Saturday, April 30, 2011

Happy Birthday, Baby Brother!

Hmm, I have a feeling you're going to be BIG trouble!

I can SO remember the day my brother was brought home from the hospital as a newborn.  I had been carted off to my best friend's house while my mother was in labor so I was returning from exile when he arrived.  He was wrinkled and red-faced and off-limits.  He was off-limits because he had a broken collarbone and I wasn't allowed to hold him until he healed.  So not only was he an intruder in my house and usurping my position as the only child, but he was also not even something that I could play with.  Gee!  No wonder I didn't hold out much hope for our future together.

That's my boy!
John healed from his birth injuries and I was gradually allowed to interact with him.  I STILL wasn't that impressed but we were at least co-existing.

I'm a cute toddler and you're not!
Wouldn't you know?  John grew out of his wrinkles and started looking like a cute little kid.  He was also into everything, especially my stuff.  I was not amused.

Wow, do I ever wish I had this stuff now to sell on Ebay!
As he got older, he continued to plague me by following me around and playing with my toys.  Thank goodness he started pulling in birthday hauls like this.  Cute fedora, John!

When I grow up, I want a car just like this one.
Life has a way of evening things out and just as I was entering my buck-toothed phase, John entered the 4-eyes phase.  Cute glasses, bro!

My sister isn't the only musician in the family.
By the time I was in high school and playing French horn in our band, John had taken up the trumpet in the elementary school band.  We still weren't associating much but we had an uneasy truce.  As long as he stayed out of my room, I wouldn't kill him.  Dig those lumberjack socks, Bro!

Jerry Seinfeld called.  He wants his shirt back.
By the time John was in high school and doing things like going to prom, I was off to college and blossoming into my own.  Suddenly, my baby brother didn't seem so bad.  There might be hope for him yet.
Aw, my baby brother is engaged.
I graduated from college, joined the Army, finished my enlistment, joined the Navy, got engaged, and married my Navy sweetheart.  Lo and behold, my baby brother had also gotten engaged and shortly after we returned to the States, I was able to be in his wedding.  I was actually pretty proud to have him as a brother by that point.

Standing up as my nephew's godmother.
By the time John's first son was born, I was the mother of two little ones.  It was pretty neat getting together and seeing our families growing.

Proud parents of two beautiful boys.
I love being an aunt although I'm still amazed at how fast those little fellows have grown up.  Thank goodness that John and I have maintained our glacial pace of aging.

You want eggs with that whine?
I've been so proud of my baby brother as I've watched him continuing to mature over the years.

That's my boy!
He's taken an active role in the lives of his sons and we've both made a conscious effort to keep our families connected.  It's a valuable legacy for all of us.

Today, your living room.  Tomorrow, we'll be booked in Las Vegas!
But the best thing about my baby brother is that we've had a lot of fun over these past years.  He's vastly improved from that wrinkly kid that my folks brought home MANY years ago.  Happy birthday, John!  I love you!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Five Muscle-Building Struggles


It's Friday yet again.  Another week and another list of "five."  Has this been a tough week for you?  It's been a bit of a grinder for me this week.  Yet I'm reminded of one of my mother's favorite sayings that goes something like this:  "We fall to rise, we sleep to wake, are baffled to fight better..." from a poem by Kipling.  We can't all have sunshine and lollipop weeks but we can learn from our struggles.  So here are five things that I've been struggling with this past week.






1.  Saying "goodbye" yet again to my son and his family.  We had a wonderful two weeks together here but now they are back in Texas where they'll remain at least until the new baby arrives.  I hate saying goodbye but have to remind myself that you can't say "Great to see you again" unless you've first said "Good-bye."  Therefore I shall concentrate on the anticipation of our next visit together.

