Last weekend and this one, we've had the joy of babysitting our 3 year old grand daughter. We really do enjoy having her here. She loves playing with the dogs or sitting in grandpa's chair with her blanket and watching movies (today she decided she wanted a Christmas movie, so we're watching Rudolph right now..) or coloring or, now that the weather is nice, riding her trike around the driveway. Today she got her first ride on grandpa's motorcycle (dirt bike in the yard) and a neighbor's 4 wheeler. She loved it and it looks like she's probably going to start wanting one of her own soon. lol. Though we're going to have to look and see if we can find a good helmet in her size before she goes on any other rides. And we are probably going to the pool later this evening, depending on what time grandpa gets home from his motorcycle ride.
I have had a few twinges of sadness though. She still has some trouble with remembering which names to use for which people. And sometimes, instead of calling us grandma or grandpa (which she uses interchangeably anyway.. ) she has been calling us mommy and daddy. I know she's just working out what words go with what and all, but, still, it just twists at my heart just a little when she does that, because I so dearly want my own little baby to call me mommy. It just makes me a bit sad. *sigh*
Meanwhile I'm stressed and sad and waiting for news about my own mom. They found a shadow in her breast and are doing surgery to remove a small tumor on Monday then they will start her on radiation in a few weeks. And trying to finish getting things all ready for the younger step daughters to come next week for the summer. We are hoping for lots of fun this year.
Showing posts with label grandbaby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandbaby. Show all posts
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
2011 A new year, new hopes
Ok, so I was just reviewing and saw that it had been 2 months since I posted.. so, it's about time.. My only blogging goal for the year is to post at least once a month on each of my blogs. We will see how that goes.
Thanksgiving was a hoot. We had all 3 girls here, plus the SIL and grand daughter and the guy the kids have been house sitting for, whom the SIL also works with. It was packed and crazy, but it was fun. Because hubby's work schedule kept him away until Friday, we did the big dinner on Saturday. Which was nice as it spread things out a bit more for the girls. They did Thanksgiving day with their grandparents and aunt and uncle, then Friday we all went to town to pick their dad up and went to see the Harry Potter movie, then Saturday we had the big bash. That was also the grad daughter's 3rd birthday, so we made it a double party. Tons of food and some video games. Things wound up being called a bit short of our original plans as the eldest step daughter had to go to a funeral, but we still managed to have fun before the younger 2 left on Sunday.
Christmas was quiet for me. Hubby was at work through Christmas and New Years this year, so we didn't do much. So I got a nice quiet restful holiday for a change. This doesn't happen very often.
Tomorrow we get our new stove at long last!! After having spent most of the last year with the oven not working properly and making due with a large toaster oven, a crock pot or two and an electric roaster oven (thankfully the burners worked! though once in a while you'd have to start them with a lighter. Though, honestly, it's amazing how much you can work around with those, I even did a full Thanksgiving dinner!) we are finally getting the new stove we've been saving up for. It will be so nice to actually be able to cook again! And this one is a nice 5 burner, double oven stove. I am seriously so excited. I have no idea what I will cook first on it. I ordered it New Years Day and it will be showing up here just days before our anniversary. I told Hubby if he was smart he'd try to make it a Christmas and Anniversary present, but he's even smarter and says he doesn't count major appliances as presents.. Which is almost sad, because he has one of the few wives who would totally count it. lol
Health wise, this week has kind of sucked. I feel fine, actually. Blood pressure and everything are all fine, I've just been dealing with a LOT of pain this week, and that just drains me physically and emotionally. Though so far, at least emotionally, I've been able to bounce back quickly after the worst of it eases up. Just makes housework that much more of a hassle. I really am getting tired of the pain though. I'm trying to exercise more and get the joints in question to feel better about it, which, I'm sure is part of why they want to hate me so much right now.
Things are brewing with the kids.. most of it I don't feel I can talk about quite yet, though we are waiting to hear back from lawyers regarding options for trying to get the younger 2 up here full time.
