Category Archives: Blogging

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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.

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Maintaining Orbit

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Like a moon orbiting around its planet, parents of adult children have to maintain the best distance to keep from crashing down like a meteor or rogue asteroid. The parent isn’t guided by any laws of physics. They have to find their way by heart. This is especially true when you become a grandparent. I have memories of the time I was a new mother and how I wanted to be in control of my own nest. I was getting to know my baby and learning how to be comfortable as his mother. I have always said that when I was the mother in law, I would be very sensitive to boundaries. Now I am finding out what it is like to actually be the mother-in-law and paternal grandmother. It is a balancing act because you want to be involved with your children and grandchildren but you don’t want to be overbearing or intrusive. I have to learn how to be a grandmother just like I did to be a mother. I have to accept that I probably will make mistakes. I am starting to understand how my own mother-in-law may have felt.

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The Journey Begins

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I started my grandmother journey last year when my son and daughter-in-law told us they were expecting a baby this February. At the beginning I thought my task was to adjust to the idea of becoming a grandmother and to pick a grandmotherly name. I did not want to be Grandma, Granny, or Nana. I chose Mémé which is Grandma or Granny in French. Before I had a chance to get used to my new name or role, my beautiful grandson was born prematurely. It has been a different journey from the one I expected. My grandson has had to stay in NICU while he grows and gets strong enough to come home. He was not ready to meet his grandparents except at a distance. In the early days, he had to rest without a lot of stimulation. When he was first born I thought it was good for him to hear my voice talking, reading, and singing to him. But I found out this is not really beneficial for very premature babies. The stimulation is too jarring for their developing nervous systems. You have to the learn the proper way to touch the babies because their skin is very sensitive. You can’t hold them because they need to be kept warm in the incubator. My husband and I were pretty much just viewing him through the walls of the incubator. Sometimes the incubator was completely covered with a blanket. Again, this is done to cut down on stimulation.  It is to make the environment quiet as if he were still inside the womb. The nurses would lift up a section of the blanket so we could see him when we visited. I did find all the restrictions frustrating at first but understand the need for them now. Having to keep my distance and being a bit removed from the situation has caused a sense of helplessness at times. I couldn’t help my grandson or his parents very much. There wasn’t much for me to do but to stand by and be supportive in any way I could. He has grown and is getting closer to coming home. In recent times, we have been able to touch him more, talk to him, and hold his pacifier in. Soon we will be able to hold him. I will be able to read and sing to him. I hope he doesn’t mind if I am a little off key.