All-A-Flutter!

Alan came home from Yellowstone and has already gone back, but for the short time he was here the thing he wanted to do most of all was hang out with Paisley and Fox.  He absolutely adores them!  So when Mandy asked if we wanted to go to a butterfly exhibit at the Botanical Gardens, we were there!

We had the greatest time!  It was the last week of the exhibit, so it was really crowded.  Paisley was a little overwhelmed at first with all of those people (she’s like her Old Lolee in that way), but after a little coaxing, she warmed up and ended up having a lot of fun.  Boyfriend (aka, Fox), was safe and secure in some little wrap thing attached to his mother, so mister “stranger danger” was happy, too!  It was very humid in the room, so everyone’s hair looked a little crazy by the time we were done…

Here’s a peek at our own little nature adventure:

Fox at Home

Fox has been a different “Grandma” experience for me than Paisley was.  I think part of that is due to the fact that Paisley was the first grandchild (and child for her parents), and also because I stayed over at the Lackey house for a couple of nights or so in my effort to help out.  The Fox experience was complicated by the fact that I was okay for a few days after he was born, but then I got sick.  While I felt like helping, we all knew that a sick baby and/or toddler was the last thing they needed over there, so I stayed home until  we didn’t think I was contagious.  Even at that, most of my “helping” has consisted of taking Paisley for little outings or hanging out with her at home, in an effort to provide her with a little special attention and to give her mother a chance to concentrate on Fox.  Poor Fox has had problems with “colic” – later diagnosed as reflux – and just some general digestive issues which have been causing distress for him and loss of sleep for his family.  All of the pictures I have are pictures which I have pilfered from Mandy; however, it’s probably good since she takes much better pictures than I do!

Paisley has been generally taken with her new brother – except for the part where he keeps everyone awake at night.  Paisley found it a little hard having to share her parents' attention at first, but she has been a real trooper as of late.  I believe these pictures were taken when they first brought Fox home:

 

Mandy has taken quite a few pictures, as time has allowed.  I had really thought that Fox would simply look like a male version of Paisley.  Not so.  So far, he reminds me of Mandy when she was this age.  But really, he just looks like his own little person:

 

He has the most incredible feet, and I find myself “gobbling” and kissing them every chance I get (although I don’t know how many years that will last!):

 

The family had a photographer come to their house not too long ago and take pictures.  They are beautiful:

 

 

I guess the thing that has surprised me the most is how much I love this little guy.  I had worried that there would be no way that I could love another one as much as I love the World’s Most Beautiful Girl, but somehow… it happened!   He is wonderful!

 

He's Finally Here!

After Mandy suffering through pneumonia at 38 weeks of pregnancy, having the worry that he looked liked he might be breech for awhile there, and just a roller-coaster ride in general during the last month of Mandy's pregnancy, the most beautiful grandson in the world is finally here!  We got the call at 4:30 this morning that Mandy was at the hospital.  It took us a little while to get on the road, but we were out the door by 5:30, arriving at the hospital a little after six-ish (thanks to no traffic!).  Jeromy’s mother, “Nana”, was already there, and Mandy was working through some major labor pains with the help of her faithful hubby.

It wasn’t too long (around 7:00) before the nurse booted the grandparents out to go sit in the waiting room.  It seemed like forever before we were able to go back again.  We later learned that the reason it took so long was that the doctor on-call from Mandy’s OB didn’t show up on time.  They waited as long as they could before Fox actually was delivered by the nurses there, with the doctor showing up after the fact.  Because of this, it took longer than usual to get Mandy situated.  Nana and Lolee are both still pretty upset about this, and I probably don’t need to ever see Mandy’s doctor.  However, Mandy and Fox are doing fine now (thanks to the nurses!), and I know that the whole world will want to get a peek at the most beautiful grandson in the whole world:

Surprises!

We have recently enjoyed the blessing of small surprises to brighten our day.  One really terrific surprise was a pop-in visit from Paisley and her mother.  Paisley stood at her mother's knee while Mandy fed her bits of banana:

Another surprise came tonight when Robert was cleaning out our little fish pond, which holds our three remaining fish.  As he was scooping out the dirty water, we discovered...babies!  Four in all!  Aren't they cute?

