Grandparents

Braving the Pool

Posted on by Amy
I took the girls to the pool this afternoon for the first time this summer.  It’s pretty hot here, so I figured it would be a good way to get some outside time after naps (or non-nap in the case of Miss).  My husband had a meeting, so I braved the pool on my own.  Through having the girls in the water at my sister-in-law’s in the past few weeks, we have learned that Lass is fearless when it comes to the water, so I was a bit nervous.  I figured we’d be okay though since the pool has zero-entry and I put a floatie on her.  At first it was super easy, and I wondered what I had even been nervous about.  Sis sat in her car
seat in the shade and Miss and Lass splashed around harmlessly in less that one foot of water, pretty much right by my feet.  Then a friend, who is about two months older than Miss showed up.  It was great for the girls to be able to play with her, but her arrival disrupted our little peaceful, safe, easy playing.  She and Miss immediately headed for deeper water (“deeper” in this case meaning one to two feet) and of course Lass went right along with them.  They were playing “horsey” on some of those pool noodles.  That, in addition to the slightly deeper water, was enough to throw Lass off her balance a bit, and twice I went running though the water and hauled her up after she lost her footing and went face first into the water.  With the noodle under her she couldn’t quite get her feet back under herself.  After the second time, I had to call it quits for Lass for today.  I think I’m going to get a more substantial life jacket and maybe we’ll try it again in a few days.  That girl freaks me out.  She’s my little dare devil.  
I really would love to have some photos of our pool time to post, since it was mostly lots of fun and the girls were, naturally, oh so cute splashing around.  But between hawk-watching Miss and Lass, trying to keep the sun off Sis (she was perfectly shaded in her car seat, but then got fussy, so I put her in the Ergo), and making life-saving dives for my middle child, the camera never made it out of my bag.  So instead, I’ll share with you a few of the photos from last week at the farm.
Of course my husband did tons of fishing and the girls were very excited to see some of the larger fish he caught.  No filleting this time, though.
Foos-ball-room for the princesses to dance in.
We had a very big and somewhat scary storm the last night we were at the Farm.  It blew up right around snack time, so we took our stuff to the basement for a picnic.  The girls seemed unfazed in spite of all the thunder and lightning, the 40-50 MPH winds, sideways-falling rain and hail. 
Of course we celebrated Father’s Day morning at the Farm before heading home.  During the week prior to our trip, I had the girls make Father’s Day paintings.  They painted canvases for their Daddy.

Then Miss did paintings on paper for my Grandpa, my Dad, and my Father-in-law (Lass lost interest after her canvas was done).  At the end as she was finishing up the painting for my Father-in-law, her Papa, she decided it would be funny to stick her face in the still-wet paint.

She seems to be our little budding artist.  She really loves to paint anything.  She got really into painting some gourds with my Mother-in-law when we were at the farm.  She seems to understand the power of art to make people smile too.  When she created her painting for my Grandpa she said, “I think this will make Great-grandpa happy.”  Yes, I think so too.

She Called Them “Little Lambs”

Posted on by Amy
For the past two days we have been busy celebrating the life of my husband’s beautiful grandmother and saying goodbye to her.  I am sitting here struggling for the words to adequately describe the emotions I have been feeling.  My heart aches for my husband and his loss.  I also have my own grief for a woman who was so accepting and loving towards me from the moment I met her.  And I am sad that my girls will not have the chance to grow up knowing their great-grandmother.  But sorrow and grief do not fully describe my feelings.  Yes, I absolutely feel sad.  But at the same time, I feel kind of, strangely, uplifted by the past two days.  The fact is, it is awe inspiring to reflect on the life of someone so accomplished, graceful, and kind.  It is, yes, amazing to see how much this one woman was loved by her family, friends, and community.  There was much reminiscing.  There were moments of laughter.  There was singing that was simultaneously sorrowful and joyous.  There were beautiful moments.  Bittersweet moments.  Tender moments.  There were a few moments that I, as a mother, will never forget.
Like when Miss happened to notice the open casket at the visitation last night.  She walked right up to it with such innocent curiosity.  Naturally she had many questions.  We had a conversation that went something like this:
Miss: “Mama, why is she lying on that pillow?” 
Me: “Because she died…”  
Miss: “Why?”  
Me: “She was very old and had lived a very long life, and sometimes when people get very very old like that, their body doesn’t work as well and they die.”  
Miss: “She can’t breathe anymore, right?”  
Me: “Right.”
Miss: “That’s just like Tessa.” (our dog who died about a year ago)
Me: “That’s right Honey.” 
Miss: “Mama, why is she in that box?”  
Me: “So that her family and friends could have a chance to tell her how much they loved her and say goodbye.  Would you like to tell her you loved her and say goodbye to her?”    
And she did.
A little while later Miss returned to look at her great-grandma some more.  Lass came over as well, and so did my husband. He picked up Lass and asked her if she wanted to say goodbye to her great-grandma.  She waved and said, “Buh-bye Gamma.”  He asked her if she wanted to tell her great-grandma “I love you.”  She said, “I yuh you Gamma.”  It was a truly precious moment. 
My husband’s grandmother used to call her grandchildren her “Little Lambs.”  I’ve heard her use this term of endearment with my girls.  I couldn’t help but think of this when I saw my girls’ pure innocence while trying to understand her death.  Amidst all the grief and sadness, there was beauty and life.  My husband’s grandmother lives on through my girls and the rest of her family.  I think that everyone who was a part of the tribute paid to her in the past two days will at some point have to stop and think, “How can I be more like her?”  She was that inspiring.  This one woman accomplished so much in her lifetime, including starting and keeping together this family:  

