Welcome To My New Blog!

There has been a lot of things going on for me in the past 6 months or so. I was so wrapped up in all the things I was dealing with, blogging wasn't on my list of priorities. I wanted to blog; I missed it. But there just wasn't enough hours in the day, nor did I have the energy to invest in it.

The reasons I made the decision to start a completely new blog and abandon the old one are not that complicated in the end. Getting to that realization WAS and at the end of the 'day' I  had a light bulb moment. I discovered that I was back in a place I had been before. Yet, one must still do the work even when you know the drill.

Here's the story:

Around Thanksgiving my middle daughter, Amanda discovered she was expecting their third child. We knew this was a possibility and everyone was waiting for it to happen. It was especially significant to me since Amanda has a history of pre-term labor. She was on complete bed rest from 7 months on with #1 and 4 months on with #2. Both boys were born early, #1 at thirty six weeks, #2 at thirty five weeks. So we were all pretty sure that #3 would be bed rest and an early delivery would be in the cards again.

Amanda is a kindergarten teacher. Her husband works a two week on, two week off schedule where he is away from home when working. They have two boys, 11 and 6. Enter, Gramma Vegas (that would be me).

It all began right after Christmas. I would make the 5 hour drive to California the day I took the RGH to the airport to leave for work. I spent two weeks, cooking, cleaning, taking to school, picking up from school, karate, doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, homework, and pretty much waiting on everyone hand and foot. 

At the end of two weeks, I made the 5 hour drive home, cleaned the house and picked the RGH up from the airport to spend two weeks with him. Mostly, I waited on him too, but he is a good man and cut me lots of slack. When a person has been gone for two weeks though, there is a lot of catching up to do. Mail, mail, mail! Laundry, dusting, running errands, doctor appointments, car repairs, home maintenance. Basically, I had to re-acclimate to home again every time I left and came back. 

In mid-March, I started getting sick. At first I thought it was allergies, so I just went on to California .But it hung on so long that when I got home, I went to the doctor. They said I had a sinus and ear infection, gave me antibiotics and prescription cough medicine and sent me on my way. I got a little better, but not completely well and after two weeks, I drove back to California. 

After a few days at my daughter's, it became painfully obvious that I was not well. I was concerned mainly because I didn't want Amanda or the boys to get sick. I was coughing so much, my abs were sore as if I had worked out. I went to an Urgent Care one morning after I took the boys to school. After a breathing treatment and a chest x-ray, the doctor told me I had partially treated pneumonia. Woo-Hoo! A real diagnosis!

You would think this would set off some alarms for me. Not so. I was in mommy mode. When a mom is sick, she doesn't stop being a mom. I had had an empty nest for 7 years but once I started taking care of my daughter and the boys, I reverted back to having a full nest. I wasn't thinking about Mary at all. I was thinking that I had to keep going because they all needed me.

Apparently, this did not set well with the RGH. He called my son-in-law and asked him to try and find some help so I could go home. I had considered that I might need to go home, but honestly, the drive seemed daunting and I had antibiotics. I just planned on not working as hard while I was there. This was not agreeable to my husband, and frankly, my daughter and son-in-law were kind of worried too. So I got sent home to get well.

I did get better eventually, after my regular doctor changed my antibiotic to something stronger. When the RGH came home, he didn't let me do much. He took care of things so I could recover. During that time he made me the best chili I have ever eaten. In a future post, we'll post the recipe.

Anyway, I spent the remainder of the next few months doing what moms do and on June 1st at 37 weeks, Amanda gave birth to a healthy, beautiful, baby boy.

So I was finished my hitch of caretaker for Amanda and her brood. It wasn't all stressful. We had some stellar moments; like this one:

The boys cousin and our granddaughter, Madeline came to see us!

We had a wonderful baby shower for Amanda, who enjoyed sitting up for awhile.

Grandson Gabe came to the shower with his mom, our daughter, Cindy.

We got to eat this cake.

The boys helped Gramma make Chicken and Dumplings.

We made birds nest cupcakes for Easter...

And colored eggs.

We had a few homework meltdowns...

acted up for the camera a little too.

Gramma pulled someone's tooth for them.

I decorated the nursery with a couple of our friends.

And then we went to the hospital to have a baby.

Logan Isaac

You may be asking what this has to do with changing my blog.

My next post will explain all that. I hope you come back to get the rest of the story.

Blessings,