my house is so empty......

Today was the most beautiful spring day that I've seen in years. It was breezy and warm with a tiny tiny bit of cool in the air. It was what I call an "up north spring day". We seem to be having them more and more as the years go by. V woke up at 7:30 today and after her bottle we took the stroller out and took Rocket for a walk. She gets so amazed by the flowers...a girl after my own heart...well, we all are into flowers in this family, and she will be another one. Happy, lovely things. We had a wonderful morning and then they came and took her home...I'll miss her little daily things but I will still be watching her a few days a week and I'll get to see and enjoy a lot. I'm very lucky.

and later in the day.........

It is the strangest thing not having Vivi here. I know there was constant activity but it was great. I think I needed to have had more children...It is my favorite thing. Here she is going home. She is just precious....and Josie is already going away on her first school trip to the beach. Off they go on Wednesday. She will have so much fun because she so loves her friends.

Life is pretty full!

Tonight another group of hellacious storms are coming through...Stay safe everyone.

Now a little girl....

I think the most amazing thing when watching a baby week after week is seeing the monumental changes. It sometimes feels as though you are inside their little heads and feel what they feel. Until about 4 days ago Vivi took ultimate pleasure in picking things up and tossing them behind her, I thought it was brilliant. Now, she is picking things up and specifically placing them either where they belong or in other, more interesting, to her, places. It is fascinating for me to watch her, but then, I am her grandmother. She also now, purses her little lips into a round, little "smack" when she kisses. It does take my breath away.

Her cousin, my very first granddaughter came by today. I had

put Vivi in for a nap shortly after she arrived and she was wrestling her way into sleep...just squirming like she does, not crying, at least until the 8 year old went into the grandbaby bedroom with the monit

or, just to be sure that it was "really live, and not just a tape running of her". That was the end of that nap. That one, my josie, is a riot. Never do I laugh like I do when she is around. Even when cleaning up big bowls of jello like today. Yes, it was red.

It is getting easier.........

I am getting so used to getting up way before Vivi wakes, taking the dog out, and sitting with my first cup of green tea while I wait for her to stir. She has had a huge smile on her face every single morning and it makes you realize why everyone loves happy human beings. Granted, no one smiles all the time but just that peaceful smile has made me very happy for the last 8 days. Even first thing in the morning.

I will miss this although i will still have her a few days a week. It is different. It has been easier because my daughter has done such a good job with her.

It was a little humid this morning...look at the curls!

I would like to know how damaged we all were by the baby food we ate....and (yikes!) served our children. Surely we knew about real food!? Whatever happened to the little jars of sugar laden tapioca? So funny!

earlier every day....

Each day that I actually hear my alarm I manage to get up a few minutes earlier than the day before. It was 6:40 today and it is now 10 pm. This is the latest I've gotten into my bed in a week. I do read once I'm there but my eyes don't stay open very long.

The weather warmed up and so I popped V into the stroller and we did a lot of walking.....with the dog of course.

I did get stopped by someone looking in my neighborhood because they want to downsize, she wants a house, her husband a condo. She LOVES the neighborhood because it's a minute from Saks Fifth Avenue. Priorities! So strange. (It is, literally, a minute. When I had a car accident a few years ago in that mall, the policeman looked at my license and my address, turned to me and said with a straight face"Why didn't you walk over here?")

Vivi spent the day finding new places to get into...see photo, and standing up in the middle of the room for seconds at a time and then laughing and acting very proud of herself. She will not let me help her though. Seems to be independent already, even when she eats. She also has been making a kissing noise with her lips that fascinates her, along with blowing, the way I do on her cereal. Evidently she can only do that with one finger in her mouth...very funny! I spent a lot of time laughing. Must be good for me because I don't look exhausted and sleep deprived. I look happy. I remember feeling this way when I watched Josie. Special times I could never replace and I am so lucky I can do this.

Slept fair last night.....and here is another problem related to how little I know. The sleep sack. I know it is important. I know it is safer than a blanket and keeps Vivi warm, but for some reason the constriction of it around her legs makes me crazy so I keep checking to make sure she isn't twisted up in it or isn't too cold or hot....Atlanta weather doesn't help at all ...one night it's 70, the next it's 30.

