Back Again

I took a longer break than I intended from blogging but I'm hopefully back now. 

We had a lovely time visiting with daughter and Baby A. She is so funny! She has a really good vocabulary for 2 and a bit and is quite the chatterbox a lot of times. I love how active her imagination is too. It's so lovely to watch. She did remember me! It was so funny. We were there waiting when she was picked up from daycare. My daughter told her that there was a surprise waiting. She came into the main room and looked in the kitchen and said Where's the surprise? She hadn't noticed us sitting there in the living room. Daughter told her where to look and she saw me and ran over to me, jumping up and we had a really long hug. Brought tears to my eyes. 

The week went by really quickly, too quickly. Once again, I'm wishing we were a lot closer. I feel as though we are missing out on so much. I wished I could talk to Mum or Mother-in-law about how they felt being the far away grandparent and how they coped, but they are both gone and it feels really lonely. I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy the time that we had. 

The two of us doing cheesy smiles. 

Back tomorrow! 

Back

We had a lovely visit with Baby A and her family. She has grown so much! We blew lots of bubbles together and looked out the window to the birds and the squirrels. She's starting to say a few words and she would wave to the squirrels and say (her version of) Hi, Mr. Squirrel. It was adorable. We did go outside for a little while but it was quite hot so we couldn't be out there for long. On the cooler days we took her to a local park and Lake Michigan. She wasn't a big fan of the water, but she did like playing in the sand. 

It was hard to say goodbye. This week was definitely a roller coaster of emotions - happy to see daughter and Baby A, sad to say goodbye, happy to spend time with them. This week was also the anniversary of when we lost Mum. Four years. I can't believe that much time has passed! She would have really adored Aurora. She always enjoyed the grandchildren and Great-grandchildren. My sister went to Felixstowe to her bench and laid some flowers, she took a bunch from me. I always find it a really emotional time of year. I'm trying to keep busy so I don't think about missing baby A and Mum!

Poor Baby A, she had a runny nose the whole time they were here and later in the week a low fever. Apparently, she has hand, foot and mouth disease again! Daughter and SIL were going to take her to daycare on Friday (they left on Thursday) so they could have a day out together. This is when they were told the slight rash she had (that we all thought was because of teething dribble) was hand, foot and mouth. The daycare had a case last week that they didn't bother to tell daughter about! She wasn't too happy. 

Here are a couple of photos

Flowers at Mum's bench

Baby A trying on her Mum's glasses

The banana split Baby A and I shared - yum! We did make a bit of a mess lol

Sierra (top) and Sasha say travelling is such hard work! 

Sigh. Now it's time to get back into the groove for a little while!

End of the Month

As I write this it's the last day of May. How the month has flown by! The spring and summer months always seem to do that. It's just winter that drags on by. The weather here has been up and down. One day I'm wearing summer clothes, the next I'm putting on my gloves when I'm going for my walk in the morning. Perhaps June will see things evening out a little more. We haven't put in the window air cons yet and usually by this time we have. Not that I'm complaining. The heat was on longer than usual so the bills were higher for longer. The longer we can keep the air con off the more the bill will even out. It is supposed to be hot Monday and Tuesday (80+F/30+C) but then will cool down again to more manageable, open windows only temps. 

I've been walking each day, getting my dailies done and, well, honestly not a whole lot more. I am behind on so many things, that it's all feeling a little out of control. I am taking tomorrow to stay home and get some things done. I think I need to re-evaluate how I spend my time. At the beginning of the year, I did say that I wanted to work on time management this year and, although I feel as though I am getting some things done, I still feel as though I'm not using my time as wisely as I could. I still want to give myself time to enjoy my passions, but I also want to be more productive!

A few things that have made me smile this week

Somebody left this painted stone on the trail this week

Flowers

Last sunrise on our camping trip

Baby A made me smile this week. We've had a couple of video chats. She is certainly blossoming with her personality right now. A little goofy, independent, a bit adventurous with a good imagination. I hope she continues to be so confident :)

What made you smile this week? 

What has made you smile this week? 

Rainy Day

My first day back in Michigan and it rains. One thing I did really like about Minnesota was the amount of sunshine there was! Lots of quite cold days, but plentiful sunshine. I really was looking forward to doing an early sunrise, but it was not to be. I did manage to pop out for a quick walk in between rain showers. Tomorrow is supposed to be better!

Confession time - I am not all unpacked or sorted. My son was off work today and was doing his washing. I'll get mine done tomorrow. I still have to put away all the things I took with me too. I did get all the post/mail sorted today. I also went and got a few groceries, at least a couple of days of meals planned. I have to get back into the meal planning thing. 

I'm missing Baby A. She really did give lovely cuddles. I'll be a bit more on top of things (hopefully) by tomorrow. 

A photo I took of Baby A and Sierra on Saturday for my #1day12pics. I was playing with Baby A on the floor on her playmat and Sierra came and laid down right next to her, not even moving when Baby A flailed her arms. Adorable. 

Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile 65/366

Was really lovely to be back at Asylum Lake despite the weather! The beavers have been really busy. They even managed to bring one tree down on top of their lodge!

Things Don't Always Go To Plan

 I was going to do a post today about plans and goals for the New Year, but I won't be doing that post today. 

Drum Roll....I'm a Nana!!!

Daughter had her baby girl yesterday morning. She went into labour on New Years Day and went into the hospital that same day. Baby A arrived yesterday morning. She is lovely. I'm not sharing photos, just because I'm not sure they want me to. I was very anxious all New Year's Day waiting for news. Son-in-law kept me up to date with what was happening, and I was really grateful for that!

I've been busy dog sitting. They take a lot of energy! The new family comes home tomorrow so we'll see how the dogs do with the new baby. SIL stopped by today and brought home a hat that the baby has worn so that the dogs know her smell. I went out for a walk today. I needed to get out of the house for a bit. It was quite chilly but it was certainly nice to walk. 

Oh, I should say baby was 8lb 8oz and 20 inches long! 

2/366 Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile

Seeing blue skies while anxiously waiting for news of the delivery. 

3/366

I've been happy dancing all of yesterday and today because of the good news. So relieved! I can't wait to meet her tomorrow!

Dancing on air. Back tomorrow.