Moved to Tears...After Seven Years

The very first post I did on this blog was "I Febreze My Dog" and I published it on May 1st, 2006.

According to blogger, as of tonight, there have been 1,052,931 looks at my blog. That's not a big deal, great bloggers wise, but it's a lot of looks, right?

You can imagine how many comments I've gotten on A Chelsea Morning in the last seven years.

Tonight I got a comment that moved me more than any comment ever, ever has and that's saying something because I've had some really wonderful comments in all this time.

This comment is from "Cathy" and unfortunately I cannot backtrack to her because she's a non-comment blogger.

But Cathy, if you read this post I want you to know something. No comment, ever, moved me like yours.

I'm sharing this simply because it made my heart sing.

"I am so thrilled that you are blogging again, Barb!

When I first discovered your blog, my life was in an upheaval. Checking in each week with your everyday life was balm to my worried heart. Your love of family,  faith in God, and the joy of taking care of your "hearth and home" gave me comfort. When everything felt so scary and unfamiliar in my world, I'd go be reassured that it really could be OK once again.

Thank you for just being you. I'm happy to say that my life is calmer now. Much of the adversity (husband's brain tumor, subsequent stroke) has lessened.

Life is brighter again!

Thanks for being a light for me when I needed hope.

Blessing, Cathy"

Husband's brain tumor....subsequent stroke....oh my word. I am humbled that my simple life encouraged this woman.

It makes me want to continue on because you know, maybe another million looks at my blog will encourage someone else.

From my heart, Cathy, thank you.

Some Little Things.....

Hello again. :)

Ten days ago...

Weather in western Colorado is always dicey

and I can assure we don't plant annuals

until the end of May.

TIME OUT!

Avery's Furby is obnoxious.

We finally stuck it in the corner to make it shut up.

I'm seriously not  kidding you.

Her Furby drives us nuts.

It absolutely will not shut up 

and sometimes it actually seems to be angry.

This is a toy. Right?

Whatever.

At Nana's house, Furby goes into time out.

Because I don't need the attitude!

LOL

Magical cure for a stinky blanket.

(Clue: previous post)

I swear, I love Gain

I love the way it makes my world smell.

This is actually not a bad photo of the new

haircuts Cameron and Avery got today.

But....it took me TWO HOURS to get this photo!

Uh....

Nope....

Come on, Avery....stop it!

Can you say little diva?

I think it's because she's a gymnast.

Or maybe it's because she's a diva.

At any rate, her big brother

tolerates her. LOL

Chelsea finally got into the action.

That's her hedgehog in her mouth.

I'm not sure why Cameron is cracking up so much

except that both these kids just adore Chelsea

and had spent an hour chasing her all over creation

before I could get them all three to settle down

for a photo again.

But hey! Really cute hairdo's, right?

I'm sooo glad Avery lost about six inches today!

My life. Boring? Maybe.

But not to me.

To me, it's the little things.

xoxoxo

Oh Baby!

After a very nervous first trimester, my daughter Mandy has given me the OK to tell you the most wonderful news.

I am blessed to have never had a miscarriage. But she has suffered through two. So I totally understood her hesitance to make this announcement. She absolutely wanted to get safely through the first trimester.

I've known about this since she was about fifteen minutes pregnant. OK, not THAT quick, but she called me with the news the moment she got the positive result with her home test kit. I think maybe it was actually seventeen or eighteen minutes. LOL

My new grandbaby (#4) is due around October 28th.

I personally think he/she is beautiful. Clearly, you can see that, right? Check out that little head. Check out that tiny little leg. Such a miracle.

Oh.my.word. How I already love this child.

Let's see. Pink yarn...check.  Blue yarn....check.  Stuff to make burp cloths...check.  Sock monkey ready to ship....check....Travel plans...working on that....excited.....thrilled.....happy....

Ready, Set, Go...Cameron, Avery & Chelsea!

I am SO flying by the seat of my forgot.how.to.blog pants here. It's amazing how much it's all changed in two years. LOL

But I promised you I'd try to come back and coming back starts with not only getting my camera in action again (I'm so stupid - all it took was one obsolete battery), but, you know, actually remembering that  my camera works again and I can take pictures. Yay me!

So here we go. Cameron is almost eight years old now. Chelsea is exactly 30 days younger than Cam, and poor thing, getting a lot older a lot faster than he is. She was a 16-ounce little fluff ball when Rob and I got her and now her back hips are going. I can barely talk about it because life without Chelsea is just too hard for me to imagine. But on a happy note...

Cameron is here every morning before school and he is the absolute highlight of Chelsea's day. The two of them have never known life without each other.  I imagine if you've read A Chelsea Morning all along, you're surprised at how big Cameron is now, right?

Look at this child. He's not even eight years old yet but he's so smart, he figured out how to program his new insulin pump (YAY!) way before I did, even after I went to the classes to learn how to do it. Yep. No more shots six times a day - he's has a pump and let me tell you, it's changed ALL our lives.