I just love surprises!

Paisley in Wonderland

Yesterday we attended a birthday party for the most beautiful child ever born:  Miss Paisley Grace is turning one!  Her parents put together an absolutely beautiful and thoughtful party.  The theme was “Alice in Wonderland”, and it truly was wondrous!

Although they had a lot of help setting up (Jeromy’s family can move so fast it made me feel like I was standing still at times), Alice’s – I mean Paisley’s – parents did all of the prep work, from concept to execution.  Mandy made scads of paper “pinwheel-flowers” for the tables and a pretty good number of tissue paper pom-pom things.  Mandy and Jeromy also scoured the area thrifts stores, buying them out of mismatched tea cups and saucers for all of the place settings.  The tea cups were filled with little bags of chocolates and became the party favors for the adults.  For the kids there were little headbands with white rabbit ears, crayons, and an “Alice in Wonderland” coloring book.  I loved the photo tree with pictures of our girl taken over the last year.  There were quotes from “Alice in Wonderland” on the tables, and guests were encouraged to wear their craziest hats.  From invitations to decorations, it was all things Wonderland.

Here’s a peek at the décor:

And there was some food, too:

Paisley was dressed in a petti-romper – blue, just like Alice, to be sure!  (Although she looked a little like Miss Kittie from the old western, “Gunsmoke”, if you ask me.  Just sayin’):

She had a great time with her Grump-Pa while waiting for the festivities to begin:

There were lots of gifts to open.  Good thing her Dad was there to help her:

And of course, you must have cake:

I didn’t know how much I could love someone until I had my children.  And I was totally unprepared for how much I would love a grandchild until Miss Paisley Grace came along (that little stink pot!).  And now, I can’t believe it!  My baby has a baby who is turning one year old!

Why it seems just like yesterday that Paisley’s mother was turning one, celebrating with her grandmother and mother:

My, oh my!  How the time does fly!  I’m feeling a little more like the White Rabbit every day!

Message for My Daughter

Dear Daughter:

I have had the privilege to be your mother for your whole life, and then joy of joys, I had the privilege of being there as you were granted the privilege of motherhood for yourself.  It gladdens my heart to watch you as you tote, wag, cuddle, and care for my beautiful grand-daughter.

And now you have been told that she is behind on some of her major developmental  “milestones”. You worry about her.  And you question yourself.   You think you should have done more of this…or less of that…or whatever.  Well, I’ve had the opportunity to live long enough to see the child-rearing process come to fruition, and I’ve learned a few things along the way.

You and your cousin were only three months apart.  My sister was a stay-at-home mom and I was a single parent, forced to leave you every day to go to work.  I absolutely hated it.  But, I tried to make up for it by spending all the free time that I could with you, doing lots of learning activities.  I was so tickled because by kindergarten you already knew all of your “ABC’s”, numbers, and a few other things like that.  Then I learned that your cousin was already reading books.  Talk about “mother failure”!  I became convinced that you would forever be doomed to the task of trying to catch up with your peers, subjected to a life of squalor and struggle, all because of your loser mother and her shortcomings.  Well, we both know how that turned out!  Somewhere along the way you learned what you needed to know, in spite of me!  There are some things that can only be seen from the top of the mountain.

But even if things don’t progress as we would like, there is much to be learned and gleaned.  I KNOW that you remember the struggles that our family faced when your brother was younger.  They lasted for years:  The scary “possible” diagnosis, all of those doctor and counseling appointments, and wondering just how “normal” his life would be.  I was so worried and sad…so sad for him…my baby boy!  What would his life be like?  Would he be able to even have a normal life?  I’ve always wanted my children to live up their potential, but with some conditions, it’s hard to know what that potential is.  My heart ached for him.

I have to confess, there was a period of time when my heart ached for me, too.  I LOVE being a mother…I loved both of you before you were even born.  The day each of you was born was the "best" day of my life!  But just like the fact that I would like to live in a location that actually has seasons, I had wanted my life to have seasons, too, each to be savored for its own unique beauty.  When we were told that he MIGHT end up being with us forever, I was a little frustrated.  The prospect of an endless summer loomed large before me.

