Worries,worries,worries!

Last week my son-in-law had some surgery with some wicked side effects. I worried myself sick about him, my daughter& my 2 granddaughters!  I tried not to be a bothersome pain to them but it was so hard! Being a far away grandma is really hard. The weather was too bad to drive, wait, now that I think of it, I could have ski'ed or used my neighbors snowmobile!  I guess as a grandma I am learning that patience and staying calm is a gift I can give my children. He's much better now and I can see that being anxious usually just make's things worse. I wish there were a magic answer to being instantly calm.

A visit from 8 of the grandkids, I really am just a mischievous kid!

A visit with 8 grandkids Sat. morning. We played and colored and screamed and talked. Why has it taken me so long to learn that  when you are visiting with a child or any other person the trick to help them know you are really interested in them or love them is to look directly at their eyes when they are talking to you or when you are talking to them. I've spent my whole life working and hurrying here and there. Stop and listen, that's my new goal.  I did the same thing with hubby yesterday and football. I got a big smile and a nice visit with him. It works!

A family with triplets!

We went to great grandpa's house tonight to play games. My brother-in-law has 11 year old triplets. Their mom mentioned how she is looking forward to having grandchildren some day. Can you imagine how many grankids she could get in a 5 year period! Whew!      
I get to see my grankids from down south this weekend. The 8 yr old has type one diabetes and it irritates her to death to be treated differently from anyone else. I'm going to plan my menu so I can tell her how many carbs are in everything so she can put the numbers into her insulin pump and it will give her the proper amount of insulin. That blows me away that an 8 yr old can be taught this. I'm a nurse & I never learned how insulin pumps operated until she taught me. (This is an embarrassing secret, please don't tell anyone!)  After all I'm from the age of insulin shots.  I love to have new coloring books and crayons when they come. A couple of them are showing a drawing talent. I like to draw, maybe I'll find one of those drawing games & we can guess each others drawings.  I wonder if the Mario Brothers movies are too scary for 3 yr olds.

I can't believe it!

Yesterday I got all ready to tend my son's kids while he and his wife went on a date last night. They live about 15 miles north of town. I cleaned, made a fun supper, got out their favorite movies, thought of nutritious snacks. At 5pm my son called and said his wife would be a little later because she is a photographer and wasn't quite finished with her last session so would 5:15 be ok. About 6 pm they hadn't arrived yet. He called and said. "Are you ok?" and I said "Sure, why do you ask?"  It turns out I was suppose to go out there! By then they had changed their plans and I didn't get to see the grandkids!  Mixing up instructions or forgetting things can be so irritating! My 12 yr old grandaughter brought her flute to play songs for me at Christmas and forgot her music. That was tragic! It reminds me of when my wonderful grammy wrote me several pages of poems when I was young.  I put them in my stuff when I was in college and I've been looking for them ever since. It's a good thing my ears are glued to my head or I'd forget them too!

A grandma who can't say no, that's ok isn't it?

Hi everyone, My college kid is teaching me how to start a blog. I thought it might be fun to share my experiences, mostly bloopers from being a grama. After being one for almost 13 yrs I've come to one simple realization. The key to being great is to have fun and keep your mouth shut! ;) For example, mine paint my nails and put makeup on me, they make cookies with me, we dance, we color, we sing, we swing outside and we arrange pictures on the fridge. There's a funny little sign on my wall that says: "Grandchildren welcome anytime, children by appointment".  No one can describe what it's like to be a grandma until you are one. I've heard that being a grandma is the reward for raising a child. My children scold me for not being able to say no. I have 5 kids &11 grandkids from age 2 to14 (one is in Heaven).  Whatever you do, don't offend their parents, accidentally or on purpose because they know how to punish you!  For example, make sure  you get permission for the movies they watch. Grandma's can misjudge movies they think are fun but can be too scary for small kids, or don't let your type1diabetic 6yr grandchild help you make cookies if you let them eat more than one. (and I'm a nurse to boot!) Wow, I think I could like this blogging thing although it does get a bit embarrassing when your 5 yr old grandson instructs you in computer use.