If you're new here, Cameron was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when he was still in diapers - 18 months old. He cannot remember life not being a diabetic. I cannot tell you how proud of him I am. He knows it. Hates it. Lives with it. And he's an inspiration to me, his grandmother.

One of the saddest things I've ever dealt with was one day, when he was younger, and he came to me and said, "Nana, I don't want to be diabetes any more." His exact words. I'd say we've moved past that now.

This child holds my very heart in his hands.

Allow me to introduce you to Miss Avery. In this family, she is the pistol! Can you tell? LOL

For years, Fridays were Cameron/Nana days. Cameron was in day care but I insisted that I wanted one day a week that he was all mine. He's in second grade now and now, Fridays are for me and Avery. She's five years old and will start kindergarten in the fall. For the past couple of years, Fridays have been just me and her.

Suffice it to say, keeping this little girl happy and busy takes a lot of creativity on this Nana's part.

This morning she and I opened a magical box from Nana's stash and out popped a very little dollhouse I built 20 years ago. Very little. 1/2 inch scale. She got so excited, if I could figure out how to shoot a video with my camera (like that's gonna happen LOL), I'd show you.

She's checking it out. She already knows how fragile these dollhouses her Nana built (back when Nana was crazy) are. She's about destroyed the first one I brought out for her. (Ask me if I care.) But meantime, she's five now and she's learned that you have to be careful with them.

Check out her hair. Check out her adorable little five year old self.

We did move this dollhouse off my dining room table today. But meantime, she played with  it for hours and hours and I promised her a trip to the dollhouse store (Hobby Lobby), just me and her, soon.

I adore this little girl. She's a pistol but oh my word, how she grabs my heart.

This photo is just to show you that every now and then I can pin her down for two minutes and try to get her hair under control. She has a tee ball game tonight and needs a pony tail to stick out of her ball cap. LOL

And because God really does love me, sometimes Avery does this. :)

My grandchildren. My life.

Only one missing is Jayden. He's my newest. Mandy and Jayden are coming to visit  for a week at the end of May, when Mandy's done teaching for the year.

Warning: lots of cute photos will be posted!

I do believe I may have figured out how to post photos again. Hey...it's a start...a comeback!

Seriously? Chinese bugs and germs?

I've got a very special friend who is about to get one of the best gifts God gives women - her first grandchild.

So I did something today that I haven't done in two years. I bought gorgeous baby yarn. I happen to believe that every new baby should be wrapped up in or covered up with or at least laid down upon a soft, cuddly blanket crocheted by someone who still does that. It doesn't matter if the blanket was made for that baby or his/her big brother/sister. Or grandmother. You just can't buy a baby blanket that feels like one someone crocheted.

Admittedly, I'm biased because I'm good at crochet and I love making baby blankets

I bought quality baby yarn made by Bernat, one of my favorite yarn companies. It's a yarn I've never used before because although I haven't bought yarn for two years, life goes on and yarn companies continue to come up with new creations.

I have to say, it's very sweet and the blanket is going to be adorable.

But.

I'm sitting in my mama bear chair this afternoon, with my twenty year old favorite baby blanket pattern and my still shiny size K crochet hook, going to town on the beginnings of this beautiful blanket. And I smell something funny.

I mean funny. Like maybe there's a gasoline leak in the house. Gasoline like in the pump at the gas station. That can't be right.

Then I realize the yarn isn't slipping through my fingers like smooth silk as it usually does when I get up a good head of crocheting steam.

My fingers feel sticky.

Sticky fingers don't work when you're working with yarn and hooks.

When I'm in creative crochet mode, I go days and days without using hand lotion because hand lotion wreaks havoc on crochet speed.

It's not that hard to repair shriveled and dried up hands. All it involves is sleeping with foot cream slathered on your hands, inside disgusting cloth gloves, every night for two weeks.

Back to the smell. I suddenly realized the only new thing in my mama bear chair, which is normally just me, Chelsea and a book  was that yarn.

Oh.My.Word.

The yarn reeks!

I mean, it really, really smells horrible and I'm making this thing for a fragile little newborn BABY!

I even took a skein to Rob and said, "Smell this!" He looked at me like I'd just landed on planet Earth and said, "So?"

He did jerk his head back though so I knew he agreed with me that this yarn has a pretty powerful chemical smell.

Then he said, "You know, Barb, there are laws about dry goods entering this country. Where was your yarn made?"

I love that. Dry goods. As opposed to what? Wet  goods?

So I grab the label. China. Made in China and packaged in Canada.

Obviously, this yarn has been treated with some kind of chemical. Gasoline? Please tell me no. This would totally screw up the whole "flame retardant" thing that our country requires for any cloth product that might ever land on a baby.

The yarn I'm working with smells like it could go up in flames if I let the temperature in our house go beyond 70 degrees.

So my question is this. Why? Seriously, I don't get it. Why does yarn produced in China have to be treated with strong chemicals like this before it can enter our country?

