Thoughts on being a grandmother

Born in Holland

2006-05-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

Pic of me taken in New Hampshire in 2004

2006-05-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

Re: My picture

2006-05-21T12:18:00.000-04:00

I thought it was time to post a picture of myself so here I am! This pic was taken in New Hampshire in 2004 when my hubby & I were on vacation. I haven't changed much since then, except I think I may have put on a few more pounds.

Tulip block for the quilt

2006-05-21T10:08:00.000-04:00

Tulip block along with the material

2006-05-21T10:02:00.000-04:00

Update on my quilt square

2006-05-21T09:56:00.000-04:00

I finished the quilt square and also bought material for the quilt. The tiny flowers on the material matches the colour of the tulip I stitched. I will post the pictures so you can see them.

Almost crawling!

2006-03-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

First Words

2006-02-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

My daughter called me this morning to tell me that Sierra has uttered her first word. While I was speaking to her, I heard Sierra in the background as she was babbling away to herself. All of a sudden, I heard her say DADA!

Why is it that most babies' 1st word is DADA! What is it with this? Who is the primary caregiver? MAMA! Who gets up at night when they wake up? MAMA! Who do they want to go to when they are hurt or upset? MAMA! Both my children said DADA at least a month before they said MAMA.

We have my husband's baby book and his first word was ball which makes sense cuz he is a sports fanatic and at one time I was a baseball widow and my children were baseball orphans! Now I'm a curling widow.

I told my daughter that now would be a good time to spend some time with her repeating words to her, such as MAMA, OMA, OPA, DOLLY, DOGGIE AND MOLLY (The name of their dog). Just wait, with my kind of luck she'll say OPA before she says OMA.

One of my favourite pictures of Sierra

2006-02-14T23:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T23:37:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged! No excuses here, just didn't know what to write about. Today is Valentine's Day. I did not sleep very well last night so stayed home from work. I am recuperating from a bout with shingles. If you've ever had shingles you'll know the pain I've been in. I take a pain pill 3x a day to prevent the shooting pains but it didn't work for me last night and I woke up at 3 a.m. in a lot of pain. I wasn't able to go back to sleep until 5 a.m. and then the darn alarm clock went off at 6 a.m. I was really groggy as I had taken another pain pill at 3:30 a.m. I shut the d*mn thing off and fell asleep again until 6:30. I was still really groggy and could not get my a** in gear so I called in sick. I went back to bed and slept again until nearly 9 a.m.

I spent the day playing on the computer, watching the olympics on TV and cross stitching. I started yet another new project for my granddaughter's Christmas tree. I am stitching an ornament. It will be cute when it's done. I am also stitching a Dutch Delft tulip (a small design) for a quilt one of the ladies on a yahoo cross stitching group is making for the group moderator/owner. The owner is a very nice person and is always doing something nice for someone on the group. We were asked to stitch something that represents us and since I was born in Holland, I chose the Delft Tulip to stitch. I have to get it done by May 1st. I also need to buy a fat quarter of material for the quilt. I just hope I can find some material that will match the tulip I am stitching.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Withdrawal!!

2005-09-18T14:50:00.000-04:00

Hubby & I just got back from a week's vacation in Massachusetts. We used our time share & stayed at Vacation Village in the Berkshires. Our 1 bedroom unit was very comfortable and we had a great time. We went to a few casinos (overall came out $100.00 US richer) and we also visited a few malls & factory outlet stores. I bought a jumper, 2 dresses, a top, a onesie & a new toy for Sierra. Can we say, spoiled??

I really missed Sierra while I was away and am now suffering withdrawal symptoms! But, I called my daughter and Hubby & I will be able to ease our withdrawal symptoms this afternoon when we will go and see Sierra. I can't wait to see her in the new clothes I bought her. I am looking forward to watching her reaction to the new soft blue talking teddy bear I got her.

I never realized just how much a part of our lives this little bundle has become. Everytime we went to a mall or a factory outlet centre, the 1st thing I did was to look at the directory to see where OshKosh by Gosh or Carter's was located. I made a beeline for those stores and also The Gap. I used to make a beeline for the women's clothing stores but not anymore!

