by jphilo | May 3, 2016 | Top Ten Tuesday
Mother Day will be here in 5 short days. Here are 10 things I love about the holiday.
10. Mother’s Day is the one day of the year where moms get the pay off for losing their figures, years of sleep deprivation, and total lack of privacy: breakfast in bed that consists of burnt toast, rubbery eggs, and cold coffee served with a side dish of crumbs between the sheets.
9. Wannabe women actors improve their acting skills when their children ask them if they like the kittie earrings they picked out as a gift.
8. Mother’s Day and spring flowers appear in tandem. Perfect timing!
7. My early Mother’s Day present was an espresso maker and my daughter, the barista, who will give me lessons on its operation.
6. Mother’s Day means going out to eat, and thus avoiding the what-to-make-for-supper decision, not once but twice: once with my mom and once with my kids.
5. Spending a substantial amount of time selecting the perfect card for Mom. Not an easy task since so many cards don’t describe her style of mothering. At. All. But I enjoy the task and always manage to find one that makes her smile.
4. I appreciate spending Mother’s Day with Mom more as the opportunities to do so dwindle year by year.
3. May 11, 1929 was both Mother’s Day and Dad’s birthday.
2. My adorable grandkids: Sam, Molly, and Tad.
1. My children, Allen and Anne. Could I love you any more?
What do you love about Mother’s Day? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Jul 27, 2015 | Family, Uncategorized
Home. I’m finally home after several weeks of travel. All to see family. All of it good. But I’m glad to be home and in one place again, with time to think and reflect and process the experiences.
And to do laundry.
Because our very precocious and gifted almost 4-month-old grandson proved to be very adept at peeing on my lap. By the end of 6 days of snuggles, the little rascal had soaked through his diapers and every pair of pants in my suitcase.
And that’s saying something.
Because I’m one of those people who throws in an extra of everything. Just in case. And then an extra extra of everything. Just in case the just in case extra of everything might not be enough.
And it wasn’t enough.
Which means I now need to pack an extra extra extra of everything. Just in case. Or–paradigm shift–I could do laundry at the grandson’s house. Why didn’t I think of that before?
I know why.
Because I’m too busy thinking about that sweet little boy who found his fists this week, learned to put them in his mouth, who grasped his rattle for the first time, who cooed and smiled at his grammy, and stole her heart.
And her mind.
So she paid scant attention to the time or the gleam in his little eye that means, “I’m going to pee now.” Which is why every pair of my pants came home pee-soaked and pee-stained.
And I came home happy, exhausted, and utterly content.
by jphilo | Jul 21, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
I’m spending the week with my daughter, son-in-law and their 3-month-old baby. You know. Helping out so Daddy and Mommy can get some things done. Like sleeping, showering, and going to the bathroom while I take care of the adorable grandson. Who is also quite distracting, and for the following 10 reasons is why this post almost didn’t get written.
10. My adorable grandson has been drooling and needs Grammy to wipe it away.
9. My highly aware grandson doesn’t like wet diapers and needs to be changed again.
8. My adorable grandson used up all the diapers and Grammy is folding clean ones.
7. My adorable grandson is fussing and only Grammy can make him happy.
6. My adorable grandson is sleeping so Grammy and Mommy are madly working their ways through their to-do lists.
5. My adorable grandson is cooing so we have to Facetime with Papoo and Great-grandma Dorothy so they can enjoy his adorableness.
4. My adorable grandson’s smile melts Grammy’s heart, and she forgets all about social media.
3. My precocious grandson just figured out how to put his hand in his mouth, so we are planning what to wear for his presidential inauguration.
2. My adorable grandson’s mother and I went grocery shopping, which is much easier when the adult to baby ratio is 2 to 1.
1. My adorable grandson didn’t fuss during the shopping trip so we went to the coffee shop to celebrate.
What kept you from blogging today? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Apr 13, 2015 | Family
Home again
after ten days
with a new grandson
and his parents.
Ten days
of cleaning and cooking,
of shopping and laundry,
and folding diapers just so.
Ten days
of walking the dog,
of reassuring new parents,
and watching them grow confident in their new roles.
Ten days
of snuggling a baby,
of smelling his sweetness,
and marveling at his perfection.
Ten days
of rocking and singing,
of his breath warm against my chest,
and his downy hair tickling my neck.
Ten days
of counting blessings,
of falling in love with 8 pounds, 2 ounces,
and feeling his weight burrow deep into my heart.
Home again
after ten days,
with half of me content to be back,
and the other counting ten toes and ten fingers
two eyes, two ears,
a stub nose and rosebud mouth
in my dreams.
by jphilo | Mar 12, 2015 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- How long until March Madness
is over begins?
- What can be sweeter than being the center of your grandchild’s world when you go to visit?
- Sometimes when a person sees her high school drama coach‘s show notes, though she hasn’t seen his handwriting in over 40 years, she can immediately begin to cry. Don’t ask how I know this.
