My mom moved in with us a few weeks ago and so far, so good. Her presence has been a blessing, particularly with regard to my two children, who are totally nutso about their Nana and could hardly sleep the first few nights out of the joy of knowing she'd be there in the morning.

I am figuring things out, too. We had the VNA (visiting nurse) of our area come before she moved in, to do a home evaluation with Mom and determine what kind of accessibility changes we would need to make to the house. The changes were minimal and accomplished by throwing $212 at Lowe's and getting Monstro to use his power tools for about half an hour. The VNA fellow was particularly impressed with the “Nicest I've ever seen” tub transfer bench. Thanks, Lowe's, for making me look like a superstar.

The pill regimen is four times a day but not a challenge, even for yours truly, who is the worst ever at regimented pill schedules. It's becoming second nature and we haven't missed a dose yet. Also, I bought an awesome pill caddy at Walmart — it holds a week's worth of four-times-a-day pills, and you can take out the day's caddy if you're going somewhere. I have also made the decision to refill the caddy every Thursday evening — that way, if she's running low on something, I can call the pharmacy on Friday morning and then I have until Saturday at 3:00 to pick it up. Smaaht.

We're also getting out and doing something about once a day. I have hooked her up with an exercise specialist so she's going to classes twice a week. We're also going on walks and running errands. People smile a weary smile at me when they see me unloading two small children and Mom's walker out of my minivan. I'd like to tell them that for a blue parking placard, it's totally worth it, but I live in Massachusetts and they probably wouldn't get the joke.