Miscellaneous Monday…

Here we are, in our eleventh day without sunshine, with no end in sight.  Thankfully, we are not flooded, like many places, just damp and in dire need of some sun.  I know the sun will eventually shine again, in due time.  In the meantime, I’ll try to wait patiently.

All of the days have been pretty much the same around here.  We eat, we sleep, we watch some of the new fall shows on television.  Ed vacuums the house, while I dust.  Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  Fortunately, all of last week wasn’t like that.

On Thursday, Ed and I broke our usual routine by taking our daughter and granddaughter out for lunch.  It was our daughter’s birthday, and we thought it would be nice to do something special with her.  We all enjoyed our lunch, and the shopping that followed.  Unfortunately, a thunderstorm blew up during the shopping part of the trip, and we got stranded in Kmart for a while.  Ed and I walked over to the furniture section and made ourselves comfortable until the registers were back up and running.  I tell you, older folks know how to adapt!  Ha!

On Friday night, our entire family gathered at the house to visit and celebrate our daughter, Brandy’s, birthday.  Ed grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for all.  My daughter-in-law  bought birthday decorations, and decorated the kitchen for me, since I’m still not feeling 100%.  She also took down the decorations after the party, and I was very appreciative of her help.

We did a little something different at Brandy’s birthday celebration, this year.  While sitting around the kitchen table, we took turns offering up praises to Brandy for the things we appreciate about her.  It turned out to be a special time, consisting of some laughter and a few tears.  We shouldn’t wait so long to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us!

In addition to Brandy’s birthday, our youngest son, Brad, was celebrating the official sale and closing of their house in the city, on Friday.  It’s been a long 5 months since he and his wife first put their home on the market.  They’ve been living with Jennifer’s dad and step mom for four of those five months.  As of last week, Brad, Jennifer, and Evan are living on their own, once again. Perhaps life is finally returning to normal for them.

By the end of Friday evening, I was feeling a bit frazzled and worn out.  It was the first time we’ve had all of the family (twelve of us) gathered together since my surgery.  Four grandchildren, ages 8 thru 2,  all playing with six pink balloons in the living room, may have been a bit much for this grandma!  I may have been guilty of shooing them all into the kitchen to play where one of them decided to ‘pop’ a family sized bag of potato chips during the course of the evening…

Saturday evening brought us an overnight guest.  Granddaughter, Madison, was finally able to spend the night with us.  She’s been begging to stay with us for ages, but we put her off because I wasn’t feeling well.  An opportunity presented itself, and it finally seemed like a good time to let her stay over.  Ed and I ordered pizza, letting Madison choose her favorite kind.  Later, we all watched movies until 11:30 that night, like a bunch of kids!

Today makes three weeks since I had my back surgery.  Sigh.  When people ask me how I’m doing, I answer, “I’m better than I was, but not as good as I’d like to be.”  I don’t know why, but, lately, early mornings have been difficult.  When I first rise out of bed, I can barely walk down the hall.  I have pain in the left hip/groin area, similar to sciatica, but it doesn’t radiate all the way down my leg like before. It stays confined to the thigh area.  After a couple of hours, the pain subsides, and I can walk again.  It’s very strange.  Many of the strange leg ‘sensations’ I was experiencing, at first, have subsided, so I’m hoping and praying this will, too.

Ed and I are expecting more guests today.  Our two oldest grandsons are coming for an afternoon visit, while their mom goes to an appointment.  We’ve invited Madison to come over and join them.  This grandma has placed those pink balloons in the trash can.   As for my potato chips?  They’re out of sight, too…

Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share It With You Sunday…What A Weekend!

We had a busy weekend here in Gooseneck–but it was a good weekend!  Our little granddaughter, Madison, turned four on Saturday.  We spent the weekend celebrating–and I do mean the entire weekend!

Our Birthday Princess...

Now I know that all grandkids are special, but Madison is a wee bit more special to us for several reasons.  First of all, I wanted to be a grandma for five long years before Madison ever arrived.  Then when our daughter and her husband finally decided to try to conceive–it took quite a while (15 months)– and they had to have a little help(fertility drugs).  Once Madison was conceived, it was a problem pregnancy–bed rest almost the entire time–ending with an emergency c-section delivery!  By now I guess you’ve got the idea…Madison didn’t come easy.

Every year on Madison’s birthday, we recall all of the trials and tribulations that we went through to get her here:

…How Brandy had to give up her job due to being on bed rest

…How she and her husband learned to manage on one income

…How they eventually had to move in with my husband and me for the last two months of the pregnancy, after Brandy was hospitalized for several days

…How Brandy was sent to the hospital for an emergency c-section(two weeks early) after going for a routine office visit

…How Brandy’s regular doctor was out-of-town at the time that she was sent to the hospital

…How the attending physician suddenly changed his mind about doing the c-section after the nurses at the hospital convinced him that it wasn’t necessary!

…How I got ugly with the attending doctor(and threatened him) when he told me he was going to send Brandy home

…How the attending doctor agreed to go ahead with a c-section–if an amniocentesis was done showing lung maturity

…How it took Brandy an entire day to get up her nerve to have the amnio done

…How the c-section was scheduled–then cancelled– when the amnio results showed the baby’s lungs weren’t mature

…How finally after five long days of Brandy being  in the hospital–her regular doctor returned(death in family)

…How on the very day that her regular doctor returned–her baby went into distress again but it would take all day to get any relief…

…How finally at 7:40 in the evening an emergency c-section was performed–and little Madison was born, perfect,  healthy, and with mature lungs! (the test was wrong) Her cord was wrapped around her neck,  causing all of the distress

…and last but not least, how I slept on the floor of Brandy’s hospital room most of those five nights–because nobody would give me a cot or a reclining chair–and I wasn’t leaving (it’s well over an hour’s drive home)

Now that I’ve remembered and written all that we experienced trying to get Madison here– I’m tired!  Actually, I am tired from two days of partying and celebrating with her–but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything!  Like the old song says…Thank God for kids–and grandkids!

Me holding Madison for the first time...

I’m including a photograph that was taken of me when I held our precious granddaughter for the very first time…Can you see the look of relief and joy on my face?  What a moment!  I am not ashamed to tell you this– I sat in that hospital chair and held that little bundle of joy the entire night, while her exhausted parents slept.  That was as close to heaven as I’ll ever get here on earth…Happy Birthday, Madison!