80 people directly descended from her or married to someone who is.  She held her family together across many years and miles.  She was small, yet mighty.  She was so much to so many.  She was loved.  She will be missed.

Life Lived Well

Posted on by Amy
How do you measure a life lived well?  A good life?  A successful life?  I suppose you could answer these questions in many different ways, depending on your priorities.  But today I’m thinking of two very special ladies in particular, who I think are very clear examples of life lived well.  These two are on my mind for very different reasons today.  Neither of these ladies have led lives characterized by tons of money or high-powered jobs.  Instead their lives have been exceptionally full of love and family.  Work and friends.  Laughter and joy.  I look at these women and it seems so clear to me that the measure of a good life is How much were you loved?  How much did you love in return?  If the answer to these two questions is Much, I think one’s life has been lived well.
Today, my Grandma turned 90 years old.  She is so beautiful in so many ways.  The matriarch of our family.  She’s kind and loving and amazing.  I called her today to tell her happy birthday and she told me that she was going to celebrate her day by having some friends over for a sing-along and cake.  She used to be a member of a performing group, and the friends coming to sing with her today are the remaining former members of this group.  How awesome is that?  I wish I could have been there.  Friends.  Fun.  Laughter.  She is 90 years old and still vibrant and full of love.  She has loved and been loved much.

Family.  Love.  Joy.  She rocks.  Happy Birthday Grandma.

Two days ago, another beautiful woman, my husband’s dear Grandmother passed away at the age of 92.  So she is on my mind today as well.  She was a very special lady who left behind an incredible number of people who love and miss her dearly.  She had six sons, 26 grandchildren, and 29 great grandchildren!  She was a person you couldn’t help but adore if you met her.  She was loving, gentle, and funny.  She most definitely lived life well, with grace and dignity and so. much. love.

I cannot think of two better examples of full and successful lives than these two amazing women.

Fashion Shows and Fishing

Posted on by Amy
The title of this post really sums up the variety of things the girls have to do when we go to the farm.  The last post showed a good selection of their activities, as well.  It just seems never-ending.  One day early in the week I came out of our room after feeding and changing Sis to find this:

 You can’t see much of them here, but she paraded around in these big gold flats calling them her “dancing shoes.”

The girls and their “Baba” (my mother-in-law) had gotten into the dress up basket and they were in heaven.  Miss switched between several different outfits, but Lass found the one she liked and didn’t vary from it. They were both princesses ready to go to the ball.  We all got dressed up and danced and twirled.  They selected my outfit.

Yes, we all got dressed up.

Sis gave her opinions on our outfits and dancing techniques.

She is very chatty these days.

I think it was Tuesday that the girls discovered the dress up clothes, and from that point on, each morning when they woke up the first thing Lass did was ask for “dress up!” and “pincy!” (princess).  She spent much of the rest of our time there in that pink leotard.  In fact she often had a mini fit when I took it off her to change her diaper of get her dressed.  The one thing she was always willing to take it off for though was to go and play outside.  We had lots of fun exploring the Farm on the Ranger.

We took a long ride one day and ended up on a dirt road where there were two very old houses that had mostly collapsed.  I pointed them out to Miss and she was fascinated by them.  She kept talking about the houses that had fallen down and how someone should have taken better care of them and maybe we should go and fix them.

 Stopping for a snack in the shade.  

Of course after our ride it was time to go fishing.  Miss had been talking about fishing with her Daddy for weeks before this trip.  She caught some bluegills, which she called “blue jays” when I asked her what kind she had caught.  

Lass loved to sit by the pond and throw rocks in the water while her sister was fishing.

We had a jammy day one day when it was cold and rainy out.  The weather was great for fishing so my husband and two nephews went out on the boat and ended up bringing home dinner.  Lots of walleye.  The girls were quite intrigued by the process of filleting the fish.