Photo courtesy of Photos8.com
2.  Feeling relieved that we missed the terrible storm damage but yet, strangely guilty.  It's a  paradox, isn't it?  I feel happy that we did NOT get hit with those horrible storms and tornadoes that ravaged other parts of the country and, indeed, other areas of our state.  Yet, I feel rather guilty for being happy since so many others have had their lives turned upside down by these events of the past week.  I've encountered this feeling before but in connection with cancer, when I've heard of acquaintances who have lost the battle with cancer while being grateful that I'm still here.  I think it's called "survivor guilt."

Photo courtesy of  Photos8.com

3.  I've been struggling with the idea of how much of our lives we waste just "waiting" on things to occur.  It seems like there is always some goal or event that I'm "looking forward" to.  Usually it goes like this in my mind. "I can't WAIT for the time when I can (you fill in the blanks).  Or "I can't WAIT for (xxxxx) to happen."   If I put half the energy into the here and now that I put into biding time, I might actually accomplish something.  I don't want to be one of those people who gets to the end of their life and suddenly realizes that they never really did much living.


4.  I've been struggling with how old I'm looking.  Gee, when I saw some recent pictures of myself, I could no longer deny that I look middle-aged.  Graying hair, wrinkles, sagging skin, jowls, oh, my! Who time-traveled my internal "twenty-something" self into this aging body?  It's hard to maintain a spring in your step when the springs are rusting.  Then again, maybe I just need to find a better skin cream.

5.  I've been struggling with a sinus infection and an ear infection.  For the past two weeks, I've been dealing with a virus that has had me coughing like crazy and quite congested.  Earlier this week, my one ear got all blocked up and painful and sure enough, it was infected.  Now, 3 days into a course of antibiotics, I still feel like one ear is stuffed with cotton balls.  At least my normal loud ear-buzzing has dulled to a low roar because of the temporary deafness in the one ear.  My substandard hearing  reminds me of a funny video my son told me about on YouTube.  Let's end on a lighter note, shall we?


If you'd like to participate in Fave Five Friday yourself, head over to Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story to read how you can join in the fun.

Friday, April 22, 2011

PawPaw's Little Shadow


Somebody's really smitten with their PawPaw.  Little Mika follows him all around when he is in the room, waits by the gate when he heads down to his computer room, and asks about him when he goes off to work.


Part of the fun could be that he gives tremendous piggyback rides around the house, as evidenced by the happy smile on Mika's face.


 He likes to get down on the floor on her level and has infinite patience in explaining things to her.


He makes a great jungle gym for climbing on , jumping on, and having pillow fights with.  He even is good-natured when she uses her PawPaw to demonstrate where noses are.

Here is PawPaw's nose!

Yesterday, Jason and PawPaw were outside working on the lawn and we found Mika glued to the window trying to catch a glimpse of her PawPaw.  The Commander said that he glanced over at the house and saw her and her nose was plastered flat against the window.


Then her face just lit up when he came over by the window and waved at her.  It was so cute to watch.  It reminds me of how much I loved my own grandpa.  I only had the one, since my father's dad was already deceased by the time I was born.  Mika is lucky in that she has two wonderful grandfathers AND a great-grandpa, too.  It just illustrates how dear the bond between grandchildren and grandparents can be, even from this early age.  Happy grandparenting!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Where is PawPaw?

Faster, PawPaw, faster!
Mika is having so much fun with her PawPaw.  She is fascinated by his beard.  And she really enjoys horsey rides around the house.  She loves walking over and getting a hug or a quick cuddle.  So she really feels lost when PawPaw disappears occasionally.

PawPaw, are you down there?
When he disappears, he usually has slipped down to the basement to work on his computer.  Mika has wised up to this and has started going over to the baby gate to see if she can catch a glimpse of him.  Last evening, she was quite persistent in trying to entice PawPaw back upstairs.

I know you're down there!
Hmm, there has to be a way I can climb over this thing.

Who, me?  I wasn't doing anything.

Mika can even multi-task as she tries to get her PawPaw to come back upstairs.  When it was time to brush her teeth, she brushed and tried to figure out the gate at the same time.