A bug is a bug. Is there a bug in China that we can't deal with in America? Is there a disease in China we can't deal with here in America?

I truly don't get it. Why would we be so paranoid that we'd totally screw up something like gorgeous baby yarn?

 I don't look forward to working for hours and hours with yarn that makes me sneeze and gag and makes my hands sticky.

I'll do it for the baby. And then I'll run that sucker through the washer at least six times before I mail this gift.

On a happier note, I just checked another thing off my whiney baby list. I ordered a new battery for my camera. It only took me two years. I mean, why rush into something like a battery that costs $8.76 plus $3.00 shipping/handling, right?

Yay me!

Before you can even say, "Gee. I wonder what Cameron and Avery and baby Jayden and Chelsea look like these days because it's been two and a half years since Barb shared a photo," you're going to see for yourself.

I think you're going to be surprised.

xoxoxo

Stuff

Spring officially arrived 5 days ago. You know what that means?

Spring cleaning. Ugh.

I've decided I have two major goals this spring. I want every window in this house cleaned, inside and out, to  sparkling status.

And I want our garage cleaned out.

Our garage. Sigh.

Rob and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary this year. All the years we've been married, we've never ever been able to park a car in our garage.

Our garage has always been another place to keep "stuff."

I really want to say that the mess out there is Rob's mess. But I can't, even though a lot of it really is his mess.  Rob collects "stuff." It's stuff that I think is ridiculous but it's his stuff, so I keep my mouth shut.

Then I look around and guess what I see? A lot of MY stuff!

When we moved from the eastern slope of Colorado to Grand Junction (as far west as you can go and still be in Colorado) almost ten years ago, I did a purge that would make your head spin. I swore I'd never, ever have so much "stuff" again.

Wrong.

I look around our garage and I can't believe how I have accumulated so much stuff. Again.

I have two huge dollhouses stored in our garage. These are not Barbie dream houses. These are houses I built from real wood. They're one-inch scale wooden dollhouses that I build myself. They're awesome.

For years, they were on display inside my home. This was, of course, before I had little ones around to wreck all the fragile little things that I'd either made or bought to furnish them. It's before all the spare space in my home got taken up with bookshelves full of art supplies and books and bug jars and bubbles and things for my grandchildren.

These houses are carpeted, wallpapered, and fully electrified. All the little lights inside these houses work.

And they're furnished. Tiny, teenie handmade quilts, furniture that I built myself. And lots of lamps and lights that glow.

I'm embarrassed now when I think of my "miniature" craze. It  lasted for almost ten years and I built four miniature houses. One inch scale doll houses are actually a huge, huge thing. Some of them are in museums

Not mine of course. Mine are just the product of a person who saw a tiny Little House on the Prairie type house a girlfriend had sitting in her den and then I went nuts because I just  love anything small, including people. :)

There are probably ten big boxes of all the furnishings and tools and whatnot that went into making these houses, in ROB'Ss garage.

Poor man. I'm on his case all the time about doing something with that garage!

I have no idea how to even begin to clean out my own stuff. So how can I ask Rob to clean up his?

Some "stuff" just has so many memories and so much hope attached to it that you can't let it go, you know?

I sometimes fantasize about doing a big garage sale. But how can I possibly sell things like this, for coins on the dollar? I can't do it.

So Rob has all his man stuff. And I have all my mom-Nana-girl stuff. And someday, I guess someone else will have to deal with it.

Meantime, we will get the windows cleaned, inside and out. And I'll deal with the garage next year.

Fooled You, Huh

I'll bet you thought I was just going to dash back in, after a year away, and then go away again, for another year.

Nope.

I'm still here.

But...I'm challenged. For a wonderful reason.

Check list. (From my last gripe about all my little problems list.)

Dead car? Check. New car. OK, not  new. But newer. And it runs and everything. Definitely an improvement over a car that is just sitting there in the driveway, dead.

Dead TV? Yep. New TV. Thank goodness. Life without American Idol and Survivor and Hell's Kitchen is just too awful to contemplate.

Dead camera? Yes, still dead. And that's just stupid. Note to self. Get over it and get a new battery for the camera. Or...rob a bank and just  buy a NEW camera.

I just have a problem with breaking the law to fix my issues.

Ahem.

Dead computer? Not.an. issue.

HOORAY!

New computer. And it's because God blessed me with the most wonderful sister, ever. My sister Bev bought me a new computer.

It has been so long since I actively blogged and Blogger has changed so much, that I can't figure out how to be cool and link you to her so here's how I'll do it.

Http://numberourdaysaright.blogspot.com

If you have never read my sister Bev's blog, you should. You will be blessed. You need to know her because she is truly an angel on earth and it's not because she gifted me with a new computer. It's because she has a heart so big, it just reaches out to everyone and touches them.

You will love her blog and it will lift you up.

Meantime, new computer.

I've suddenly gone from Windows Vista to Windows 8.

'nuff said.