Cooked another healthy healthy dinner for all...it went better than yesterday mainly because I decided it would be easier if I ate Good & Plenty's instead of dinner and that way I could just keep waiting on the dog, Marty, and V....and then clean up. To top it off Marty went to Pinkberry and brought me a pomegranate yogurt. It sat well on the candy and it was the small size, so there.

a step behind all day......

I honestly don't know what happened today. The day was a blur...I turned my alarm off and leapt from bed at 7:15...just 15 minutes before V woke up. It was kind of nice having Marty take the pooch out and just lazily giving her her bottle in my robe. She is angelic in the morning...well, all the time really.

The storms last night were unbelievably loud, crashing and bright. She did not stir. The hail slammed against her bedroom window, she did not stir. She slept from 8 until 7:30, as usual, and the was ready for her nap at 10 .....and slept for two hours, which she doesn't do.

We shot on over to Target', where she babbled and yelled in her "look at me" voice...so funny. She looked so cute...everyone smiled. One little pig tail today.

As we got close to dinner time, another thing from the past I do not understand...talk about that later.... Not only was Vivi tired and wanting attention, but the spoiled yorkie I have was also wanting major attention. Vivi has a habit of yelling(well, kind of screaming) and then looking at you and hysterically laughing when she is ready to eat...and the dog barks when he is ready to eat....and my husband was on the computer oblivious, all hell was breaking loose although no one was upset...it was just very very noisy. Noise is not my favorite thing but everytime she looked at me I laughed too and then I was yelling for the dog to stop barking and Vivi was laughing at that. It was crazy, and not the peaceful dinner time I envisioned at all.

We had the organic free range chicken, butternut squash,asparagas tips and mangoes for the baby. Organic grass fed hamburgers for us with asparagus and sauted potatoes and brussel sprouts. It was such a healthy good meal but the atmosphere was just awful and the kitchen looked like the inside of a front loader washing machine, while running.

I won't go into the rest of the night...it was more peaceful and V was adorable, but I spent an hour cleaning up after the hour I spent reading, bottle feeding and playing quietly with her before she easily went to sleep at 8. You lay this child down turn off all the lights, put on the sound machine(which in my case is an almost station on FM radio....zzzzzzzzzz), say night night honey, kiss, shut the door, and she goes to sleep. It's amazing.

Now, what I do not understand, at all, and I realized it at dinner time, is: How did I do all of this by myself, with two children and have dinner on the table every night, frequent company because my husband was in the Air Force and invited guys who had no family around for dinner....and then after the kids were in bed I always looked good for the rest of the evening with my husband. How did I do that?? Maybe it was an illusion.

4th day in....and starting to count.

Younger granddaughter, almost 10 months old, and my charge for 11 days. Until today, I have never been so tired, ever. I have heard many times that God meant for the young to have babies. Now I believe it. Last night I finally slept without grabbing the monitor every 20 minutes just to check and going in to make sure she was breathing.

If this child were not so easy and so funny I would be begging for someone to help.

Things are very different today. It mostly revolves around food. In my day, we opened a few jars. Now it is cooked from scratch, organic, grass fed, free range and shredded so each meal takes a while since they feed themselves. It is nice that V loves to eat so she is fast but I cannot imagine what it is like if a child doesn't eat well. Plus there are the bottles....4 of them....and they seem to be every ten minutes.

This is a little daunting because I live in fear of her getting hurt but she already fell on her face while squealing across the room and recovered after a good cry.

The only emergency so far this week, someone I know had a friend in town, and LOCKS herself and friend out of the house! The funny part is...I don't have a key to this person's house any longer because she defriended me on facebook and changed the locks on the house. Things always come home to roost, don't they? So funny, because we still got a call to help.

Suggestion...buy the Happy Baby meals at Whole Foods for emergency quick meals...Two frozen cubes are a serving and the turkey(Gobble Gobble) is really delish!