Wait, I think I hear someone coming.
PawPaw, is that you?
Hooray!
All that effort finally paid off.  PawPaw couldn't resist his little charmer and had to come up and join us all for some fun before it was time for this little sweet pea's bedtime.
 

Monday, April 18, 2011

Raising a Knitter - Step One

Pick Your Yarn
Since my granddaughter is 16 months old now, I thought it was time to begin her training as a knitter.  The first step is to get her comfortable being around yarn and handling yarn.  With that in mind, I coaxed her over to my wall of "yarn stash" (it didn't take much coaxing), and proceeded to hand her one ball of yarn at a time.  I let her feel each one and squish each one, checking to see if there was any that she would just naturally bond with.  There was a clear winner - a leftover ball of Madelinetosh worsted yarn.  The niblet has good taste in yarn.

Invent a game
Right away, Mika came up with a game to play with her ball of yarn.  She unraveled just enough of the yarn to have a string to grasp and then proceeded to run down the hallway with it.

Dip it in the Dog Bed
After a run down the hall, Mika bobbed the yarn ball up and down, swinging it along through the living room and then popped it into the dog's bed.  Once that was accomplished, she did an about-face and headed back down the hall.

See how many ways you can swing the yarn.

All of us adults sat in our chairs and watched and laughed as the little one ran back and forth between my knitting/spinning room and the living room with her ball of yarn.  She didn't vary one bit.  She'd head into the yarn room, twirl around, head back down the hall with the yarn, into the living room, over to the dog bed, dip the yarn into the bed, twirl around, and then drag the yarn back to the yarn room.

Concentrate on the feel of the yarn!
We must have watched the back-and-forth parade of yarn for a good ten minutes when Mika decided to add a little variation to the routine.


She took a detour through the dining room and into the kitchen.  Once in the kitchen, she would twirl around and head on back to the hall and on to the yarn room where the entire lengthened routine would begin again.

Nothing gets between a girl and her yarn.
Obviously, this all required intense concentration.  Not even Fresca the Wonder Dog was allowed to distract our little miss from her self-appointed fiber rounds.


Well, there WAS one thing that finally got her to drop the yarn and rest.  Mommy held out a handful of sunflower seeds and that got our girl's attention.  Yes, yarn AND food......a granddaughter after this Nana's heart.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Five Ways to Exercise with a Dog Bed


It's Friday and this week's Fave Five are brought to you by my little granddaughter, Mika who has arrived for an Easter visit along with her mommy and soon her daddy.

These babies are always wanting to be walked!
She gets plenty of exercise walking her babies around the house in the doll buggy but she still has plenty of energy so Mika has invented another way to get exercise with something that many of you might already have around the house......a dog bed.

The one-armed, sideways push-up
1.  The one-armed, sideways push-up - To help you get rid of stubborn "love handles", put your top half into a dog bed, flip onto your side and then, holding one leg off the ground, do a push-up using one hand only.

For fat necks
2.  The head lift - For the more energetic, after you have done your side arm push-ups, continue to flip your body over and balance our weight on your head and one leg and do push-ups using your head for support.

The back arch
3.  The back arch - Now, borrowing a move from yoga, flip completely unto your back and, supporting your self with your arms at your sides and your tippy-toes, arch your back like a cat but in a reverse arch, forming the letter "C".

The bicycle
4.  The Bicycle - Now put your legs up in the air and "pedal" like crazy until you get tired or can't feel your feet any longer....whichever comes first.

The modified lotus
5.  Modified Lotus - Don't forget to allow time to assume a lotus position so that you can center your breathing and think positive thoughts.

Stare-off
6.  The dismount - Finally, when your exercise time is complete (or when the actual owner of the dog bed arrives to claim it), vault over the edge and congratulate yourself on a great exercise session.

To join in on the Fave Five posting fun, mosey over to Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story and click on Mr. Linky to add your own post.