People? This is not like growing an avocado pit into a tree, or making puffy chocolate chip cookies.

It's not about Febreezing your  dog or only using 4 products to clean your home.

It's not even about being a Nana.

It's about being a person who admits she HATES new techy stuff, but will eventually get over it, figure it out and get back on board.

I've had this new computer for about three days now. And I can tell you that mahjong on Windows 8 is awesome!

Do I have my priorities right or what! LOL

Next thing to mark off my gripe list? A new washer. As I said, I've got my priorities right.

xoxo

The Devil's Doing It!

It started with the car. Ford Explorer. Hunter green. I loved it. It died. It threw a timing chain. Deader than dead. (I know. I sound like I know what I'm talking about, but I don't.) But I know the car died.

So we got a new car. Not new. But a lot newer than the one that died. This time it's a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Classy looking silver. That's almost as good as a hunter green Ford. It'll keep going...and going...and going.

Rob and I hang onto things until they just flat out give up the ghost. We held onto that Ford Explorer for (you won't believe this) 18 years.

But it's like the light bulbs in my house. All the light bulbs. I'm not kidding you. If the bulb in the sweet lamp sitting on my kitchen counter goes out, I know I need to make a light bulb run to restock  because a lot of bulbs are going to go. And sure enough. Within 24 hours the back porch light goes. Then the front porch light gives it up. Then two bulbs in the dining room chandelier burn out. And then the bulb in the lamp in my bathroom gives it up. (What? You don't have a lamp in your bathroom? Shame!) I know you think I'm kidding, but seriously, it's amazing. I never knew light bulbs were programmed to band together and revolt against you like that.

So. Here's what's given it up in the last ninety days.

Our telephones. Yes. We have a land line and it's a three-phone system and no, I'm not ready to give it up. Are you kidding me? The phones don't ring. They do bird chirps. Bird chirps do not wake sleeping grandbabies. I love my land line telephone system. But guess what? Finding batteries for it is a joke.

My camera. The battery is toast. They tell me it's history. I think not. That one I'll fight.

My washer. Seriously. My washer. Ugh. It was not a cheap washer. It was a fancy, smancy
Whirlpool Calypso something or 'nother that was supposed to last forever. It didn't. Next washer will be a cheap washer that WILL last forever.

The stereo. Yep. It just stopped playing. I have about a million CD's I can't play. This includes my Christmas music. And my Christian music. And it includes my Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Ricky Nelson and Elvis CD's. I can live with that. But it also includes my Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings CD's. I cannot live with that.

My TV. Oh my word, my link to Survivor, American Idol and The Bachelor. Quality TV! My TV died two minutes after they announced the best picture of the year Oscar last Sunday night. Two minutes earlier would have really ticked me off. But still. A dead TV?

And to make it really sweet, the TV that died weighed about 300 pounds because, you know, Rob and I hang onto things until they give up the ghost. Of course we rushed right out and got a new flat screen TV that would fit into our entertainment center. 32-inch. It weighs 18 pounds. It looks ridiculous in our entertainment center, but my entertainment center isn't dead yet and I'm not ready to give it up.

Meantime, he talked me into helping him get the dinosaur out of the entertainment center so he could put the new one in. I pulled a major muscle in my back doing it. Two weeks later I can barely move without screaming. I'm not a happy camper about the whole death of the TV thing. No ma'am. Not happy about that one.

My DVD player gave it up two nights ago. OK. I can live with that one. It was a dual player. It played DVD's and VHS tapes. Some of you may have to Google VHS but I can tell you, Rob wasn't a happy camper because...you know...he has the whole Centennial movie series on VHS. He hasn't watched it in 15 years but if he wanted to...well...you know...the VHS player is deader than dead.

I'm not sure you can even buy a VHS player any more. I think it might be right up there with an 8-track player for your car. (If you had to Google VHS player, you are for sure going to have to Google 8-track player.)

That was an easy fix. I had a simple little DVD player hooked up to the TV in my bedroom that will play all the CSI, Justified and Sons of Anarchy seasons he's currently getting from Netflix.

(It's also going to work quite well with the Downtown Abbey seasons I'm getting ready to watch. :)

This one hurts my heart. My carpet steam cleaner has died. I cannot believe it. OK, the steam cleaner itself still works but it leaks like crazy and oh my word, my upholstery attachment gave it up. Rob says he can fix the steam cleaner for me but I'll have to give up the upholstery attachment. Be still my heart. I have all this stupid foo-foo white furniture I bought before it occurred to me that although MY kids were grown and gone, they were going to start reproducing and bring more little sticky fingered, marker waving, furniture ruining little angels into my perfectly clean house again.

And ready? This is a biggie. My computer is dying. Yes. My computer. It's not quite four years old but it's telling me to bite the bullet and choose.

Washer? There are laundromats nearby. And I have a gun. (kidding) ( really, I'm kidding. I don't have a gun) (yet)

VHS player? I'm thinking we could get a fortune for the Centennial series, on E-bay.