Notice Lass’s outfit.

The girls’ cousin showed him the walleye’s teeth.

My girls always seem to grow and learn so much after a week of travel, either to the farm or visiting my family, or wherever we go.  Lass’s vocabulary seems to triple and Miss’s use of subtleties of language improves noticeably.  She even learns things like, “I’m going to kick you in the weenie!” from her older boy cousins, which of course prompts a conversation about what a weenie is and why we don’t say that or do that.  But that could be another whole post, I suppose.

I love to watch my girls blossom at the farm.

Song Bird

Posted on by Amy
Last night I had some special girl time with my eldest before bed.  We painted her fingernails.  She chose blue, of course.  While waiting for them to dry we made some funny faces and sang some songs.
My girl loves to sing.  Both of my older girls do, in fact, though Lass is still working on the words a bit…  Miss goes all out in singing her favorites.  She lifts her chin up and belts them out at full volume.  In the car, in the playroom, at the store, on the swingset, wherever.  We were even informed by her teachers that she sings like this at school.  I absolutely love that she does this.  I think it might be a little bit hereditary, because I think I used to sing like that when I was a kid too (okay, I still do).  I remember singing with my mom and my Grandma a lot.  My Mom and I used to rock out to “Barbara Susanne Stripe” (a.k.a. Barbara Streisand), Neil Diamond, and Barry Manilow on 8-track. Or we’d sing all sorts of kid’s songs: You are My Sunshine, Eensy Weensy Spider, Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel, and so on.  My Grandma is a very talented musician, and she used to play the piano and teach me lots of old-timey songs.  I think singing is an expression of happiness.  It’s good for the soul.
We sing a lot in our family.  My husband plays the guitar and we sing along with him in the evenings.  The girls and I sing lots of little songs during the day.  We sing while we play, while we are in the car, while we do just about anything.  I’ve had strangers chuckle at me for singing with my girls in the grocery store.  I think it’s usually a nice, friendly chuckle.  I hope.  I’m no vocal sensation, but I can carry a tune.  And who doesn’t love a moving rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in their grocery’s produce section?
Anyway.  Back to last night.  After Miss and I finished with her nails, while they were drying, she was singing her latest favorite song, “Whistle While You Work.”  I especially love when she sings the songs from Snow White, because she doesn’t just sings the words, she does the vocal trilling “ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…” like Snow White does.  I don’t know if that’s the right term to describe it, but it’s so cute.  And since I can’t really describe it well, I captured it on video.  Though my girl sings loudly and unselfconsciously almost all day long, like most kids her age she was a little less willing to do it on command.  When I first asked her to sing for the camera, she said that she had “run out” of singing.  But then when I told her that I wanted to take a video of her and she could watch it afterwards, well, I could just see the wheels turning as she thought about that. She’s more timid and much quieter than usual in the video.  But I couldn’t help but smile when I watched and listened to her sing her song.

Happily Rolling Along

Posted on by Amy
We are adjusting happily to having Baby Sis home.
I was thrilled with the response of my big girls when we first brought her home.  Miss was ecstatic.  Lass was intrigued.  They were both happy and loving.

Miss ran right into her room to get a book to read to “Baby Sissy.”

Lass kept wanting to pull her blankets off to see her better.

And my protective eldest repeatedly put the blankets back on, very gently, so she wouldn’t get cold.

Miss was excited to help with her sister’s first bath at home.

She constantly wants to hold “her baby.”  Lass just wants to wear multiple tutus (there are five on her below).

We had a bit of a birthday party over the weekend.

And the girls “helped” their Daddy start getting ready to plant our garden.

Miss spent lots of time telling stories with her Grandma.  I think this one was a story about how her baby sister spit up, and how Lass used to spit up when she was a baby, and Miss herself used to spit up when she was a baby…

I was sad that my parents left this morning, but must say I’m pleased with how our first day on our own went.  I even got a shower and made it with all three girls to Miss’s gymnastics class.  Early.  Miss is very into helping and she and Lass play together so well, the adjustment has gone very well so far.  I have been told that the shift from two kids to three is easier than the transition from one to two.  I’d say I agree with that.  A good friend of mine also made a statement that I think is very true.  She said, “No matter how many kids you have, when you bring home a new baby it’s going to make things a bit crazy for a while.”  Yep.  Today, though I made it to gymnastics with clean hair and three adequately dressed and groomed children, I did forget to brush my teeth and put a coat on.  Goals for tomorrow, I suppose…

A Boa and a Bike Helmet

Posted on by Amy
We’re still waiting.

This is the longest I have been pregnant without being in labor.

My labor with Miss started on the third day after my due date at about 9 or 10 in the morning.  She was born at 5:11 PM that day.  My labor with Lass started on the third day after my due date at about 5:30 in the evening.  She was born the next afternoon at 1:38.