I bought her the jumper & matching top at OshKosh, the 2 dresses & teddy bear at Carter's and the onesie at Baby Gap. My favourite baby shop is Carter's. Their baby clothing is more traditional than OshKosh. The sales lady at Carter's told me that Carter's now owns OshKosh.

Disciplining a two month old!

2005-08-25T03:10:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading my daughter's post about how Sierra threw a temper tantrum in the store. All I can say is: "It's pay back time!" It seems Sierra takes after her mother! You can read all about it here: http://www.cosmogrrl.com/wordpress/?p=478 I think it's hilarious!

Why do they always have to learn the hard way?

2005-08-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

My daughter thought Sierra was colicky so she bought some gripe water (didn't do much) and she also bought some Ovol (we think this helped a lot). But, if I told her once, I told her many times, that she has to watch what she eats as long as she's breast feeding. Sierra spent quite a few days when she would just cry, cry, cry and nothing anyone did seemed to soothe her. On the weekend, my daughter confessed that she had been eating raisin bran for breakfast. She cut out milk products from her diet, stopped eating raisin bran for brekkie & also started giving Sierra Ovol and now Sierra is a happy baby again.

I have to back track here. We think that my daughter is lactose intolerant but not to the extent that it would make her ill from eating and drinking milk products. She just always seemed to have a lot of gas and we nicknamed her motorboat. My husband is definitely lactose intolerant and has pretty much cut milk products out of his diet. He developed this intolerance over the last few years.

But, tell me, why is it that children never want to listen to their parents and always have to learn the hard way? I must admit that I didn't always listen to my parents either and yes, sometimes I had to learn the hard way too. Other times, I was right and my parents were wrong, but the older I became the more I realized that my parents had a lot more life experiences to learn from than I had, so eventually I did listen and learned from them.
We now realize that some of the things we did years ago, are now frowned upon by the medical profession as they have learned so much more about the human body. But, when it comes to bringing up baby, young mothers today can learn a lot from their mothers, aunts, grand parents etc. Most mothers develop a "mother's instinct" but sometimes they just need an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on and maybe just a few words of advice. Keeping in mind, of course, that what works for one child may not neccessarily work for another child. But it never hurts to try.

So, to all you new mothers out there, listen to your Mom! She probably did a pretty good job in raising you with about 1/2 the resources available to her that are now available to you. I am amazed at the wealth of information the government has for new parents, not to mention the wealth of information available over the internet. I have a nursing background and spent 4 years working in a new born nursery before I had children. I learned a lot about newborns in those 4 years and had no qualms whatsoever bringing my children home from the hospital, but I have to admit that I sometimes called my Mom up to ask for her advice.

2005-08-15T14:34:00.000-04:00

A recent picture of Sierra in her favourite sleeping position

2005-08-15T14:28:00.000-04:00

Sierra Nicole - age 1 day

I'm an Oma!!

2005-08-15T13:44:00.000-04:00

I was at work on Wed. June 8th when my daughter called to tell me that her water had broke and she was on her way to the hospital. Little did I know at the time, that my world would change forever that night. It never even dawned on me that this meant that my daughter would be having a baby! DUH!! What was I thinking? I think I was in a state of shock as her baby was not due for at least another month!
About a half hour later, my son-in-law called to tell me that my daughter was in active labour but that we would be in for a long night.
I finished work at 8:00 p.m., dropped in at my hubby's work to give him the news but he didn't want to go with me, I then stopped in at Tim Horton's & got an ice cap and drove to the hospital. I arrived there at 9:15 p.m. and my daughter was in labour.
I won't bore you with all the details, but at 11:15 p.m. I became the proud Oma of a beautiful baby girl - Sierra Nicole, 5 lbs., 18.5 inches long with light brown hair. (So much for the long night)!
Mommy and Daddy were ecstatic and I was over the moon with joy! I rushed to the phone & left a message for my hubby who was still at work. I stayed long enough to see Sierra and my daughter get settled in their room & then went home.
The next day, both my hubby & I went to visit them and we got to hold our little bundle of joy.
I can now add June 8, 2005 as one of the happiest days of my life and becoming a grandmother ranks right up there with getting married (July 15/72) becoming a mother (July 10/75 & Sep. 13/77)as the pinnacle of happiness. Life just doesn't get any better than this!