January 24th

The day "before". Last day without a child!

I woke up at 3 am and she was there at 7:13 am. Thanks, Helen, for not giving me any trouble.

First pictures!

Can you imagine? They kept me 4 nights in the hospital. She was born Monday morning and they discharged us Friday morning. May be it was because any relatives were 4000+ miles away? May be it was because there had been a blizzard outside? They questioned us whether we could drive into a garage etc etc. -5F degrees is cold. Or maybe those were just the good ol' days?
Dinner on the last evening before discharging! They served it to the new parents with real tablecloth and linen napkins, flowers and wine and the words: " this might be the last cozy dinner for a while for you"!

Home!

Probably 3 or 4 weeks old. Isn't she cute?

So many memories over the years. Hope we can make many more together.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HELEN! Love you so much.

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In VA again

Sunday 18th

We had just come back from Nashville the day before so the cupboards where bare. After church (it was so nice to see a lot of our friends) we met Sarah, Wade and Caleb for lunch.
Caleb is reading the menu to James so he knows what to order.

They brought sweet sticky rolls while we were waiting.

The weather was so nice. It was cold but the sun was shining and no wind. We had to go for a fast (for me) walk in the neighborhood. That's what I love about where we live. It's great for walking. It felt so good.

Monday Tuesday ... Desperately trying to catch up on things. Main chore: un-decorating Christmas. Well, putting the ornaments and crèches away is not really a chore. I love looking at everything and think of all the wonderful memories which come with them. But the dropped needles everywhere ... and crawling into the attic over the garage thru the little opening to stow the "greenery and trees" away ... thanks to dear husband James for all he does (without complaints whatsoever). Finally it's Epiphany in our household too. No more Christmas ... Until it's proper time again.

Wednesday

Sarah had a little problem. Hubby on a business trip. She has to work the 2-10 shift and can't swap. Happy to help out. She comes for lunch and brings the stuff for the night. Caleb goes to daycare for just a little while until Papa gets him (before 6 pm).

We adjust the baby bed in the guest room again. Last one to use it was William without the front railing. He is too big for it now anyway. Bed back to baby status.
We play. He has a bath. He is so easy to put to bed and sleeps through the night. His mother comes after her work too.

Thursday

We have to be up early because Sarah has to work the early shift. By 7:20 am they are both gone.
Later I get a text though whether they can invite themselves for another night. Their house is being painted inside and progress is not as fast as Sarah had hoped. And could she bring the dogs this time?
Since I did not have time to plan for dinner we go Mexican just outside the neighborhood.
And then it is already bath time for Caleb. He knows when his bedtime is and "insists" on it. He falls asleep quickly again but unfortunately wakes up just when it is time for us to go to bed. His poor mommy is so tired but he is out of sorts and miserable. Sarah tries whatever she can think of with not much luck. Is it a new tooth? Gas? Can't figure it out. Finally he falls asleep again too.

Friday

Sarah's day off. We have all the time in the world for breakfast. Jimmy is the floor police. He waits for food to fall down. Most likely it will not even hit the floor.

We play all morning. The weather is miserable. Not good for a walk. Even the dogs go outside for only a short time.
Caleb has a good nap in his bed upstairs and even his mommy on the sofa. After that Sarah and Caleb check on their house and James goes with them. I am eagerly sewing on my project (which will be a different blog soon). I want to get it finished and in the mail today.

Finished! And James is looking for a box. Caleb likes this one. Luckily it is not the right size. Sarah is pushing him around and he loved it. Fast movements and some out of focus. Should have taken a video.

Caleb already loves gadgets. Got hold of his mother's phone. I took videos ... and then these photos from the videos.

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

Since he had another good nap after lunch he is in good form to play.

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2
... and pictures taken again off the videos.

And then they left. Wade is almost home from his trip and the painters are gone for the day and finished downstairs.

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Nashville - last days

Thursday

William had school all day and Helen had to teach. Since yesterday was Helen and Ben's wedding anniversary they wanted to go out for a dinner today and asked whether William could stay the night again.
William loves it when Papa picks him up from preschool. We found him outside on the playground playing happily. I was surprised since it was so cold. We made a short stop at Home Depot which he didn't mind since we brought a "papa cookie" (James likes Biscoffs and so does his grandson). He was very very tired though. The traffic was as traffic is in Nashville at that hour. I had trouble keeping him awake all the way to the TH. He wanted to go to his house though.
To make a long story short ... we had a healthy snack, played and built an "awesome" train track again, had some supper and ice cream ... and then he wanted to go into the bath tub. Papa read two books and William was happily asleep at 8:04 pm.