The stereo? We probably need to upgrade from that anyway. I don't think many people actually have a "stereo" any more. Sorry. I'm just not going to give up Kris Kristofferson. I'll figure that one out.

Steam cleaner? Maybe I can crochet something to cover up the furniture. You know. A giant doily. LOL

Computer? NOT NEGOTIABLE.

I can do without a lot of modern conveniences. But my computer is not one of those things.

Everything else can wait.

So. The devil has been working in my house. Big time. It's gotten to the point when something new breaks, I just sit down and laugh. Seriously, it's ridiculous that so many things would break or die in such a short amount of time.

I've started wandering around my house asking myself, what next?

But one thing I do know for sure...the devil isn't going to win this one. No way.

I Think I'm Ready

Hi!

I'm toying with the idea. Just toying. But I miss blogging. I think I may be ready to come back.

First thing I'm going to have to do is get a new battery for my old dinosaur of a camera. I paid a lot of money for that thing. And like all things techy, it died way before I thought it would. And some girl in the camera department at Walmart told me they don't make the battery for my HP 5.1 MP R707 camera any more. Wrong. They do. If you know how to Google something. :)

For me to blog without a camera would be like me blogging without saying "LOL"

LOL

But here's a quick update.

My little family? We're all fine. We've had some ups and some very hard downs. In other words, we've been living life.

I spent the last two years doing a really hard thing. I decided to grow my hair out and let my natural color come in. (Anyone raised in the south knows hair decisions are important!) I'm 62. I have no idea what I was thinking except that I'd been coloring my hair for so long, I had no idea what color it was. Answer? No color. Gray.  LOL

So the end result is that I went back to short hair because the long hair made me look like someone's sweet, old great great great grandma when I'm really just a sweet almost but not quite old nana. But you know? I'm kind of proud of my gray hairs, so I'll never color it again.

It's not like I mind looking like someone's Nana.

Cameron is going to be eight years old in June. Yeah. The child is so techy savvy that his insulin pump, which scared me half to death, is something he handles without lifting his eyes away from Spongebob on the TV. Seriously. Put that together. Insulin pump. Spongebob. Amazing.

And today we celebrated Avery's fifth birthday. Such a little diva. Avery is all about glitter and frilly. She's 5 years old today and is already in an advanced gymnastics class. She does handstands and cartwheels all over my house. And then she settles down and falls asleep on my sofa with her teddy bear.

And Jayden is already a year and a half old! Can you believe that? He's a stunning little boy. Crazy, wild hair and ice cold blue eyes. He's beautiful. He's my newest baby and he's the reason I love babies so much. He was an almost 10 pound baby. He's a big boy. But he's a cuddler. You don't want to know what I think about the fact that he doesn't live 3 doors down from me like Cameron and Avery. 350 miles away. Sigh.

Boy, I need my camera back. You can't believe how gorgeous these three children are. Really, they're more gorgeous than most children. And I'm not one bit biased. LOL

I do have big news but I'm not allowed to breathe a word yet. ** wink**

I've taken a long long break from my blog. I just sat here one day and realized I'd hit a wall. I had nothing to say. Nothing. Burnout.

But I miss it. And I miss all of you.

I'll be back. I'm going to get a battery for my camera and I'm going to inundate you with photos again.

LOL

I've been away so long, I'm going to have to relearn a lot of stuff about blogging. But I do know if I get my camera going again and I stick with it, and if I can figure out how to get my friends lined up again in what used to be Bloglines, I'll be back.

It's been that long. But I did it once so I think I can do it again.

xoxoxo

Hello.

I've had so many people ask me for an end of year review I thought I'd stop by here and bring you up to date. :)

It's not like I have a lot to tell you, but I realize a lot of you have followed me for years and you still check in to see if I'm around.

I'm around. :)

On my birthday this year I turned 62. I have no idea how that happened. Kinda sucks, but on the other hand, I also got my first social security check. THAT was a show stopper! LOL

Also, the alternative to turning 62 truly is not good. :)

Our family has had some pretty serious ups and downs this past year. I've helped my daugher deal with a second miscarraige . It was heatbreaking and very difficult to get through, for all of us, because we're so close, if anyone hurts, we all hurt. But life goes on and she's tyring again. Have to keep trying, right?

Krissy has finally gotten her life back in order after the divorce. I am so, so proud of her. She is stronger than I ever hoped to be. Cameron and Avery have adjusted to their new life and that is, by far, what I prayed for...that they would be OK.

They are more than OK and it makes me feel like an idiot that I worried so much. I guess that's what we moms do - we worry.

Technical stuff:

Cameron is 7 1/2. Can you believe that? He's absolutely adorable. And...he just got an insulin pump! That's a huge victory. I am amazed at him. I had to go to classes to learn how to  use his pump because I'm a primary caregiver, and it scared me half to death, it seemed so complicated.

