I'm awake??

[Beckie]

I have no idea why it is 3AM and I'm wide awake! My poor kids are going to have to deal with a very tired Mommy tomorrow, I think.
I decided to post here while I was up and alert. My MIL is coming in 7 days! A little history here:
My husbands parents are divorced. He knew his mother, but wasn't too close to her because his father and step-mother stood in the way of their relationship. When we started dating back in 1994, I began spending a good amount of time with his mother. I adored her, and the two of them started the process of really getting to know each other. We moved away from her in 1997 and we have no desire to visit the small town he's from.
We saw her in 1998 at his grandmother's funeral, and haven't seen her since.
Anyway, his mother and I went from close to not close because of some problems DH and I had just before we finally married. At his grandmother's funeral, she did apologize and say she loved me, and has always included me in letters, etc. since then.
My ADD-brain just can't seem to get a grasp on getting things ready for her visit, and I want it to be perfect! I need to do all the normal cleaning, plus clean the carpets, wipe down walls and plan meals so I'm sure she gets fed! I'm nervous, and I want this visit to go well for all of us.
The other thing, DH is going to be working during most of the visit, and I feel obligated to 'entertain' her while he's away, and I have no idea how to do that. I'm thinking one day we could go see him at work, go out to lunch, but otherwise, I have no idea. She will be here an entire week.
This is such a good opportunity to have Dh's relationship with his mother grow and for our kids to really spend some time with her. Part of me is so scared though that she'll not be comfortable here with just me. Is that crazy??
Another part of me thinks that she and Dh should go out by themselves, but then I'm afraid at being left out, too. It's such a hard situation for me because I still admire and love his mother, but I'm just very unsure how she reacts to me now that the past is the past.
I want her to see that I make a good wife, mother and daughter-in-law. If I could just get it together and get things arranged for her arrival!
Sorry this is so long. I'm just so nervous and wanting things to go well. More for Dh than for me. (I think?) I know having his real mom here means so much to him, and I don't want to mess this up because I can't get things together!!

Beckie

[crazymama]

I too am awake. Just try and relax and enjoy the visit. I know easy for me to say ;D. Try to remember she coming to visit & hopefully enjoy her grandkids. Show her your town. Go to the chamber of commerce and see what they give people to check out and see. Yoiu might find something cool. Don't worry about getting the house perfect. If I start to focus on that, I get hyperfocused and am up all night trying to get everything perfect and that is impossible in the middle of the night. Next day, too tired to do anything but be a slug and jump from one project to the next, finishing nothing. Good luck. And try to enjoy.

[finnmom]

Beckie ;D ;D
Good morning ;D ;D I´am sorry to see that you cant get to sleep, that would totally mess me up ;D ;D
I´am not an early riser, I just got up an hour ago, and the time in here is now 11 am. For my luck, my hubby knows this and let´s me sleep, while he is with kid´s

As to the MIL-busines, I wouln´t worry, like cracymamma said, she is coming to see grandkid´s and both of you, so she´ll be prepared to enjoy of time with all of you. It´ll go o´kay, dont panic!
Marja

[Linda]

Beckie...Don't worry about it.your MIL will be thrilled to be with the kids.

You can always buy prepared or frozen foods to take the pressure off. I bet she will offer to help out with the cooking ....let her!

As for your husband and his mom...they will be fine

I f you have a good relationship with her..things will work out.Good Luck

[adhdtimes4]

Beckie - are you familiar with The Fly Lady? She might be able to help you get your house so it won't make you nervous. (She calls it CHAOS - Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)...www.flylady.net.

[Allanque]

If there's a zoo or a children's museum nearby, ask her if she'd like to visit there with the kids one day.

Several places sell big lasagnas in foil pans that you just take out of the freezer and pop in the oven. A loaf of garlic bread and a bag of salad, and hey! supper for a night and probably leftovers for lunch the next day.

You can probably come up with several ideas for things that don't require much effort to fix, or that you can put together ahead of time so you can spend more time with her and the kids. Meat can be browned ahead of time for things like spaghetti or chili.

"Hobo" dinners are also an easy thing to put together (the kids would probably like them). Take a hunk of raw ground hamburger meat (or other meat), put it in a piece of foil. Add whatever veggies, potatoes or rice, and seasoning you want. Add a little water. Each person has their own. Close up the foil, pop it in an oven at about 350, check in 15 or 20 mins.

As for the house...she's had kids. She understands that everything is not going to be perfect.

[Beckie]

I've still not been to sleep and I'm still not tired! It's so strange as I'm usually tired no matter how much sleep I've had.
I'm feeling better about the MIL visit, I think. I got a lot of house work done in my many hours awake, and I feel like I just might be able to keep up with it all until her visit is over! (Though, I've made the kids clean the living room 4 times today as they keep messing up what I've done!)

Thanks for your replies, too. They helped me focus and calm.

Beckie