Thiry years makes a difference!

Well,I experienced my first full day of babysitting. My son was at work and my daughter-in-law was volunteering at the Steven Siller commemorative race in New York City. The night before my assignment, I made bottles, checked the diaper and formula supply did laundry and set out books and toys. When the big day arrived, I needed to be at my son and daughter-in-law's house by 7 am. I stopped at DD to get my coffee and bagel so that I could have my breakfast while I was waiting for five month old, Emma to wake up. She usually wakes up around 7:30 so I thought I would start the day on schedule. So much for plans. She was already awake when I walked through the door! She must have been anticipating our day together also. After changing, feeding and packing up--quite a feat in and of itself, I began my first of several trips to bring supplies to my car. It's a good thing I have a SUV because I needed lots of room. When we got to my house, which is only five minutes away, I reversed the process and was already tired after bringing the last few things into the house. Then it was all a blurr. We played, sang songs, toured the house, read books, rocked, swayed, supervised tummy- time, bounced, stretched, shook rattles and squeaked toys, wiped chins, soothed, fed cereal and applesauce, wiped furniture, accumulated lots of laundry items, and prayed for a full nap time. I ate my breakfast and hit the rest room at 9:30 and gathered up the necessary items for the rest of the day. All was repeated in the afternoon and I started checking my watch in anticipation for the afternoon nap. Since she is teething and not sleeping well at night, I wanted her to rest well during the day. When I fed her her bottle in the afternoon and we cuddled together in my rocking chair, I found myself holding her through her hour nap and just watching her sleep. She really is a little miracle. When my son arrived at five pm, I have to say I was exhausted. As they left to go home, I realized that I had not planned for dinner. Oh well, it's been thirty years since I have had to take care on an baby and a house. I don't know how I did it. I enjoyed my day with my little cutie pie and I even lived to write about it. I'll go to bed earlier next time.

Generations

This past weekend I went to Bristol, Rhode Island to attend my niece's wedding. Besides seeing her married to a great guy, I was so delighted to see many members of my family that I don't see very often. Since we live at a distance from one another, my two sisters and I were happy to be able to spend time together and to share stories of grand parenting. Each of us had one of our grandchildren there, so it was fun to watch them and since my granddaughter was the youngest at four months old, I enjoyed being reminded of the stages that were sill to come. My sister Carol had her 3 1/2 yr. old there. He was very well behave because his mother made sure to tell him what to expect at the ceremony and reception so that his behavior was appropriate. He was happy to have play time but was also able to sit still and not talk during the quiet times too. He told me all about "school" and was really funny. My other sister, Marion had her 2 yr. old with her. He is very friendly and was thrilled to have the DJ play his favorite song during the reception. It was about a chicken in the kitchen and many adults were happy to be doing the dance with him. Hey, I've seen many adults looks sillier doing their own dances! One of the highlights was having the photographer take a picture of all three of us sitting together with our grandchildren on our laps. It will be a special picture of each of us and especially for our ninety-five year old mother who was not able to make the trip from Florida. She will get to see us all together. There was one grandchild who was unable to be with us and another baby to be born next April. Hopefully, we can all get together again next year and get a picture of all eight of us. I never want to take these visits for granted. They are really the best of times.