Visitors & Guests

Been busy this little while entertaining one of my best friends from my Scuba Diving days; reminiscing about school, diving, and all the other things in between.  I love it when friends and family come for visits, lots of catching up and relaxing usually.

Things these days are a bit different, mainly having a baby around now will definitely change the way you entertain your guests.  My friend doesn’t have kids of her own but I’m happy that she’s very understanding with my daughter’s needs and me needing to attend to them.  I still had to make things clear with her that my daughter was my priority and she has a routine that she likes to stick to otherwise its like all hell can and usually will break loose. 

Trips to the malls and basically had to have a time limit, I always just watch for my daughter’s signs to let me know when enough is enough, and I’m sure like most children they will let you know.  Thankfully my friend respected the fact that we would have to cut the shopping short or if my girl needed to be fed or changed.  She fell asleep and kept getting disturbed/woken up with the loud music from some stores so I just hung out outside the store while my friend browsed.  Only because a happy and sleepy baby while out makes it for a better experience overall. 

My daughter tends to be happier at home with the familiar surroundings and although I do like to get her out for a change of scenery I feel its best to keep her where she’s happy more often and not cramped in her stroller or car seat, at least for too long.  My daughter is going on five (5) months and outings to the stores have gotten easier and easier with time and I’ve been getting better at paying attention to her signals. 

Overall, the visit was great and being at home mostly was more enjoyable for us all.  We all got to play with the baby, she was able to nap in her own bed and just to be around the place that is most familiar kept her happy.  I was also able to keep her daily routine because I just went on with my “every day life”, so to speak, and continued to listen to my baby’s signals.  Also, I found that staying at home for most days my friend and I were able to catch up more and do more in a sense like cook, watch Television and movies and so on.  I felt like the trip was more bonding time for us all. 

What works best when you have visitors and guests? Does your routine change and do you stick with it? Or just go with the flow of what’s planned out for your guests visit?