Sunday, May 29, 2016

More Photos, Less Talk


For Mom, who has been patiently waiting for photos.  Last week in a nutshell.



Fin's first 2016 swim in our pool...



(He spotted a lizard on the screen roof.)





A beautiful belated Mother's Day gift from Jay and Colleen...


You may remember that was the weekend of the "plague."  (Thank goodness that's all passed!)





An early birthday gift for Meg....



The back piercing is the new one.



Her shirt very appropriately reads "Happy Camper."  :-)






And finally, Clay's graduation banquet for his International 1baccalaureate class of 2016....






This little play on words says it all.  We're very proud of Clay!!!







Friday, May 27, 2016

A Typical Grandma Day


Because I'm hopelessly behind, my theme for the next several posts will be "more photos, less talk." Today I'll focus on last week's Grandma Day.



Fin's morning ritual while I get Meg's lunch ready for school.





Quiet time hanging out with "the girls."






A trip to the mall where we finished up with some time on the "rides."  As I posted on Instagram, #noquartersnoclue.  :-)  He was sooooo happy!









Waiting outdoors at my local coffee shop while Meg gets tutored in math.






Looking for lizards at the school.






And finally, bath time before bed.  (I just love this photo.)




It was a good day.




Thursday, May 19, 2016

Countdown...T minus 20


The trip to Europe that Meg and I signed up for waaaay back in October is finally growing near. Today's countdown is 20 days until departure and I have spent most of this week preparing but I'm far from finished.

Our flight will be leaving Miami on June 9th headed first to NY and then on to Ireland where we will be staying for the first five days.  After that we'll be taking a ferry to Wales for a one day visit and then it's on to Scotland for an additional two days.  We'll finish with a week in England, the tour concluding in London.  Our scheduled arrival back to the states is set for the evening of the 23rd.  

It's going to awesome and tiring at the same time but I can't wait!!!  If anyone has any suggestions on what to bring please let me know.




Friday, May 13, 2016

My Day in the QZ


I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles for an update on my day in the QZ.  *wink*

Fin and I had a wonderful day on Monday.  He was still on the mend but, in my opinion, no longer contagious.  (That said I was still extremely careful, wearing gloves when changing him and wiping down nearly every surface prior to touching.) Because he was still a bit "puny" he wanted to be held a lot and I enjoyed every single minute.  Fin is normally a man on the go who only cuddles when taking his morning and evening bottle so this was a rare treat.

But on that day we had a lot of this going on...




Normally we only do TV in the evenings but Grandma made an executive decision and we vegged to one of Meg's former favorites, The Wonder Pets, for a good chunk of the morning.  (I think Bubble Guppies may have some new competition!)  I just love how he always places his hand behind his head when chillin'!

He also enjoyed sitting next to me on the couch, again, something he rarely does for long.



But seriously, sometimes only the boob tube and Gerber Cheese Puffs will do, right?

He did get a bit more energetic as time wore on but all in all, it was a fairly laid back day.  Come bedtime I sat down with him to play some blocks.  Herein was my downfall.  (Are you guessing the end of my story yet?)





I hesitated before touching them knowing full well that there was no way I could Clorox wipe every one of them down before his bedtime.  But then I realized sick toddlers are probably not playing Mega Blocks so we proceeded to have a great time.   I was amazed at his dexterity.









I was so impressed with his construction skills that I shot off a quick text and photo to Jay.  His response?

"I worked with his stacking with him while we were all sick.  :)"


Cue the music....dum, de, dum, dum, dum...followed by a MAJOR groan on my part.

Yup, you guessed it. At 2 AM, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I was sick.  Sick, sick, sick as in bed (and bathroom) ridden for the entire day.  But 24 hours is a far cry from their 72 hour ordeals so I consider myself quite lucky.

That said, I want it known that it is my firm belief that I would not have gotten sick at all had my family not totally and shamelessly thrown me under the bus. Fin was no longer contagious.  He did not get me sick.  Banishing me into the Quarantine Zone (instead of allowing me to watch him here) is what made me get sick.  (Are you sensing a bit of resentment?  You should be.)  So even as I'm typing this I'm waiting patiently to see if the old adage of "what goes around, comes around" rings true.  I don't wish my family sick but their decision to vote me off the island could very well backfire on them.



Sunday, May 8, 2016

Welcome to the QZ


It's been one hellava week around here.  I've been fighting off a cold which has yet to take full hold but is making me feel extremely tired.  I've slept a good portion of the last several days and still am not feeling the greatest.

My son's family, on the other hand, has been dealing with something far, far worse.  After a normal day of play, Fin began vomiting early Wednesday evening.  Within a few hours it was accompanied by diarrhea.  In a conversation with Jay, he told me that Fin's most recent diaper ranked #2 on his list of all time foul smells.  He then proceeded to tell me about his #1 experience with a former patient. I'll spare you the gory details.  In fact, I wish he'd spared me.

As you can probably guess by Friday morning they were all sick.  I was subbing that day so was unable to run any errands for them until later.  Apparently there was something they really needed because Jay set off for the store but not before leaving instructions for Colleen that she was to call Publix and have them check the restroom if he hadn't returned in 45 minutes.  UGH!  Thankfully he did make it home without incident.  If you're a parent, I know you can relate. They have been officially christened.

Since Friday they have both missed at least one day of work apiece.  Jay did go in this morning but was back home two hours later.  Fin is still having watery stools and not eating much but otherwise doing much better.  I was scheduled to have him tonight since they are both planning to work tomorrow.  I made arrangements to pick him up later this evening but my family has now "voted me off the island."  In other words, I've been banished to the QZ (Quarantine Zone).  I will now be going over to their house around 6 AM tomorrow to watch Fin there.  I plan to go armed with a face mask, gloves and Clorox wipes.  I'm thinking maybe my Dexter ensemble from a past Halloween may be in order. (What do you think?  LOL!)




Meg has already told me that I will be in isolation for twenty-four hours once returning home.   Trust me, staying in my room for an entire day with no one to bug me sounds perfectly okay with me.  :-)


In other news, Meg surprised me with the cutest "cake" this morning for Mother's Day.  She and I were at Publix recently when I spied some lemon crumb donuts on the Entenmann's display.  I am the only one in the house who loves lemon baked goods so I rarely, if ever, buy them and of course, passed them up on this occasion as well.  She obviously took note because here is what she presented me this morning, complete with a hand carved strawberry rosette.




I thought it was an extremely thoughtful gift.   And for those wondering, I ate two and put the remainder in the freezer.  :-)

My plan for the remainder of my Mother's Day is to make a run to Target that I was too tired to do yesterday and then rest up for my shift in the QZ tomorrow. Wish me luck.  I'm gonna need it.










Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Focus on Finley

It's time to share some recent photos of Fin.  We just love having him so close.


Yeah, Grandma spoils him.  But look how happy he is!!!  :-)






He loves to pick and eat mulberries off the tree that Randy recently planted for Meg.  






He wasn't very happy however when we'd cleaned the bush of its ripest berries.



Very ripe berries, indeed.  Maybe someday Meg will actually get to eat some.  *blush*





This last one was taken just this morning.   Notice that he's wearing the little Converse that I bought him a couple of months ago.  Adorable!  (I see a lot of Jay in him in this particular photo.)



Cutest Little Man Ever.