But, the eldest has big news.. they finally found a house they felt they could put an offer on and it looks like they might just have a place to call their own soon, if all goes well with inspections and what not. It would only be about 15 or so miles from us, so that's not too bad at all. We are very excited about it. It will be nice to finally have them permanently settled.
Meanwhile, we've finally started the demolition on our master bed and bath. Hubby tore down some of the dry wall, cut a big hole in one of the walls, and generally made a big mess. He enjoyed himself immensely. There is still tons to do, but it feels nice to have it properly started. Sadly, it has left me with a bit of a cough, but then, we expected that, which is why I don't get to be part of the demo. Just have to get him to clear the tub and get to the tile removal soon. It should all be very nice once it's all done though. I think we finally figured out exactly what we want to do with it now, no more questions.
As for our adoption plans, we are still hoping to get everything in and done this year. Things had to go on a small hold as Hubby had to switch companies, so we are temporarily between health insurance coverages, so have to wait for that to kick back in, but that will be here soon. Sadly, it looks like I'm not going to be getting some of the money I was hoping to get this year to help cover costs and all, and depending on how things go with the girls and legal costs there, things might be a bit tighter then we were counting on, but we will manage one way or another.
Thanksgiving was a hoot. We had all 3 girls here, plus the SIL and grand daughter and the guy the kids have been house sitting for, whom the SIL also works with. It was packed and crazy, but it was fun. Because hubby's work schedule kept him away until Friday, we did the big dinner on Saturday. Which was nice as it spread things out a bit more for the girls. They did Thanksgiving day with their grandparents and aunt and uncle, then Friday we all went to town to pick their dad up and went to see the Harry Potter movie, then Saturday we had the big bash. That was also the grad daughter's 3rd birthday, so we made it a double party. Tons of food and some video games. Things wound up being called a bit short of our original plans as the eldest step daughter had to go to a funeral, but we still managed to have fun before the younger 2 left on Sunday.
Christmas was quiet for me. Hubby was at work through Christmas and New Years this year, so we didn't do much. So I got a nice quiet restful holiday for a change. This doesn't happen very often.
Tomorrow we get our new stove at long last!! After having spent most of the last year with the oven not working properly and making due with a large toaster oven, a crock pot or two and an electric roaster oven (thankfully the burners worked! though once in a while you'd have to start them with a lighter. Though, honestly, it's amazing how much you can work around with those, I even did a full Thanksgiving dinner!) we are finally getting the new stove we've been saving up for. It will be so nice to actually be able to cook again! And this one is a nice 5 burner, double oven stove. I am seriously so excited. I have no idea what I will cook first on it. I ordered it New Years Day and it will be showing up here just days before our anniversary. I told Hubby if he was smart he'd try to make it a Christmas and Anniversary present, but he's even smarter and says he doesn't count major appliances as presents.. Which is almost sad, because he has one of the few wives who would totally count it. lol
Health wise, this week has kind of sucked. I feel fine, actually. Blood pressure and everything are all fine, I've just been dealing with a LOT of pain this week, and that just drains me physically and emotionally. Though so far, at least emotionally, I've been able to bounce back quickly after the worst of it eases up. Just makes housework that much more of a hassle. I really am getting tired of the pain though. I'm trying to exercise more and get the joints in question to feel better about it, which, I'm sure is part of why they want to hate me so much right now.
Things are brewing with the kids.. most of it I don't feel I can talk about quite yet, though we are waiting to hear back from lawyers regarding options for trying to get the younger 2 up here full time.
But, the eldest has big news.. they finally found a house they felt they could put an offer on and it looks like they might just have a place to call their own soon, if all goes well with inspections and what not. It would only be about 15 or so miles from us, so that's not too bad at all. We are very excited about it. It will be nice to finally have them permanently settled.