It’s now 9:40 pm on the third day after my due date.  I’m not stressing out about still being pregnant.

But I am getting a bit anxious.  Just wondering and waiting.

As I type this, I’m having contractions, but they aren’t very strong and not at all regular.  Nothing to get excited about.

I know she has to come soon though, so I’m trying to be as ready as I can.  I’m obsessively giving more instructions than necessary to my Mom for taking care of the girls while I’m in the hospital.  I’m checking and rechecking the contents of my hospital bag.  I’m making lists.  I’m doing laundry and taking out recycling.  I’m also sleeping in and taking naps, thanks to my parents and my husband.

And of course, I’m waiting. Maybe I ought to be walking on my treadmill instead?  I’ll try that tomorrow, if I make it that far.

Here Again

Posted on by Amy
A due date.  Yesterday.  Passed me by.  Having given birth to both of my older girls past their due dates, I really did not expect Baby Sis to come before her due date.  In fact, I made lots of plans in the past few days, like coffee with a friend on Wednesday, book club on Thursday, and a play date yesterday morning.  Now though, I’m taking it easy.  No plans for a while, as I feel like we’re really in waiting mode now.
My husband and I have traditionally gone out for a date night on my due date.  We went to a nice restaurant on Miss’s due date, February 15, 2009.  She was born on the 18th.
On Lass’s due date, August 20, 2010, we went to a more casual restaurant.  She arrived on the 24th.

Last night we stayed home and got Jimmy Johns.

I had planned for a babysitter so we could go out this time too, but then plans changed.  In a great way. The reinforcements arrived.  My parents.  My girls are in Grandma Heaven.  I am too, for that matter.

So this weekend, we’re just taking it easy.

We’re enjoying some rain, but looking forward to sunny days coming soon.

Very soon, our Baby Sis will arrive.  We are all eager to meet her.  Happy weekend.

A Getaway

Posted on by Amy
As I mentioned in my last post, we spent last week at my parents’ house.  The girls were amazing during the 10-hour drive, both on the way down and on the way home.  I do love the portable DVD player for a long road trip!

We had a great time visiting with my parents.  As usual, the girls were mesmerized by my mom.  She’s the Baby/Toddler/Preschooler whisperer, I swear.  Lass didn’t even need any warm-up time this visit, which made it even more fun.  We made a few trips to the library where my mom works.  The first trip was so I could get on the internet for a bit to check out some restaurants and hotels in nearby Nashville (more on this below).

How cute is this little one typing??

The second trip to the library was for story time.  The theme for the week was the letter “P,” so my mom read “The Princess and the Dragon,” we did puzzles, ate popsicles and pretzels,

and played with puppets.  There was even a Puppet Parade, which really made an impression on Lass, as she continued to grab my mom’s puppets and say, “Mach, mach, mach,” repeating the parade over and over at my parents’ house for the rest of our visit.

The girls had a blast with these ancient laundry baskets.  The things Grandma comes up with…

And I captured a few photos of their attempts at making pouty faces.

The weather was beautiful and warm, so we got to play outside.  The girls loved picking up rocks, examining moss on the ground and playing in the leaves and dirt.  Lass may have even eaten a little bit of dirt.  But just a little.

She was very interested in the birds.   She kept saying, “Buhdie!  Buhdie, ah doo? (Birdie, where are you?)” and looking in vain for some birds to fly by.

Miss found this rock and named it her “Little Cutie.”  She insisted we bring it into the house and then that we bring it home.

It has been carried around with other important friends like Oopsie Bear, Toodie, and Twinkers.

Very special indeed.

One of the best things about our trip was that my husband and I actually left the girls overnight with my parents one night and went to Nashville for an overnight date (hence the internet search mentioned above).  We got a nice hotel room in Downtown Nashville, went out to dinner, sort of slept in (only until 7:15, but my mom said Lass was up at 6 that morning), lounged around and got an awesome room service breakfast, and then went to visit my brother and his family for a bit, including my brand new nephew who is just 4 weeks old.  It was such a relaxing little getaway.  I have never left the girls overnight before, except Miss when I was in the hospital having Lass.  It was kind of weird, but also kind of awesome.  My husband and I both agreed that the next time we are ready to do it again (in another 18 months or so!), we should go for two nights.  I agreed, though by the time we were getting ready to go back to my mom and dad’s, I was really anxious to see the girls.  I missed them a lot.  So we’ll see about two nights.  But the one night we got was fantastic (thanks again mom and dad!).  And apparently, my girls barely even noticed we were gone.  What a great practice run for when I am gone to the hospital to have Sis.

It was, again, as always, a wonderful time with my mom and dad.