This little boy knows how to count his carbs and shoot them into his pump. He simply tells me how much insulin he gave himself. I am truly, truly amazed.

He's also a little league baseball player, And this is something you might not expect from a child his age - he's an outstanding bowler! He's already got a shelf full of bowling tropies.

Avery. Oh my word, my little Avery. I don't know what to say. She's a diva. LOL. I still shake my head when I'm with her. I don't think I've ever been around a four year old with such attitude. She couldn't be more beautiful. She is truly a beautiful child, She is in your face and as full of attitude as it took me 40 years to get. LOL

Avery has been in gymnastics classes for about a year and a half. Her coaches have come to Krissy and told her they'd like to move her into an advanced class and start coaching her for serious competion, in the world arena of gymnastics. :)

She's four years old.

I am so, so amazed. I mean, I've always thought my grandchildren were special, but when it plays out in real life that they really are...

Jayden, my newest grandbaby, lives on the other side of the Rockies. I don't get to see him but maybe 4 or 5 times a year. ( I know you hate me because you don't get to see yours that often but I'm spoiled,) I miss him so much. I want my grandchildren around all the time. Cameron and Avery live 3 doors down from me, so it's been a big adjustment for me to have a grandbaby I don't get to see as often as I see Cameron and Avery.

Jayden is a cute, cute baby and he's a hunk! He weighed almost ten pounds when he was born, He's a BIG boy, and yet he's still just a baby. He's toddling all over heck now and boy, life has changed for Mandy and Aaron now that Jayden is mobile.

Obviously, I adore my grandchildren. But you knew that. :)

And so life goes on. I'm getting older now. Not seriously old, but old enough that I've slowed down.

I imagine you have a hard time beleiving that if you've been reading my blog all these years, but trust me, it happens. You do reach a point where you realize, you just need to slow down.

So I did.

I wish all of you a very blessed Christmas. And a wonderful new year.

xoxo Barb

P.S. Chelsea is the same age as Cameron..and she wishes you a wonderul new year too. She's still frisky as ever!

I'm Alive!

I am alive and I am well. Very well.

My life is as you would think, as it was last time I spoke to you, normal.

Very normal. :)

Cameron is 7. Avery is 4. Jayden (my last post was from the operating room when he was born) is 9 months old. (Not too sure I'll be in the operating room next baby - I almost passed out when they started working that baby out of my daughter's tummy!) Oh of course I'll be there. But I won't like it. Except for the new grandbaby part.:)

I am so blessed with beautiful grandbabies, sometimes I can't stand it. LOL

We've had a major upheaval in our family. Krissy is now a single mom and let me tell you, the past year was a challenge. Obviously my heart was breaking for my daughter, but to be honest with you, my biggest concern was for Cameron and Avery.

They are so young. I was very concerned about how they could possibly understand something I prayed would never happen, did.

It was a rough year. But everyone survived (barely) and the truth is, as much as it still hurts so many people in my family, I think we all know we'll survive.

Life goes on. I may never come back to this blog with the energy and fervor I had before, but I will also never delete my blog.

I'm an ordinary woman living a very ordinary life. But I know those of you who followed me for years probably wonder, from time to time, how Barb's doing.

Barb's doing just fine. Just hanging in, like all of you. :)

I Witnessed a Miracle

Sometimes in this life you get to stand on the sideline and actually witness a miracle.

Witnessing the birth of your grandchild, via c-section, is one of those times.

I'm just home from two weeks in Severance, Colorado, where my daughter Mandy and her husband Aaron and my brand new grandson Jayden live. I spent two weeks with them and it was a blessing to be with them during this amazingly special time.

I'm sharing some of the most special moments with you.


Mandy on October 2nd, one day before giving birth.



Aaron and I are about to enter the operating room - we were excited (and NERVOUS)


There are no words to explain how I felt, showing Mandy her baby for the first time. No words.


Jayden Gregory Vogt
8 lbs 14 oz - 21 inches long


A happy new family.


With all my heart, I prayed for this. My daughter, who struggled for years with infertility, holding her precious newborn.


And this Nana has yet another grandchild to love.

We're Having a Baby!

It's been a wild ride. Ups. Downs. Some very sad downs. And the past three months have been crazy, trying to get all the logistics in place so that I'd be there for this baby's birth.

Until just a few days ago it was all a guessing game. Mandy and I have been on the phone almost daily, for weeks, discussing the results of her latest exam (she's had way more exams than most expectant moms do)and worrying about the difficulty of scheduling an Amtrak trip (severe flooding around Omaha affected train schedules for weeks upon weeks), and trying to figure out how to make sure I was there for this long awaited grandchild's birth. It was a worry because the Amtrak trip is eight hours long, leaves Grand Junction only once a day and all that time could make a world of difference as to whether I'd be there for the birth or not.

To miss this would break my heart. My daughter has struggled so to have a baby, it's just not thinkable that I would not be there.

