Crazy

That's the word I'd use to describe the last couple of weeks.   We've been across the country and back, I became the mother of 5 for a few days and Leo has started teething (we think, I guess we'll find out soon). 

Last week with the passing of Heb's grandma, we quickly prepared for the trip to Northern California.  We cancelled our previous plans for the weekend, even Riverdance (so sad) and packed like crazy.  Leo was very good on the flights, I can't count the number of people who mentioned what a good/sweet/cute baby he was (that's my boy).  The three hour time difference was killer though. 

The weekend was spent saying goodbye to Grandma Minnie, hanging out at the pool, and eating together.  Oh, and I think that the cousins liked Leo because this is pretty much what they did all weekend.

One of the things that is the most difficult about living away is that Leo doesn't get to spend much time with his cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.  I had such a close family growing up that I really treasure the times that we get to spend together.

When we returned home, Emily had delivered her long awaited baby boy and the girls got to hang out with us for a few days.  They hung in the hammocks, made a welcome home poster and I braided a lot of hair.  The girls were mostly well behaved and I was even brave enough to take everyone grocery shopping.

We visited Emily at the hospital and I got to hold her little guy.  He weighed in at 9.2 and it reminded me of holding Leo as an infant (who was 9.4 as a newborn).  Often, when I hold newborns, they seems so gangly and light but not my Leo.  He was a good solid boy and it brought back some good memories to hold him.  I'm sure that he and Leo are going to be the best of pals when he grows up a bit.

 

With all of the hub bub lately, we got pretty tired.  Can you blame us?  It's at these times that I feel like I fall behind in everything.  The house gets messy, my emails remain unanswered and I have to drop all my projects.  It makes me wish for quiet days.  But deep down, I think I like the chaos (well, so long as I get a bit of sleep).     

Grandma Minnie

We went to a funeral this weekend in California.  Heb's Grandma U. passed away.   It was all rather whirlwind to book a flight, hotel and car and then making the cross-country journey.

Minnie was a remarkable woman in her late ninety's.  She went to college and earned a degree in a time when women did not go to college and even more incredible was that it was during the great depression.  I can only imagine the drive and dedication it took to complete that.  She worked as a teacher for many years, had two children and then retired with her husband Stan.  They traveled all over the world together.  It was amazing to see pictures of her travels.  The two of them are running around Istanbul, Mexico, on boats, in their trailer home.  I want to be like that.  I want a life filled with family and travel.  She was an avid seamstress and continued to sew right up to the end of her life.

 

I only met Grandma a few times but I was impressed with her honesty and also her love of Skip-bo.  During the weekend, we had the opportunity to go through some boxes of pictures that she had.  There were pictures from Heb's childhood.  I haven't seen too many so I jumped at the opportunity to see his sweet face as a child.

What struck me the most about the pictures was the puncture mark of a push pin.  Why would that be significant?  Well, to me it means that she hung it up, she looked at it, it was something that meant enough to her that she wanted it to be part of her daily life.  I am a big believer in bulletin boards.  All over our house you can see bulletin boards filled with pictures.  I want to be surrounded by the people and things that I love.  I want to look at them everyday and remember.  I think that's why the simple hole in a picture meant so much to me.  The most recent one with a hole was one of the first pictures of our new family - it was Heber, Leo and I at the hospital as brand new parents.  She had hung it up.  

That's how you know she really loved you.

Here's one of Heber's memories of his grandma:

Grandma and Grandpa would always play games with us. They introduced us to Skip-Bo, or Spite and Malice as is was called back in their day. I think Grandma probably liked to think of it as Spite and Malice instead of Skip-Bo because she sure knew how to play it that way. It was probably the only game I can remember that Grandpa couldn't cheat at so Grandma would make up for that by making sure she could cut you off in any way possible. When you'd get exasperated with her after she blocked your play and won the game, she would just quietly look over and stick out her long tongue at you. She was good at that game and she knew it. And she used her tongue to make sure you knew it too. 

I always thought it was very cool that she could touch her nose with that long tongue.