Little time has been allocated for free time recently. Between doctor visits, child birth and breathing classes, and work, we hardly find an hour a day to just sit and have to ourselves. Very recently however, that time was cut dramatically to little more than five or ten minutes before work, and a few odd minutes during the day. This is due to the fact that my wife's thirteen year old niece is currently staying with us, and has been for little over a week now.

I came home from work, and my wife greeted me at the door and asked how i would like to have her niece hanging around for a few weeks. I told her that it would be nice to have an extra set of hands around the house since we were both very busy. It was then that she told me that her sister was going on vacation and didn't want to leave her daughter with her mother, mostly under her daughters complaints i believe, so she asked me and my wife if we wanted her for two weeks. Apparently she already said that it wouldn't be a problem before i got home, so really i didn't have much of a choice in the matter at hand. We spent the rest of the evening getting the guest room ready for the nieces arrival the next morning.

She arrived about nine and we helped her take her things into the house, well me and her did most of it, while my wife and her sister talked. After good byes were said, the three of us went inside and finished helping her unpack. I showed her around the house to make sure she knew where everything was, and we eventually settled down in front of the television. She was mildly disgruntled when she found out that we didn't have cable, but was happy again upon discovering we had a computer with internet access. She asked what there was to do during the day, and we explained to her that the television, the computer, and the video game system she had brought with her was about it. We told her that she wouldn't have many chores, just to clean up after herself, which she is expected to do anyway, and simply do the dishes, or clean the house occasionally. About noon we drove her around, showing her different places, and eventually ended up seeing a movie and getting something to eat for lunch before coming home and having dinner that evening. We told her that her bedtime was eleven pm, and we didn't mind what time she got up in the morning, but if she missed breakfast with us, she was fixing her own.

Sunday we went shopping and picked up a few things that she wanted before leaving her at home for a few hours while me and my wife went out. When we came home we discovered that she had her video games hooked up and having fun. I joined her under the playful teasing of my wife for being a big kid. After the evening was through, we went to bed.

Her niece didn't join us for breakfast like she had the previous morning, so my wife made sure there was a clean bowl and spoon so she could have come cereal or something when she woke up. I left a note for her asking her to vacuum and straighten up the house a little before leaving for work.

It's interesting having her around the house. It helps to give us something more real than books and videos on raising a child, even though she is thirteen years old, we are still learning a lot. She has been a great help around the house keeping everything clean and in order. just a few days ago her and my wife went shopping for maternity clothes and other things, giving me the day to myself to relax and do whatever i wanted to. I ended up going to the library for awhile, then watching a movie, before visiting some friends of ours. We talked about having the baby and how work was going and how the niece was working out. I finally came back home and played some of her video games. I swear i'll beat her at least once before she has to leave. I was just finishing coking dinner when they came home. While eating i discovered that they had a great time together, and we all talked about how our day was. I told my wife later that i really enjoyed dinner because it was as if we were a family, and that i hoped that our daughter turns out just like her niece. After dinner i got severely beaten at video games again. After that experience, we all sat down and watched a movie. Her niece had her head on my shoulder and was half asleep, while my wife was laying down with her feet in my lap. I ended up carrying her niece to bed and tucking her in before i joined my wife asleep in our room.

She's being picked up in a few days. I'm not completely sure of the date because i don't know if her mother will want to sleep in and pick her up the afternoon after she gets back home, or the evening she returns. Either way, i'm going to miss her.

I must go now for i am being challenged to round of video games, and i still need my win, maybe tonight will be my lucky night.