Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

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Grandma’s Chicken Soup

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Some ingredients for Chicken Soup

My mother in law taught me how to make homemade chicken soup when I was first married. I don’t make it regularly as I am not into cooking so much in recent years. I do like to make it for holiday dinners. I am out of practice because I was forgetting some of the ingredients. Tonight I will be taking my chicken soup and matzo balls over to my grandson’s other grandmother’s house. She is graciously hosting the dinner. This will be my grandson’s first Rosh Hashanah. He makes it a very special year. ❤

Gavin

 

7

Grandparents Day

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Happy Grandparents Day to all the grandparents in the world. My husband and I are celebrating our first Grandparents Day today. We got to see our little grandson last night at dinner. Of course we think he is the best grandchild in the world and very, very cute.  ❤  ❤

Happy to meet you
Great smile
I’ve got 2 teeth!

 

 

15

Early Bird Catches The Baby Smiling

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I gave birth to my second blog,Grandmotherly.blog, in June of this year. I decided I wanted a second blog to write about my experiences as a new grandmother. Today’s prompt words fit in well with this blog so I wanted to write my post here. I haven’t written very much about being a grandmother for a bit. My grandson came home about 3 weeks ago from the NICU. He was born very early and had to stay in the hospital until he was big and strong enough. He’s been a fighter from his birth until now, through ups and downs. Things have been hectic at his house as he and his parents have been getting used to the new routine. My daughter in law told me it would be better if I visited him in the mornings when he is most energetic and happy. So today I went over about mid-morning and got to see him in action. He is very active and is making good eye contact and returning smiles. It was hard to get a picture because when he sees the phone pointing at him he won’t always smile, and then his arms and legs are in motion so much the picture can be blurry.  It is so great to see him with so much energy. I find it is different being a grandmother compared to being a mother. I have the joy of holding him and playing with him and not so much stress as when I was a new mother.

Daughter in Law took this one
Almost a smile
Lucky catch of smile
Had to get photo of cute feet

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Today’s prompt is “birth/berth.”

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Visits With Baby

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I had a chance to spend more time with my grandson recently. I am happy to report he is doing well and becoming much more aware of his surroundings and the people in it. He is active in moving all extremities and likes to grab for his mobile hanging over the side of his crib. I know he doesn’t recognize me yet but look forward to the day when he does and is happy to see me.

He is still in the NICU but plans are being put in place for him to come home. All these months it has been like we lived in cities far away from each other because he was restricted many times from having visitors, especially during the winter flu season.  I would get texts, photos, videos, and occasional calls from his parents to tell me about his progress. So when I visit I feel like the out of town relative. He looks at me with his big eyes as if to say, “Who are you?”

Featured image of ‘baby holding hand’ via Pixabay.com

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Everyone’s Gone To The Moon

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I have been thinking a bit about what the future will be like for my grandson. Will he be traveling to the moon or other planets likes Mars. I have read NASA predictions that humans will be orbiting Mars by 2030.  That is in thirteen years and not a long time from now. Stephen Hawking is saying we must move off of Earth within the next 200-500 years to ensure human survival and start a colony on the moon within the next 30 years. He says it is likely we will outgrow our planet and run out of resources and that there is a probability of an asteroid impact or the negative effects of global climate change will cause our destruction.  It is alarming and makes me sad to think that someday our life on Earth may be only a memory. I hope he is wrong and that we find ways to turn things around. This makes it even more precious to share with my grandson all the things I find so beautiful here on Earth. Even though the future may be unrecognizable to me, some things will last throughout time. Like the love of parents for their children and grandparents for their grandchildren.

Featured image of Mars exploration via NASA.

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Grandmothers Can Be Over-Connected

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There are many benefits of being connected to the internet and social media. Intellectual stimulation with access to the world and to a sea of information on a variety of topics. The ability to keep in touch with friends and family on Facebook and be reminded of their birthdays.( I like the reminders because I am not good about remembering birth dates.) I really like the ability to do online shopping for myself and others. It is great to be able to order wedding, birthday, and holiday gifts and have them shipped to the recipients. I can go online to buy books or reserve them at the library. The internet and social media keeps me connected to the world and decreases isolation.The downside is it can be a big distraction and eat up a huge chunk of my time. It can keep me sitting in front of my computer for hours. Posting blogs, getting responses, reading other blogs, liking and commenting on them, checking out followers, researching information and images for my writing…it can go on and on.  I go clicking around from email, Digital news, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, WordPress in an ever growing spiral. I know there are apps that can track the time I spend on the internet but I think I already know it is too much time. Now don’t think I never go out of the house. But as I have decided to decrease the time I spend tutoring and stopped volunteering, in part so I have more flexibility to be available for my grandson, I realize I need to plan for other daytime activities that will draw me out of the house.

Do you think you spend way too much time with your computer or cell phone? Have you found ways to limit the time you spend connected?

Featured Image of Anny Ahlers and her computer via Wikimedia.

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Like A Grandma

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What is a grandmother like? How would you describe a typical Grandma? This post is inspired by a modern trend of some millennials wanting to be ‘like a grandma’ as reported on Senior Planet .org in their post Grandmas vs. Wannabes. According to their post, it is hip to be like a grandma. They compare the traits of some hipsters with the stereotypes about real grandmas in a cute diagram:

Grandmas vs. Wannabes by Senior Planet.org

Some other traits they listed are being a homebody and doing crafts.

Let me add some more stereotypes:

  • Likes to cook and bake
  • Wear dowdy clothes and sensible shoes
  • Lives in a shoe ( ok just kidding)

Some of these traits do apply to me but not just because I have become a real grandma. I do like to have a lot of quiet time at home and I like cats but do not have one. I drink more coffee than tea. I don’t like reminiscing about ‘the good old days.’ I don’t knit or do crafts but would like to take an art class, like watercolors, one of these days. I don’t wear stiletto heals,(see my post about my fall due to high heel wedge sandals), but like to wear fashionable shoes and clothes. I don’t like to cook or bake except for making occasional holiday dinners. And even when I make special dinners I don’t do my own baking, I usually order from a bakery. If you are a grandmother and truly enjoy knitting, crafts, cooking, and baking, I am not putting it down. Just saying that we are all individuals and not stereotypes. And I think I am pretty hip in my own way.

How would you describe a grandma? If you are one, how would you describe yourself?

Image of ‘Grandmother’ via Pixabay.com

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Up And Down The Rollercoaster

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The progress of babies born very premature is not in straight line up. It is more oscillating and has been compared to a rollercoaster ride. There can be complications, and setbacks are very common. When my grandson was first born, I thought about how many weeks he needed to go before he would be home. It seemed like a long space of time where he would have to avoid complications. I read about some of the common conditions that premature babies are vulnerable to, and I did not want him to have any of them. I resolved to block a lot of it out because I did not want to live in fear. It would do no good to live in dread of what might never happen. I wanted to be positive when I was around him. This wall I had built, as a defense mechanism against my fears, did not protect me when he had complications or setbacks.  He would be making progress and I felt secure. Then, he would have a setback and I found my wall crumbling.  Even though I had told myself to take things day by day, I have found it just as hard each time there are setbacks. Through all this I have seen the resilience of my grandson. He has been fighting back against all challenges with his parents right there by his side. I am with them all the way.