Meanwhile, we've finally started the demolition on our master bed and bath. Hubby tore down some of the dry wall, cut a big hole in one of the walls, and generally made a big mess. He enjoyed himself immensely. There is still tons to do, but it feels nice to have it properly started. Sadly, it has left me with a bit of a cough, but then, we expected that, which is why I don't get to be part of the demo. Just have to get him to clear the tub and get to the tile removal soon. It should all be very nice once it's all done though. I think we finally figured out exactly what we want to do with it now, no more questions.
As for our adoption plans, we are still hoping to get everything in and done this year. Things had to go on a small hold as Hubby had to switch companies, so we are temporarily between health insurance coverages, so have to wait for that to kick back in, but that will be here soon. Sadly, it looks like I'm not going to be getting some of the money I was hoping to get this year to help cover costs and all, and depending on how things go with the girls and legal costs there, things might be a bit tighter then we were counting on, but we will manage one way or another.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Holding patterns...
First, an update. Turns out Gaia often breaks into random tears over potty training (I chatted with her mom about it.) So it wasn't just me, yay! And she's always a picky eater. Hubby and her mom said that if she wouldn't eat anything, then I should just let her go until the next meal.. I have such a hard time with that, though, but she was pretty good about eating the rest of her time with us.
Now on to the new stuff. We're in a holding pattern again.. Just when we were posed to finish up or first round of paperwork and application, we are waiting. Hopefully we can still get the things done soon, but for now, we wait. Tom has heard rumors of possible lay offs coming at work, so we are waiting to see where that is going. He's already actually been offered another job, though it would be a cut in pay and is temporary (though we don't yet know how long that would last..) but it would be something to get us through if we needed it. We just don't know if he needs it yet. They are hoping to know one way or the other sometime next month, and either way should have work through til the end of the year. We just would hate to jump ship if lay offs aren't coming for him and they are going to extend their contract or something. For now though, at least until next month, we wait and see and save our pennies, just in case. We've been very lucky in this economy to not have been hit too badly. Really hoping our luck holds. :)
Emotionally, it's been rather draining on me.. Just had my birthday earlier this month. Is it really sad that the only thing I wanted this year was to have our fingerprints taken? I've been keeping myself busy though. We're moving the older girls downstairs for the next year or so while we do some renovations upstairs. We've got to move out of the master bed and bath while we do some work in there. (After the mold in the hall bathroom this past February, we suspect the little old man who built this house maybe didn't use the right stuff in any of the other bathrooms, either, so we are going to be taking them apart one at a time and fixing that, hopefully before there's anywhere near the problem there was in the hall bath.) And we'll be moving into their room while we do the work, because, well, there's no way I could live/sleep in a construction zone :) and we need to replace flooring in our room anyway. Once we ever get done there (which will be a while due to costs and the fact that we're doing it ourselves on the weeks hubby's home, so it will be an on again/off again project.. I'm figuring 1.5-2 years before everything is done upstairs..) we'll replace the flooring in the girls' room before moving them back up.
So I've been moving their stuff down and getting that all set up. Am actually mostly done with that, just a few more bits and pieces and one dresser to move this week. Then just have the finishing of set up downstairs. Then cleaning up and seriously cleaning the carpet before starting the moving of our stuff into their room.
The nursery is also more or less set up at the moment. Mostly it's set up as toddler zone for the grand baby, but would be easy to convert back to infant mode when needed.
And just got buzzed. B1 is coming over to pick up some things, so I'd better sign off for now and get a few things ready to go.
