I know I've been whining a considerable amount during this pregnancy, but one thing I can never say is there was no one to help me. The outpouring of support from Grant and friends has been tremendous. Grant is picking up the slack in the house... he even cleaned the top of the fridge this evening! ( I told a rather tall friend of mine that I don't see it, so I don't feel inclined to clean it. She replied she can see on the top of theirs, but still doesn't feel compelled to wipe it off. Ha!) He's been wonderful about keeping up with dishes, vacuuming and folding laundry. I could not do it without him since the smallest effort triggers contractions, which the Dr. wishes to minimize as much as possible.
We also have friends - a couple I met when I did my first story on fiber for the Great Falls Tribune - who are cooking twice a week for us. Daryl kept offering to do things, and I would decline. She finally put her foot down and said she would cook dinner twice a week. I gave up the argument (partly because she's a fabulous cook, and partly because I am pretty beat by evening). So Grant picks up dinner from their place on Wed. and Fridays, and it usually is more than enough for leftovers the following days). And Karen, my former editor friend, also made dinner for us on several occasions... even when she was nursing a post-surgery foot. If nothing else, it's wonderful to sample other people's dishes!
Then there's Grandma Elsie, who was Grant's mother's best friend, who comes up once a week to play with Samuel giving me some time to catch up on work (which thankfully, often means sitting in bed with the laptop). Since I'm limited on what I can do with Samuel it means so much to have her up to take him outside on nice days, or just chase him around the house. He loves it. She has the biggest heart, and I know is there for whatever we need.
To top it off, there are a slew of folks from church who've offered to watch Sam, bring up food, grab groceries. It's been a tremendous blessing. The hardest part for me is accepting this outpouring. I truly don't like being on this end of things, but I am enormously grateful there are so many people who care.
