When Lois (aka Shosho) arrived, Conner was so small to us. I guess small is a relative term though because in reality he was a really big baby. When we would tell people how old he was they always looked surprised.
When Lois arrived, she expected the brutal heat Anne and I always complain about, but instead she found a baby all bundled up. To our surprise, the weather was beautiful until the last day of her stay with us. Driving her to the airport, we hit the upper 90s for the first time this season and the high humidity made the heat index well into the 100s.
During the majority of her stay, it was beautiful. It even got cold enough on a few days that we made a fire! It was very cozy.
We really love our old fire place and get a lot of use out of it in the winter. Anytime its cold enough, I light it up. Sometimes I light it and we need to open the windows so it doesn't get too hot.
For some reason I always equate a burning fireplace to family time and a sense of home. I guess it's because I grew up in a house with a fireplace. I remember laying on the floor in the living room next to the fire, watching TV or playing with toys. It's one of my very vivid and warm childhood memories I hope to pass on to Conner.
While Shosho visited, Anne and I both went back to work. To help us out, she slept in Conner's room and helped with the feedings. This gave Anne and I an opportunity to get some sleep. And no, Conner didn't sleep IN bed with Shosho, this was just a cute little nap.
During her stay, we took advantage of the mild weather by having a few meals outside. There was a little more rain this year so the garden was very lush. It was also cool enough that we would put on sweaters and could make a little outside fire. The nightly chills kept the mosquitos and gnats to a minimum.
We also made a point to give the dogs some affection, We were worried about their reaction to Conner but for the most part they just ignored him. One noticeable change was that Sid became much more aggressive towards Wiggles. I wonder what Cesar Millan would say about that?
Our two months with Shosho was such a blessing. She cooked, cleaned, and nannied Conner. We could never thank her enough for her help. We could never thank Mark enough for giving up his wife for so long.
When the time came that she had to return to Kenya, Conner was much larger then he had been when she arrived. Although he didn't seem to know what was happening, we were all too sad to bear her departure. With a pit in our stomachs and tears rolling down our cheeks, we dropped Lois off at the Atlanta Airport. As we pulled away, Anne sat in the back seat with Conner. Looking up at his emotionally devastated mother, Conner got a huge grin on his face and and began to squeal with excitement...
And that was our first sign that our sweet little boy has an ornery sense of humor!
