On a lighter note…

it was really nice to spend so much time with Mom and Dad, and they were certainly glad to see Jude.  He was glad to see them too.

It was also nice to see everyone who came to pay respects for Grandma.  Here is Danny, Grandpa, and Pam.

Grandpa, Susie, George, Nan, Dad, Mom, Katie

Bob and Mary Brunken

The night before Dad left we had a birthday party for Mom at Aunt Susie’s.  Happy 25th Mom!

An unexpected visit to say goodbye

My Aunt Susie had to have a second surgery in December to fix her hip, so my grandmother and grandfather came back to Texas to take care of her during her recovery.  Grandma Barbara got sick with Pneumonia near the end of their stay and both she and Grandpa Ray were admitted to the hospital.  The next day, right when the hospital staff were about to move her into Grandpa’s room with him, Grandma Barbara passed away.

I was totally shocked when I got the phone call from Mom and Dad that afternoon.  We all were.  I had visited G & G several times since they had been here, and though Grandma was looking thin, it was always Grandpa Ray who had been in and out of the hospital the last few years, not grandma.  Mom and Dad made plans to fly out the next day and stay with us, so I cleaned up the apartment, went grocery shopping and then headed up to Allen that night to be with Grandpa Ray.

It was nice to provide some distraction for him.  It made me think back to a few years ago when Mike’s grandma died.  We had only been married just over a year and honestly I didn’t know her that well, especially since her health had started declining right after we were married, but I cried every time I thought about it (I was still taking the pill then) because I would imagine what my life would be like without Mike and know that that’s what Mike’s grandfather was feeling.  And there was Grandpa Ray, in a hospital bed in a room by himself with nothing to think about except his wife not being there with him anymore.  He told me stories of his life – some about him and Grandma Barbara, some about his parents and his childhood, some about college.  It was sweet and sad, and I realized I really didn’t know anything about him.  I talked about Jude and played him some recordings of his piano playing from their visit my senior year of high school.  Mostly, though, I just listened.

He also told me about that day.  That as they wheeled Grandma past his room and down the the ICU she told him she loved him, and he said it back, and that was the last time he saw her.  That both times he tried to call her afterward, she couldn’t even talk.  That she had just been moving around her room that day before she was suddenly gone. 

Mom and Dad showed up the next day, along with Ray’s son Danny and his wife, Pam.  According to Grandpa Ray, Grandma wanted to be cremated and didn’t want a funeral.  Dad wanted some family members in town to be able to come pay their respect for Grandma, so he convinced Grandpa to allow a “celebration of Grandma’s life” that Sunday.  We all gathered at Aunt Susie’s and got to see Bob Brunken and his daughter Mary (good friends and neighbors of Grandma from when Dad from little) and George and Nan Alexander (Grandma’s cousin and his wife).

Dad stayed a full week, during which time we took many trips up to Allen, went out to lunch with some of their old friends (the Jones’) and visited Bobbi Crawford (Grandma’s close cousin growing up born just four days after Grandma).  We also received a thorough retelling of the day’s events from Aunt Susie, who was in the room with her when Grandma passed.  Grandpa left Tuesday and went back to Florida with his son, with plans to meet Dad up in Astoria in April to go through Grandma’s things. 

I’ve found myself really grateful to be in Dallas many times since we moved here.  I’ve been here through both of Aunt Susie’s surgeries and gotten to help her recover when I could.  I’ve been able to spend time with cousins I didn’t get to see much growing up.  I’ve been visited by my parents several times, mostly because of the extra incentive of other family in town.  And I got to spend more time with Grandma during her last few months of life than I have in six years.

Goodbye Grandma.  Love you.

The past month and some crazy eyes

I know I’ve been a bad blogger.  Here are some pictures of Jude from the past month.

Jude’s redneck stroller (according to Dad):

Directions:

1. Place baby in bucket.

2. Drag bucket around.

This is a good one

One more round

Before I move on, I just wanted to post some more of my favorite pictures from Christmas.

Jude laughs

We haven’t gotten a really good video of it yet, but this one will do.

Crazy kitty

I love baby animals, but after holding James’ new kitty the first night there and barely being able to fall asleep from my nose running so badly, I decided not to hold her the rest of the trip.  She was still pretty entertaining to watch, though.

We gave her a bath my first night there.

Her permanent resting place until Curt built her a little carpet house.  I didn’t sit in that chair the whole time I was there.  Then again, I don’t think anyone else did either.  

Attacking Ashley’s foot during a game of Oh Hell.

Zoolights

Before Christmas we went to the Zoolights show at Point Defiance Zoo to see some Christmas lights.  I don’t think Amy and Curt will ever go again.  Between the traffic getting there, finding parking, and trying to keep track of kids in the dark in packed crowds of people along the walkways, it really wasn’t worth the trip or the money.  And we didn’t even get to see any animals, which really disappointed the littles.  I thought I’d still blog some pictures from the night anyway.

We met up on our way there with the Penrods at their favorite mexican place.  Their kids are so cute.

The lights didn’t seem to be organized in any particular way which made them less than spectacular.

And an awesome picture of Curt for good measure.

3 months

Jude turned 3 months on the 20th while we were in Seattle and I forgot to blog it, but here it is.  Thanks for the pictures, Ash. 

Jude at three months:

1. Is sleeping 9-10 hours at night but is taking naps as short as 20 minutes to as long as about 45 minutes.  Suggestions, anyone?  Please?

2. Is really starting to discover his hands but is not interested in reaching out to grab things at all yet.

3. Still loves watching tv.  Have I mentioned that yet?

4. Giggles.  Especially while getting his diaper changed.  It is the cutest thing.

5. Loves his binky when he’s unhappy and won’t take it when he is happy.  Which is how it should work anyway, right?

 

I love this boy.

Parker paid more attention to “Baby Choot” than any other cousin while we were there, so of course he needed a three-month picture with her too!

And one with her dog.

Christmas

I love Christmas.  Jude, Mike and I went up to Seattle to hang out with Amy and Ashley and their families.  Things I want to remember about this Christmas:

1. Parker pronouncing Jude as “Choot” and drawing him approximately 100 pictures every day.

2. Dally’s toothy grin.

3. James loving on his new kitty

4. Me not being able to hold the kitty without blowing my nose for the rest of the day.

5. Amy changing her mind every day about whether she can handle keeping the kitty and having kitty poop in the house.

6. Doing every Star Wars Disney puzzle in the Leonards’ game closet.

7. Amy and Ashley reading the kids Christmas stories every night (Ian picked How the Grinch Stole Christmas every single night, and I realized how much I love that book).

8. Jude hanging out in the corner of the couch watching his cousins run around like the crazies they are.

9. Cleaning up after the Crazies every night.

10. Bathing Jude in the bathroom sink and him looking at himself in the mirror the whole time.

11.  Boxing the kids up to send them to “Grandma at the lake”.

12. Amy frantically trying to finish the quilt she made me.

13. All of the presents being in Amy’s closet and the boys not even considering looking in there to find out what they were.

14. Wrapping a million presents.

15.  The littles asking when they get to open a present all day Christmas Eve.

16.  Building new lego sets Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas morning.

17. The awesome lego advent calendar.

18. Sister time.

19. My family getting to meet and loving on Jude.

20. Finding out about the newest member of our family on the way in only five months!