“Why is this happening to us?” I asked God one day.  “Why am I having to go through this trial?”

He didn’t answer right away…in fact, He didn’t answer for quite a good while.  But when the answer came, it was clear as a bell.

“It is not YOUR trial.  It is HIS.  HE’S the one who has to live with this every second of every day.  HE’s the one who gets made fun of at school.  It’s HIS trial.”

If that realization wasn’t profound enough, the next part totally changed my perspective and my life:  “You are just the person I placed in his life to help him endure it.”

I was humbled that God had enough faith in me to even entrust me with such a task.  Doesn’t He know how inept I am at so many things?  Surely, there must have been someone smarter, more patient, more EVERYTHING than I am.  But there I was.  So armed with this new perspective, I tailored my attitude and my life in order to help your brother endure his trials and to helping him find his place in the world.  My new knowledge didn’t mean that the struggles disappeared, but this, plus other revelations, have helped me to see being his mother as the privilege that it is.  The lessons that his particular trials were designed to teach were HIS to learn; I had other lessons to learn, but I was here to help him when he needed help.   And although it DID take him a little longer than some, he IS on his own, doing very well at his job, and finally having the success and the friends and fun for which he has so long desired.

I have faith in our girl, that she will be just fine…and I will do all that I can to help with this.  But I also have faith in you…to be her mother.  Don’t doubt yourself.  Paisley was sent to you because you have whatever it is that she needs to help her in this journey that we call life.  And the day will come that you, Paisley, and her Dad will stand on TOP of the mountain, hand-in-hand, and say, “All is well!”

Color My World....

Outside it is rainy and gray, but here in the house things are colorful and bright:

May your day be wonderful, whatever your weather may be!

Stinky McFinkey, Order from Chaos, and Chickens

It seems like it has been forever since I have been able to read blogs (and I’ve missed that!) or write one of my own.  I have been so busy that it’s not even funny.  March is the “birthday” of Relief Society, our women’s organization at church and I was in charge of a big, blowout dinner celebration.  Although it did not occupy all of my time, it did occupy all of my brain cells for the first half of the month.   I am terrible when I have an event looming on the horizon; I can’t think of anything besides “the event” and do not switch gears very well.  It is almost paralyzing at times.  Glad that’s over.

I also began a new adventure in March (in fact, the week of the dinner).  It’s a long story, and it’s their story to tell (not mine), but the bottom line is that Miss Popper is no longer going to day care when her parents are at work.   She is now spending her weekdays with her old Lolee, who does the best she can to keep up.  It is actually quite comical to see us.  The little girl who arrives at my house around 7:30 in the morning has been roused from her blissful sleep by her mother, who insists on waking her in order to change her diaper, feed her, and all that stuff.  By the time she gets to my house she is quite done with it all and can be somewhat irritable.  I call this little child, “Stinky McFinkey”.  I do my best to console Miss McFinkey, I give her some breakfast and a bottle, and then I put her little fanny down for a morning nap.

Miss McFinkey insisting on feeding herself:

Nap time is where the magic happens.  Over the next hour or so, this slumbering child is transformed.  When she awakens, she is no longer “Stinky McFinkey” – she has become “Cutie McTooty”.   Little “Cutie” and I have a pretty good time for the rest of the day.  So far, we have both survived three weeks.  She is so sweet and we have been working on reaching her milestones (sitting up, etc.) together.  I love having my girl here, but I will say that there is a reason that 50-year old women are infertile.  I just don’t have the energy her mother seems to have. 