Friday

Our last day here on this trip. It is 7:55 am and William is still asleep. Ha-ha, he woke up soon after 8 am as always with a smile.
He wanted to have breakfast in his pjs and we decided on the pumpkin pancake mix his mother had brought to try. Even with blueberries it was not enjoyed by anybody. As always he did like Omi's applesauce though.

We built another "awesome track", except it wasn't awesome at all because the train could not go were we wanted it to go. Once it was over the bridge it was stuck in the figure eight and could not go over the bridge again. How did this happen?

We all had to think really hard and tried several times. Papa (who studied to become an engineer at the University at Nottingham) finally succeeded.

William could play again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a nice family lunch all together. Ben had come too. Taco salad. Helen's favorite and William had a huge portion too with the fritos chips, rice, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, taco sauce, cheese AND avocados. He loves those. We all decided that he has a growth spurt again.

In the afternoon Helen was making the binding for her quilt while we were enjoying our last day at this visit with William. I have written a short blog about Helen's Block Lotto 2012 Sampler. You find it on my site about lace and quilts. Or here is the link.

Of course it is our right as grandparents to spoil the grandson, right? Since the weather was decent, Papa could even take William to a playground which was enjoyed by both.

Helen and William left early afternoon and James and I had to pack up. Didn't want to forget anything so we "stage" things for next morning. We went to bed early and even set the alarm clock. Going back to Virginia we are "losing" an hour.

Saturday

 

It's a good day to travel. Many fewer trucks on the road. A clear day with a blue sky. Early in the morning we saw fog rising from the rivers and the sun shining on some ice covered treas and bushes. It was very pretty.

 

It's a long drive. It's always good to be safely home again. We had a very very good time.

 

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Everybody smiling again

Monday

 

As much as William loves his Omi (yeah!!!) he does miss his Mommy and Pops. He wakes up with a smile though and he likes Omi's breakfast: homemade apple sauce (apples, carrots and prunes from the VitaMix) stirred together with cooked oats.

I drove him to his speech class with Miss Kimberly at 11 am and had an hour and half to waste. On the way home we stopped and William picked out one hot wheel to buy (97 cents).

Good news from Helen that she had Ben at home. They were missing their little boy! I packed most of his things into the car and after lunch I brought him to "his" house.

He wanted to bring a get-well-balloon to his Pops so we had to make one stop. He picked them out and was so careful to not let them go especially walking to the parked car. He was so excited. I forgot to take a picture but Helen sent me these.

 

 

 

 

I continued to Goodlettsville to pick up the quilted quilts from the longarmer. Linda had done a great job as always. The Nashville traffic gets to me though. If it is rush hour you never know how long it takes for you to go from A to B. Finally home I just crash. Don't feel like doing anything. Ever had that feeling?

 

Tuesday

 

James is on his way home!!!

 

 

William is in preschool all day. Helen brings him there and has things to do. Word is that Ben is a good patient and does what the Dr recommended. He is supposed to walk and they even went shopping.

I had a "day off" ... and had a productive day. I trimmed the two quilts and did housework. Yes, housework! I am not a good housewife but I felt really good after vacuuming, changing and washing bedding etc. I hope William will not be too upset that I took the train track and hot wheel set apart. I had explained to him before that we always can build it again and better.

Helen and William came over in the afternoon and then took "Omi's car" to pick up Papa. Unfortunately the plane was 40 minutes late but there would be no chance of William abandoning the mission. He loves airports but mostly he loves Papa.

Helen texted this picture of William waiting.

 

 

See his hand waving. Feel the excitement because he spotted Papa.

 

 

 

Helen went home soon but it had gotten late and William promptly fell asleep in the car.

 

Wednesday

 

They came for lunch. I made Helen's favorite: Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes). William doesn't care for them. We are discussing whether he could be really Helen's son or was switched in the hospital (just kidding).

 

 

 

Or was he just eager to play with his new toy. Papa brought this gift from Uncle David in England. William's word about the tractor: it is fantastic!

 

 

 

After lunch Helen went with Papa to her house to work some more assembling And installing drawers for the kitchen and proudly got rid of 10 boxes.

William and I built an "awesome" train track ... around Papa's chair.

 

 

After James came back we took William to their church were we met Helen and Ben for Wednesday supper and evening service.

Another good day!

 

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