Cindy's Life as She Knows It

I spent alot of time over the last several months making wishes.  "I wish my pregnant daughter could be home so I could watch her grow".  "I wish I knew when the baby would come so I could be sure to be there".  "I wish these weeks would go fast so my daughter can bring the baby home to visit".  I wish it were the end of July so my daughter and granddaughter would be in my life every day".  Currently it is the end of August and as I look down into the face of my three month old granddaughter and she smiles right back at me, I realize that my wishes have been coming true!  The days are here that I have longed for and I don't have to wish anymore! I remember not so very long ago I would sit on the swing, drinking my morning coffee and wishing that I could spend my mornings holding my granddaughter and chatting with my son...and now I do!  I wished for Sunday dinners with the family all together and...now I have them (almost...still waiting on dau...

For the last few days our area has been in prep mode for Hurricane Irene, who is expected to make her grand entrance in our state some time Saturday evening.  We have had the weather channel on, local news updates, weather.com on the computer etc and they all have warned us of the impending danger.  There are pictures and graphs and warnings from the mayor.  One has to wonder, however, if this is going to be another case of incredible hype and little damage (a best case scenario) or if this could possibly be as bad as it seems it could be.  They are telling us to make sure we have food and water, cash on hand, food for the pets etc and be as prepared as possible for the fact that we could be without power for several days.  So what is one to do?  We have prepared for the worst and are hoping for the best.  There's not much else to do.  My husband has been shoring up our basement stairwell where we have had trouble with too much water and...

Today was quite normal, considering, up until it wasn't!  My great niece arrived early, as did my granddaughter, and the kids played together while the baby slept.  I got them all together around 10:30 and took them into my work, brought them home and then made lunch.  Something has to give here.  I've only been watching the baby for two days, but lunch time is a zoo.  Everyone is hungry at the same time and then someone is unhappy when I have to feed the other.  My normal routine used to be to feed Dakota, my six year old, and then put on a tv show I enjoy and take my lunch and a cold soda into the livingroom and give myself 30 minutes to regroup.  Little granddaughter doesn't think this is a great idea.  She has been sleeping all morning, has a full belly, and is wide awake.  She is not quite three months old so she can't really play or occupy herself, so I found myself eating lunch and, instead of watching Ghost Hunters or Supernanny, Nata...

  You can't help but laugh when twelve week old Natalie discovers the giggles hidden inside.  It's her very first belly laugh and I'll always be grateful that the camera was nearby!

I am, by nature, a busy person and I tend to pack each day full of activity.  I usually am quite confident that I can handle what I line up, but last night I lost sleep because I was squeezing so much into the day that I wasn't at all confident that I would actually be able to pull it off!  At 8am my little granddaughter, Natalie, came to her Nana's house for the first of many days together as her mommy goes back to work.  My daughter was very torn at leaving her baby all day for the first time and my heart went out to her.  At least she knows she is leaving her with someone who loves her almost as much as her mommy does!  I also had another "daycamper" return today for one last hurrah before Anne Arundel County Schools return tomorrow.  Natalie played with her Poppy and I, gracing us with gummy smiles and silly faces until about 8:30 before falling asleep in her swing.  My son and his buddy were playing and I started to get ready for my homeschool...

 I have been doing alot of thinking lately over some long nights where frustration was high and sleep was fleeting.  It is very true what people say about women reaching a certain age and deciding they are done putting up with the B.S.  I think that age is 46 for me. Some things have not changed.  I am a mother to two grown daughters, one son, almost grown, one very young son and now a grandmother to one beautiful little girl.  I homeschool.  I work from home.  I live for my family, home and friends.  My passions are education and children.  I give my heart completely.  I live by the book, thrive on routine and don't like changes.  So why, all of a sudden, do I feel so different.  I used to take the crap and roll with the punches.  When life happened to me, people would say "how do you tolerate that?" and I would just shrug and feel like it just WAS so I had to deal.  Lately, though, I don't want to j...