I'll be there. :)

Because nothing about this has been easy, of course Mandy has full blown placenta previa. It was iffy for a few months and her doctors thought she might be able to scoot by, go into labor and deliver her baby.

Well, of course not.

And so...Jayden will be delivered via c-section on Monday, October 3rd at exactly 5 o'clock in the afternoon. And not only will I be there, I'll actually be in the operating room with them. :)

The name is for sure. The day and time are for sure. And my presence is for sure. :)

I love it that the hospital where Mandy's having her baby strongly believes she should have two support people with her during the delivery. When Jayden is born, and taken to the neonatal unit, Aaron will go with him. I'll stay with Mandy.

Something that makes me smile is that Krissy, who had both her babies (my sweet Cameron and Avery) via c-section, told me if she'd known how boring it would be to lay in recovery all by herself for a few hours, totally alone and totally numb from the waist down, she'd have brought a good book with her. LOL

I'll be honest with you. I'm nervous. I've been in operating rooms but you know what? I was asleep. I'm a bit nervous about this but I figure if Mandy can do what she has to do, I can stay on my feet and support her.

Mostly, I'm so excited about being there and witnessing the miracle, I almost can't stand it.

The past few weeks have been amazing. I went to Denver for my brother's wedding and two weeks later I went back for the baby shower Krissy gave her sister. I got to visit with family I hadn't seen in two years. It was a fantastic weekend.

And now I'm going back. This time I'm going for three weeks. In the thirty-three years we've been married, I've never been away from Rob that long and Cameron and Avery are going to have a hard time understanding why Nana is gone so long. I've never been away from them for more than two days. Seriously. They're just too little to understand and I'm going to miss them terribly.

But a miracle is going to happen next Monday afternoon and I'm blessed enough that I'll get to witness it.

Hello

Our new baby is due in five weeks. :) Mandy's pregnancy has gone about as perfectly as any pregnancy could possibly go and she's absolutely glowing - maybe the most beautiful pregnant person I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure it's because she struggled so and suffered a loss and now it's finally happening. She's going to be a mommy in less than six weeks.

How I wish I could post new photos, but my amazing, wonderful, VERY EXPENSIVE digital camera's battery finally died and when I went to the store to buy a new battery I was told my amazing, wonderful, VERY EXPENSIVE camera is now a dinosaur. The sales person tried to be kind but she suggested that if I'm really lucky, I might find a new battery on eBay. LOL

So now I'm working with a quickly purchased $50 camera because I had a brother's wedding to go to and I needed a camera quick! Ugh! Ugh, ugh, ugh!

So what's new with our family? So many things.

I promise you as soon as I figure out this el cheapo camera, I'll try to upload some photos. Meantime, I'm buying lottery tickets in hopes of being able to buy another camera that's actually worth messing with.

Cameron is now in first grade. Seriously, he's six years old and as cute as he can possibly be. He's still a little guy - I don't think Cameron's ever going to be a big guy, but if attitude makes up for that, he's a really, really big guy. He's a sweetheart. Still adores his Nana and his parents are doing a truly great job of raising a fine young man.

He's very excited to be a first grader. I mean, "Nana! It's all day! I eat lunch there and everything now and even if Nathan and I have to be in separate classes, I still see him at recess!"

(Ahem. Apparently there were some issues with those two staying on task when they were in kindergarten together last year. I believe it was something like - SEPARATE THOSE TWO NEXT YEAR! )

And I'm really happy to report that Grand Junction finally got a pediatric endocrinologist. And she's helping all of us get a better grip on Cam's diabetes. He hasn't had a crisis in a year now and believe me, that's a huge, huge step forward. It means all of us who are involved in his 24-hour-a-day care are doing a better job.

Now about Little Miss Avery. Oh.My.Word. She's three. What a pistol! She was the quietest, easiest baby in the world. And then one day she exploded. She became Avery. You know, when her mom had me pulling my hair out by the roots, all I could think was, "How I hope you get a daughter just like you someday!"

And she did. LOL

She's beautiful. She's feisty. And she's adorable. And...she has attitude. She makes me proud. I absolutely adore her and her quirky way of talking and her don't-mess-with-me take on everything. Trust me when I say, Cameron's days of being the boss are history.

I'm assuming you wanted to hear all about my perfect grandchildren. Of course you did! LOL

I still have my Fridays with them. Nowadays, I call it freaky friday. It's funny how life turns around. For a couple of years, it was just me and Cameron on Friday. Then for a year it was all three of us on Friday. Now that Cameron's in school all day, it's just me and Avery on Friday. Actually, it's perfect because I have an amazing relationship with both of them. Somehow, we've managed to have such special time, one on one, that they think Nana hangs the moon.

And now the miracle we prayed for, for three years, is upon us. Mandy and Aaron's baby is due in five weeks. A boy. Jayden. Jayden Gregory (Aaron's father was Gregory.)

I've gotten a huge kick out of all the names they've told me were for sure going to be the name. But I like the one I'm almost, pretty sure, maybe, possibly is the one they'll go with.