Now on to the new stuff. We're in a holding pattern again.. Just when we were posed to finish up or first round of paperwork and application, we are waiting. Hopefully we can still get the things done soon, but for now, we wait. Tom has heard rumors of possible lay offs coming at work, so we are waiting to see where that is going. He's already actually been offered another job, though it would be a cut in pay and is temporary (though we don't yet know how long that would last..) but it would be something to get us through if we needed it. We just don't know if he needs it yet. They are hoping to know one way or the other sometime next month, and either way should have work through til the end of the year. We just would hate to jump ship if lay offs aren't coming for him and they are going to extend their contract or something. For now though, at least until next month, we wait and see and save our pennies, just in case. We've been very lucky in this economy to not have been hit too badly. Really hoping our luck holds. :)
Emotionally, it's been rather draining on me.. Just had my birthday earlier this month. Is it really sad that the only thing I wanted this year was to have our fingerprints taken? I've been keeping myself busy though. We're moving the older girls downstairs for the next year or so while we do some renovations upstairs. We've got to move out of the master bed and bath while we do some work in there. (After the mold in the hall bathroom this past February, we suspect the little old man who built this house maybe didn't use the right stuff in any of the other bathrooms, either, so we are going to be taking them apart one at a time and fixing that, hopefully before there's anywhere near the problem there was in the hall bath.) And we'll be moving into their room while we do the work, because, well, there's no way I could live/sleep in a construction zone :) and we need to replace flooring in our room anyway. Once we ever get done there (which will be a while due to costs and the fact that we're doing it ourselves on the weeks hubby's home, so it will be an on again/off again project.. I'm figuring 1.5-2 years before everything is done upstairs..) we'll replace the flooring in the girls' room before moving them back up.
So I've been moving their stuff down and getting that all set up. Am actually mostly done with that, just a few more bits and pieces and one dresser to move this week. Then just have the finishing of set up downstairs. Then cleaning up and seriously cleaning the carpet before starting the moving of our stuff into their room.
The nursery is also more or less set up at the moment. Mostly it's set up as toddler zone for the grand baby, but would be easy to convert back to infant mode when needed.
And just got buzzed. B1 is coming over to pick up some things, so I'd better sign off for now and get a few things ready to go.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Grandbaby gone...
Well, they got back from their road trip to retrieve car and belongings on Saturday afternoon. So grand baby is back in the care of mommy and I am left without a little one to take care of.. It was only a week, but, darn it, I miss having her around. We just got her on a great schedule (her mom hadn't been able to manage that yet, but then, things have been hectic and crazy...) so mom is going to try to keep her on it, she was surprised I managed it so quickly and with so little fussing..
We seriously need a little one around here on a permanent basis. The tax information I had sent off for 3 weeks ago finally showed up, so we should be able to finish up the paperwork for the adoption here soon, though not sure how much time I will have for that this week. Hubby's sisters and niece and nephew will be arriving Tuesday night and be here for a week, so we might be busy, but I'm going to do my best.
I've already been busy this weekend. Made cheese Thursday, blueberry jam yesterday, blueberry syrup today. Thinking of doing another batch of jam tomorrow (have more then enough berries..) and also thinking of doing a batch of watermelon jelly. Plus I need to make more butter, and probably another batch or two of cheese for everyone while they're here. Oh yeah, and it would be nice if I could get the house cleaned up a bit, do some laundry, etc...
busy, busy, busy...
We seriously need a little one around here on a permanent basis. The tax information I had sent off for 3 weeks ago finally showed up, so we should be able to finish up the paperwork for the adoption here soon, though not sure how much time I will have for that this week. Hubby's sisters and niece and nephew will be arriving Tuesday night and be here for a week, so we might be busy, but I'm going to do my best.
I've already been busy this weekend. Made cheese Thursday, blueberry jam yesterday, blueberry syrup today. Thinking of doing another batch of jam tomorrow (have more then enough berries..) and also thinking of doing a batch of watermelon jelly. Plus I need to make more butter, and probably another batch or two of cheese for everyone while they're here. Oh yeah, and it would be nice if I could get the house cleaned up a bit, do some laundry, etc...
busy, busy, busy...
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Day 5
Well, it has been 5 days since the grand daughter was left in my care. It has been a fun and crazy week so far. We have played games, played with the dogs, sung songs, watched cartoons, had a few minor tantrums (mostly revolving around nap and bedtime..)
I've really enjoyed this week.
