so many memories with G-Mama and Big Papa (and even their great grandparents!) and I want them to have memories with my family too. I want them to truly know Dad (and Audrey!) and I want for them to know where I come from and know my blood and history.

I cannot express enough how much it meant to me that Dad and Audrey drove down to visit. When Tess was born we discussed the best time for them to come and I asked them to wait until school started. I knew Kye would LOVE IT if they drove him to school one morning and it’d be a memory with them that he could have 🙂 They came down on a Tuesday afternoon and left the following morning but it was a GREAT visit. Audrey hasn’t been around children that much but she just jumped right in. It was so precious to see them both get down on the floor and play with the kids! I’m sure they were a bit overwhelmed at the craziness that is our home (especially when guests come…do all kids get extra hyper when company is over?!?!) but they really embraced it all and it seriously melted my heart. 

When they got here we visited for a couple hours and Zach picked up Smokin’ Pig for dinner. We don’t have a lot of local type places but Smokin’ Pig is the perfect thing when out of town company comes to visit! Southern BBQ at it’s finest! We all enjoyed dinner together and they even brought gifts for each of the kids! SO thoughtful. It was obvious they took the time to really think about what each child would enjoy and that made it even more special. Kinda like how they ordered Chicken Salad Chick for me the night we came home from the hospital. I LOVED the food, but the thoughtfulness behind it meant even more to me 🙂

Tess got a beautiful night gown and an adorable pink bunny!

Kye got this really cool Cars book thing with pieces to build his own cars. He LOVES it!

And Britt, of course, adores her princess crown and hair accessories 🙂

They stayed until the kids went to bed and then they headed to their hotel (which, duh, I offered for them to stay with us but I totally get why they went the hotel route haha three kids at home is a bit insane!). The next morning they came in time to take the kids to school! Both Kye and Britt were thrilled! They drove my van and I wrote out instructions for them. Of course Kye is like a GPS himself and he made sure they knew if they were going a longer way to get there 😉 Kye was very proud to have them at his school and it’s something I know he will always remember!

They got back and stayed and visited with me until 10 which worked out perfect bc that’s when Tess was eating again so I had to nurse anyway. Since it was my first morning getting the kids up and out the door, I wasn’t “ready for the day” but I still wanted to get a couple pics with me in them! 

I’m so so very thankful for this visit. Up until that point I really hadn’t gotten upset at all about the lack of support from other family. It was such a blessing to have Dad and Audrey come and to feel loved by them and to especially see the love they have for my kids. It was such a mixture of emotions for me. On the one hand I was SO happy! They made such a big effort to come, got such thoughtful gifts, and were so awesome with the kids and it was such a great visit! On the other hand, it did bring up a lot of emotions that I had suppressed. I think just seeing my own family and having Tess meet someone from my side of the family for the first time made it more real that Dad would be the only family member she’d be meeting. I had a little cry after they left but reminded myself of how truly blessed I am in SO many areas and that Tess (and all my babies) are surrounded by so many people who do love them and do want to be in their lives. 

I cannot begin to express my appreciation for Dad and Audrey making the trip down. Seeing them with my babies brought such joy to my life and gave us all memories we won’t soon be forgetting! 

Emily Parker
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