So last weekend a momentous thing happened in our family. My baby brother got married. He's 53. There you go. Proof positive...you're simply never too old to find "the one." Our family couldn't possibly be happier to welcome Stacey. They've been together for several years and through a lot of ups and downs, and we're all so happy for them. Truly, this marriage was made in heaven - I haven't felt this sure that a couple is "right" in a long time.

It was the perfect reason to have a family reunion. The last time my entire immediate family (meaning my parents and my siblings) got together was at my brother Jerry's funeral. That was seven years ago. That's just way too long for a family to not be all together in one place. We're all so spread out. Bev lives in Texas. My dad lives in Kansas. My mom and three brothers live in eastern Colorado. I live in western Colorado. But we made it happen.

They got together last summer for my dad's 85th birthday but I wasn't able to go. This time, I made sure I was able to go. As you know, I'm that freak person who is suddenly terrified of driving, after driving in Denver traffic for 30 years, so I took an Amtrak train from Grand Junction to Denver last weekend. It's an arduous thing, when flooding in Omaha has Amtrak's tracks under 3 feet of water, meaning up to 12 hour delays, to take a trip on their train. But I got there.

I could go on and on about how exhausting it was...the constant worry about getting to the train station by their deadline only to sit for six hours waiting on their train...the lack of sleep because of such late arrivals...but I won't because it was truly a wonderful wonderful thing to be with my family again.

In two weeks Krissy and I will pack Cameron and Avery in the car and make a really quick trip to where Mandy and Aaron live because Krissy is giving her sister a baby shower and it needs to be where Mandy lives because, you know, that's where all her friends are. LOL We're leaving here on Friday and coming home on Sunday. And most of that time will be spent driving. Like I said, a quick trip.

And three weeks after that, I'll be back on Amtrak to go there and be in the birthing room with her. That's all up in the air. As we all know, two weeks early or two weeks late is considered "on time" when babies are born. I have no idea how to book my trip. If I wait for them to call me, it's an eight hour train trip on a good day and a lot longer if Amtrak's schedule is still not right. Ugh! I can't spend a whole month out there, but I surely don't want to go too early and have to leave before Jayden decides to make his grand entry.

What to do, what to do. Oh! I know. I'll do what I always do. Flow.

Yes. I will just flow.

xoxoxo

Da dump...da dump...da dump...

So I got a phone call from Mandy last night. I have to tell you, for the past few months, when I've seen her number in my caller ID, I've gotten a bit nervous.

Mandy is just a few days away from being halfway through this pregnancy. But understandably, she's been a bit of a nervous pregnant person and I suppose some of it has rubbed off on me, in spite of all my "I've done this and you need to relax" wisdom. :)

So I answer the phone and I hear, "da dump, da dump, da dump." Just as I'm thinking there's something wrong with the connection Mandy comes on and says, "Did you hear that Mom?!!!"

Let me tell you how blessed I am that Aaron is my son-in-law. Um...Aaron is Mandy's husband but more importantly, he's the father of my next grandbaby. LOL

After such a struggle to even get, much less STAY, pregnant, Mandy was very comforted by the ultrasounds her specialist did every week for the first three months. That's every single week, folks. And each time, she got to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Once she was referred to her regular ob/gyn because she was no longer high-risk, the weekly ultrasounds stopped. That means the weekly hearing of the baby's heartbeat stopped.

Aaron knew that this upset her. After all, she still couldn't feel the baby move.

I get it. I really do. But Aaron REALLY got it!

So he went on line and ordered a Doppler for Mandy. See? How lucky am I to have him for a son-in-law?

But....when he ordered it, he failed to notice that it would ship from....are you ready?....CHINA.

OK, guess how long it takes to get a shipment of anything from China.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing when she told me, weeks and weeks ago, that Aaron was giving her a Doppler but heaven only knew when it would arrive. LOL

It arrived yesterday.

And last night I picked up my phone and I heard, "da dump, da dump, da dump."

She now has a simple instrument that she can put on her tummy and hear her baby's heartbeat.

Mandy turned thirty on Sunday. That means it's been thirty years since I had my last baby. Let me tell you, times have changed. We had an educated guess that the baby would be a girl but only because rumor had it a faster heartbeat usually meant a girl. There was absolutely no data that I knew of to back this up, but I counted on it being true because I wanted another baby girl. :)

We certainly did not know, until the doctor held the baby up and said, "Yep. It's a girl!"

I have to tell you, I love technology. I often wonder if perhaps we've become too dependent on technology. Do little kids still go outside at dusk and chase fireflies? Do they actually walk away from their computers or Wii's or Nintendo DS'es long enough to go outside and breathe and do the things I did when I was little?

Is there even such a thing as a mom-to-be who doesn't know if she should decorate in pink or blue?

Sometimes I wish we could return to the days when things were simpler. But just this one time, I'm extremely thankful for technology.

Da dump...da dump...da dump....music to this Nana's ears.