The great MN get together

Alright well we didn't actually make it to the fair, so bummed I didn't get to try the camel!  Yuck! But I was able to spend my short 5 days home in MN with some great company! It was packed full of visits. Maycen was able to meet many of my friends and family and she got plenty of love from Nana during our stay.  On Friday Maycen got to meet Auntie Stacy for lunch and my grandparents on my Mom's side came over to meet her and had Pizza for Dinner. Saturday we went out to see Jon and Sheri and their daughter Addison. I even was able to have some fun nights out with girlfriends and Maycen got to play with Nana and Grampa.  On Sunday my mom had this great BBQ and my family all came to meet her.  We even squeezed in play date with babies Maddie and Jaden, Jill, Kate and Anne!

  My friends from Spain who are also expecting a baby girl were in town as well and made a visit.

Spending these days with Maycen was great because it was nice to have her to myself instead of having to do the daycare juggle and rushing around to do errands. She did great on the flight, she slept most of the way there and did really good on the way home too.  It was nice to just have some down time to just be with her.  She really is a very happy baby when given the one on one attention she truly deserves, she is so predictable when she is on my routine but the minute she is back at daycare, the poor thing is just so exhausted.  It breaks my heart because it really affects her personality on top of her endless daycare colds.  She is really fun right now and has the best smile with dimples and giggles, a bit too lazy to get crawling but why crawl when Nana will hold you and bring you all your toys, OK...  I am sucker too!  She is almost crawling just gets her foot stuck underneath her, she will push herself backwards. She loved this little stuffed dog that Nana gave her and she is really into things with strings, pots and pans and drinking out of water bottles and cups.  She will play peek a boo and Nana got her laughing when she put the donuts on top of her head and they would fall off.  She is pulling herself up on things a bit more this week too.

On our last day we made it out to see her Great Grandma Smith, I think she is 92 years old now.  She looked great and got all dressed up to see her.  Maycen was a bit of a pill at this visit because she was so tired from all the running around we were doing so we didn't get to catch up on much but she enjoyed seeing Maycen and watching her play.

The sad part of my trip was on Thursday when I arrived. My Mom and I stopped with Maycen to check on my townhouse.  I gave the tenant notice but apparently she was not expecting us.  The locks had actually been changed from all the construction so I was locked out but then when we went around back to check out the new sliding door I realized it was open. I entered the dark drape covered apartment to find a horrid mess and the worst smell of cat pee and poo.  My tenant is not even supposed to have cats.  The apartment was a disaster with bowls of food on the stove and around that had maybe been there all week.  Clothes and junk everywhere and a filthy litter box overfull.  Some minor damage to blinds, carpet and bathroom fixtures and the toilet looked like it had not been cleaned in years.  It was so disheartening.  The good news is the construction on the windows and doors and siding is done and looks great and the west end will be a great area to own property once we gut out the place from this renter:(  Oh well!  Another sad note was saying goodbye to Nana.  I now understand her hugs when she squeezes me so hard.  Good byes are never fun but always so much harder when you have no control over the situation.  I just feel so lucky that I have such good friends that make the effort to keep in touch and be part of our lives!