Today was the last day of daycamp  here and some of Koda's friends are heading back to school next week, so we decided to have an early birthday party for Dakota at Chuck E. Cheese to make sure we could include everyone and avoid the back to school and Labor Day rush.  He was up and ready to go at 6:30am...very excited about his day!  We arrived at 10 for the party and our friends joined us, including Kris and Natalie and even Daddy for a little while.  It was hectic at first until everyone got there and the tokens were distributed and the greetings were done, but after that the kids played, the adults chatted and I got to relax and enjoy everyone and show off my granddaughter a bit.  I realized again that I am very fortunate to have a good circle of friends now.  That wasn't so for a very long time and I was lonely, but now there are women I can turn to and chat with, including my own daughter.  The kids were very wound up by the time we packed up t...

In the past few day that I have spent with my granddaughter, officially twelve weeks old today, she has started to recognie me and to play silly games.  When she looks at me now, I can see the recognition.  "Oh hey!  There's Nana!  I know her!" she seems to be saying.  I'm usually graced with a big, gummy smile and she follows me with her eyes, watching to see what I will do.  I even got her to laugh out loud for the first time on Monday.  It wasn't a belly laugh, by far, but a sweet little breathy giggle that melted my heart.  Today when she came to visit, I sat her on my lap, or she stood on my belly, and we played the "stick your tongue out" game.  I do it.  She grins and tries.  I do it again and she manages to poke the tip of hers out and grins again.  I do it once more and she gets the whole darned tongue right out there.  She sparkles, knowing she is doing something wonderful.  She coos more and she seems mo...

I have always believed in the saying "you give your child roots to grow and wings to fly".  I know that I have given my children deep roots.  I have nurtured them and watched them grow, tending to their needs, giving them extra tlc when they needed it...and now three of them are grown.  The roots are deep and they are healthy and strong.  My kids know that they are my world and that their dad and I are always, always there for them.  The wings part....now that's a little harder.  My girls are women now.  That in itself is often hard to believe.  They have tested the waters, leaving for a few months here and there to try out their independence, but they didn't go very far.  Things were about to change, however.    One flew away to North Carolina just after she got married and feathered her nest and then hatched her own little chick.  She was gone for fifteen months, but thankfully she flew home two weeks...

Today there were three "daycampers".  My son, another boy his age and Dakota's female cousin.  They will all be seven within the next month.  The morning started out okay with the two boys hanging out together until the third child arrived and by 9:30 they had had breakfast and were working on their packets.  Pirates is the theme of the week.  The "fun" began, however, when someone decided to use "potty" words and the three of them were in hysterics, laughing and falling off their chairs.  I decided a change of scenery was in order so we used our Kidsbowlfree.com certificates and headed over to the local bowling alley for some bowling.  We usually bowl two games, but I could tell that today wasn't the day for that.  An hour later, one tired, one bored and one wiggly, we headed back home after just one very long game.  Pizza for lunch and outside fun calmed things down a little.  They played with duplos and Legos and around 2:00...

Summer is flying by and I can't say I mind.  It's my least favorite season between the heat and the loosey goosey schedule.  Fall...now we are talking!  Crisp, cool and gorgeous with browns and oranges everywhere....a time for new beginnings.  Anyway, right now it's August and we are gearing down our summer and gearing up for the start of school.  Daycamp is winding down and changes are ahead.  Today I only had Dakota's cousin and they were incredibly calm this morning.  When she came in around 9 they sat at the table and did their packets and then got out a phonics tile game and spent 20 minutes making word.  Around 10:30 my daughter and her husband brought my granddaughter over for my first official babysitting duty and they went off to have some alone time at the movies.  I fed Natalie and changed her, packed all the kids up and went to run my errands.  I considered staying home, but I figured I might as well get used to r...

So where do I start?  It was a very long, but rewarding weekend.  My husband and the boys and I left at 5am on Thursday morning to make the six hour drive to North Carolina to help my daughter and her husband finish packing up their house, pack the moving truck and make the trek back to Maryland to begin their married life with family and friends.  We actually made great time, missing traffic and arriving at her house before noon.  It was so good to see them again, especially our little granddaughter, who has gained three pounds in the three weeks since I saw her!  We had a lunch of many different meats because what was in the freezer had to be eaten and then packed and cleaned.  By 7:30 we were finished for the evening and ordered pizza and watched a little more tv before the guys moved it into the truck.  Afterward the men made a fire out back and my daughter and I hung out with the baby in the house.  We put out the sleeping bags and a few blan...