Here is my girl, having a great time playing:

When I am not trying to keep Miss Popper alive or doing church stuff, I have been trying to work on our yard.  There is a reason that I have never shown a full picture of our yard (only close-ups and snippets).  You see, our dogs declared war on our yard a few years back, and they seem to have adopted a “scorched earth” policy.  We also have a variety of building projects that were started, but not finished, resulting in piles of lumber and building materials scattered hither and yon.  This is the year that we are finally working TOGETHER to get our yard in shape.  Robert is working on finishing the mansion for the chickens and other items in an attempt to use up the lumber.  I am planting flowers, herbs, and berry bushes everywhere that there is sun in the hope that if there is enough stuff growing, it won’t be so obvious that we don’t have grass.  We are also looking at laying some more flagstones on all of the “paths” that the dogs have created.  We are trying to create order from chaos.  Once we are finished, I might get brave enough to show you some “before” and “after” pictures.  For now, I will just show you a couple of things that I found this spring that were inexpensive, but that I find oh-so-neat.

I found this cute little thing at “Dollar Tree” for one dollar.  By having Robert drill some holes in the bottom, I transformed it into a cute little planter, just right for one lone plant:

My favorite thing is the set of solar-powered butterfly lights.  I put them among the butterfly bushes (ha ha).  Once dusk arrives, they put on quite a show, changing colors in sequence.  Beautiful!

I am still enjoying our chickens, Opal and Ruby.  I do have to make time for them to run loose in the yard because the hawk is still in the area.  Too many times I go out into the yard, only to find feathers everywhere:

That sight still makes me sick.  Not my girls!  So they are kept safe when we are not in the yard and allowed to run crazy when we can be out there.  I tried to get a good picture of them tonight, but they don’t stay still for very long.  Here is a blurry picture that at least shows what big girls they are:

So that’s it!  That’s the big excitement here in Woodbury World.  Hope things are going well in yours!

Old...School…Books

Early in my career I worked in a library. This was a perfect fit for me because I have always loved books. And, freak that I am, it’s not just the reading that I love. I love the little “crack” sound that the binding on a new book makes when you open it for the first time. While other kids were sniffing glue, I literally had my nose in a book, catching a whiff of the ink. Aahh…invigorating! If I was lucky enough to get a new book with high gloss paper…well, let’s just say it was a feast for all of the senses.

We now pretty much have book cases in every room of our house. A couple of Halloweens ago, a little trick-or-treater peeked through our door, and his eyes opened wide. “Is this the library?” he asked. Yes, that really did happen!

My love of books often conflicts with my love of clutter-busting, but I just can’t give them up. People have asked me why I don’t just check books out of the library. Well, that may work for novels (which I really don’t read that often), but in most cases, if I’m interested in something enough to want to read about it in the first place, I want to go back and revisit that book again and again. Yep, better to just own it!

I know that there are new-fangled gizmos that will store all kinds of books on one little device. While this would save me all kinds of space, I’m thinking that an electronic screen just would not “sniff” the same as a new book. Are the pictures as pretty? Do they even have pictures? If I’m learning about keeping chickens, I want to see them in all of their glory!

Below is a sampling of just a few of my shelves. I still have my Nancy Drew mysteries that I read as a child, as well as a book on Laura Ingalls Wilder (I grew up reading “Little House” and it haunts me today, leaving me dreaming of a log cabin with a loft and hand-made quilts on all of the beds!):


This is just one of a couple of shelves dealing with self-improvement (I need lots of help):


This is my “dreaming” shelf, full of books I’m reading, getting ready for my “someday” hobby farm:


I’m teaching myself to quilt, so that I will be ready to make all those quilts when I get my log cabin or storybook cottage:


I have several shelves devoted to spiritual and moral growth, too (I need to read them 100 times each!):

 
I’m afraid that when it comes to reading, this sentimental reader will always be old-school. And now that I have the most wonderful grandchild in the world, I am delighted to be able to pass my passion for print along to her. I gave her some “baby” books for Christmas, but I can’t seem to stop buying books for her. I’m getting ready for when she’s a little older. I bought a couple just the other night.

I love this book of poetry because it has a lot of the classics like “Three Little Kittens” and “There Was a Little Girl”:

 
I bought this book for me as much as I bought it for Miss Popper. The puppy reminds me of Molly-Anna Marie and her muddy paws. There is actually an illustration on the inside depicting a white tile floor with paw prints all over it. We have a white tile floor, and yes, there are usually paw prints all over it:


I look forward to sharing the world with Miss Popper through all of the books that we will read together. Whenever she visits her Lolee, it will be “old-school” time!