With a Little Help from My Friends

There are more times than I'm willing to admit where I feel like I could be featured on the MTV show 16 & Pregnant. Most of my girlfriends who are mamas live several states away and I am the eldest child in my family (or Jonathan's) with child. Most of the time this leaves me feeling incredibly underprepared for what's to come in a few short days. I know babies need love and milk. And diapers. I know all about the diapers. It's just everything else that eludes me.

Enter Larissa and Charlotte. Capes not pictured.

Readers, if you are expecting and need a how-to-be-a-mama week-long tutorial coupled with house and baby accessory preparation AND pampering, these two are your girls. Seriously. They came to visit NYC on their big summer trip and generously spent the majority of the time making sure I could at least star on 26 & Pregnant.

Let's review what they did:

• Sent us out of the house to run errands for 4 hours and deeply cleaned the apartment from top to bottom. We returned and it was cleaner than when we first moved in.
• Sterilized all of Josie's bottles.
• Taught me how to use my breast pump.
• Taught me the difference between all of the swaddle options (baby straight jackets, if you're asking Jonathan) we have and then swaddled Puff.
• Gave me foot rubs, back rubs, and subway fanning sessions. I have ele-feet now and they need all the help they can get.
• Helped Jonathan build a closet organizer and place it.
• Cooked breakfast.
• Taught Jonathan to use salsa on his eggs.
• Gave us gift cards to our favorite neighborhood restaurants.
• Cleaned all of our new pots and pans (courtesy of Ma and Pa Krause) and helped package our old ones.
• Gave me much-needed love and support.

I can't begin to tell you how much their visit meant to us. It was a total game changer and I feel so blessed to have such amazing girlfriends. Love you girls so much!!!!!