It has given me the chance to practice some of the ideas I've always had about how I wanted to raise my children. Most of the things I've tried have worked. A few things haven't worked as well, but this is how we learn, and I am regulating her schedule more then she's use to and we have a few "rules" that she's never had before. But she's actually doing really well on our schedule for her. She is getting plenty of sleep, she's eating really well, even occasionally trying things she's never had before (though she gets very stubborn about not trying some things...) She has been having lots of fun playing with her aunts and the dogs, and she has been enjoying our afternoon singing time and our evening bedtime story time.
We only have a few more days til her parents get back, and I will be kind of sad to let her go. My husband gets back tomorrow, so I won't be a "single parent" much longer. :) That will be nice too.
Anyway, time to go start lunch for our little gang today, and get things ready for naptime. While she's down this afternoon I'm planning on showing the older girls how to make a simple cheese. That should be fun, too. Then this weekend I will likely be making blueberry jam and syrup as I have about 10 pounds of blueberries in the fridge.
I've really enjoyed this week.
It has given me the chance to practice some of the ideas I've always had about how I wanted to raise my children. Most of the things I've tried have worked. A few things haven't worked as well, but this is how we learn, and I am regulating her schedule more then she's use to and we have a few "rules" that she's never had before. But she's actually doing really well on our schedule for her. She is getting plenty of sleep, she's eating really well, even occasionally trying things she's never had before (though she gets very stubborn about not trying some things...) She has been having lots of fun playing with her aunts and the dogs, and she has been enjoying our afternoon singing time and our evening bedtime story time.
We only have a few more days til her parents get back, and I will be kind of sad to let her go. My husband gets back tomorrow, so I won't be a "single parent" much longer. :) That will be nice too.
Anyway, time to go start lunch for our little gang today, and get things ready for naptime. While she's down this afternoon I'm planning on showing the older girls how to make a simple cheese. That should be fun, too. Then this weekend I will likely be making blueberry jam and syrup as I have about 10 pounds of blueberries in the fridge.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Toddler invasion week!
This week we have the grand daughter here all week. Her dad is up at work on the slope (so is my hubby...) and her mom has gone back down to Washington to get some more of their stuff and their car. So G has been left with us (myself and the 2 younger steps daughters, B2 and M) for about a week. Mommy left yesterday, but so far, things are going pretty well. This is the longest she's been away from mommy ever so far, and we're only just past 24 hours.
She went to Church with us this morning and surprised us all by behaving even better then her older aunts did. :) She had lots of fun in Nursery Class, singing songs and playing with other kids her age. She really liked the sit and spin, too, so we might have to see about getting her one :)
We are looking forward to this, though a bit anxious as well. We're hoping there won't be too many melt downs this week, but so far things seem to be going well. We should have lots of fun and I see it as practice. With any luck we will have a little one in the next year or two and will get to go through all of this with him or her, so this is good practice for me as the steps were all older when I came into the picture (M was already 4), and lived too far away to be involved with my nieces at this stage.
Shall see how well we all survive the week! :)
(Just have to keep the "aunties" from cross parenting... heh... they kept trying to get her riled up at Church, the stinkers...)
Now if only the rain would let up so we could do some outdoor play.
She went to Church with us this morning and surprised us all by behaving even better then her older aunts did. :) She had lots of fun in Nursery Class, singing songs and playing with other kids her age. She really liked the sit and spin, too, so we might have to see about getting her one :)
We are looking forward to this, though a bit anxious as well. We're hoping there won't be too many melt downs this week, but so far things seem to be going well. We should have lots of fun and I see it as practice. With any luck we will have a little one in the next year or two and will get to go through all of this with him or her, so this is good practice for me as the steps were all older when I came into the picture (M was already 4), and lived too far away to be involved with my nieces at this stage.
Shall see how well we all survive the week! :)
(Just have to keep the "aunties" from cross parenting... heh... they kept trying to get her riled up at Church, the stinkers...)
Now if only the rain would let up so we could do some outdoor play.
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