Celebrating the life of Granny

Last week was a whirlwind and looking back now, I don't know how I got through it.
It was VBS week. Zeta (our dog) had ACL surgery. Those things were just "life" kinds of things but something much more profound happened. We lost someone very precious to us. Nathan's Granny (and mine, too) passed away on Tuesday, June 22 at the age of 87. She was not in the best of health and when she was most recently hospitalized we quickly knew that she wouldn't bounce back this time. Her kidneys were failing and she was becoming more and more frail.

Nathan and Daniel were so close to her. She was a huge part of their lives. She was always on the go and she took them everywhere. She always said she "lived for her grand-kids" and anyone that knew her could see that.

Nathan said it best on his FB status....
"Yesterday we laid to rest one of the most strong willed yet gentle people that I have ever had the honor of knowing and am proud to have been able to call her my Granny.
When my brother and I were young she took us all over the place. She was a grandmother like no other. As she grew older she would always say "you go ahead darling and I will catch up" and boy did we go, either out to eat, to the coast, or even cross country. In my heart there is a special place filled with nothing but love for Granny. I want to close this thought simply by saying that though I will always hold on to you Granny, now it is your turn to go ahead and I will catch up later, With Great Love missing you already, Nathan."

I'm so thankful for Granny. She was monumental in molding Nathan's character. She did a fabulous job. She taught him right from wrong, she gave him an appreciation for the arts and theater, she told him about Jesus and she loved him with all her heart. There were many more wonderful things about her. I only wish Amelia had her for a little longer. We wanted to record Granny speaking to Amelia but we never got around to it. That makes us sad but we did get a few pictures of them together. Even though Amelia didn't get to spend many days on this earth with her, I know they are connected eternally in spirit.

A Morning at the Zoo

Last Saturday morning the weather was breezy and cool so we got "up and at 'em" early and headed out for breakfast and some fun at the Zoo. Our family pass is great for those short 2 hour morning trips to the zoo.

After seeing the elephants, frogs, birds, butterflies, hippos, and rhinos it was time to go. Our little monkey was pooped! She couldn't even make it out of zoo without falling asleep on Daddy's shoulder. I love that sweet face! I could look at it all day.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we went up to Georgetown to see Dad and Ludi. We had a nice relaxing weekend. We went to the Georgetown Country Club for lunch and to swim.
This is her new float that her Grandpa bought for her. When she sits in it, her little legs kick like crazy. She really likes the water and splashing around. She has 3 cute little bathing suits and she's gotten some good use out of them already between visiting Grandpa and our time in Mexico.

9 Months Old

Today [Well, "today" WAS May 24th] Miss Amelia is 9 months old. All of a sudden, she's this big baby! So precious in every way and doing so many new things.

*She's crawling all over the place
*Pulling up on everything
*Eating just about anything we give her
*Loves to play "So Big!"
*Belly laughs hard when we startle her or when the faucet is set to shower mode during bath time
*Still taking 2 naps but they're short! She's so tired at 7:30pm and goes down with no problems. Most of the time
*Sleeps until 6:35. Almost on the dot.
*Loves going for walks in the neighborhood
*Bites her mommy during feedings. We'll be weening her soon. :)
*Just cut her 3rd tooth. It's the top left FANG. Looks so stinkin' cute!
*Loves her grandparents!
As you can see, it was really hard to get a picture of her with her "9". She just wanted to crawl all over Becki's house.

Mother's Day 2010

My first Mother's Day was wonderful and before time flies away any faster I want to share with you some memories of my first Mother's day with my sweet Amelia.

We went to church in the morning and I found a sweet message from Nathan and Amelia in our Mother's Day tribute. After church we went to visit Sylvia. Amelia played with her little FP house we keep over there for her. From there, we went over to Rose's house. Rose is Tommy's sister in law. She has a beautiful house in Medina and we met Mom, Mamo and Kelly over there. Here's our big Mother's Day picture.
Nathan made me a beautiful bracelet with Amelia's name on it. It's beautiful and I love the beads he picked out.He's really got a talent when it comes to jewelry. Remember, he designed my ring...

Ahhhhh- turns to C-R-A-P!

We're home now and I'm so glad. We had a fantastic time while we were there but my body must have sensed our departure coming and it (my body) started to protest. In a big way!

The morning we were packing to go home I started feeling a little crummy. Like a cold was coming on. No big deal. We load the car and head to the airport. I took a Zyrtec AND a Clariton D. OOPS! I didn't mean to take both. I'm just a ding a ling. I was zombie tired but managed to stay coherent.

We get to the airport and sit down for lunch. Nothing sounds good and I'm FREEZING. I eat some soup. Didn't taste good. I felt just plain blah! We get on the plane and I'm really hurting. I feel cold and achy. Amelia, our perfect little airplane lap passenger decides to have her first extremely fussy flight. Great. I'm feeling sick and my baby is one big frustrated muscle just wiggling uncontrollably. Nathan has his hands full and he's stuck in the middle seat. I feel like I'm burning up so I take my temp. Yep- I'm BURNING UP. 105.4 degree temp. Nope, not kidding. I was so freaked out and so was Nathan. I prayed I wouldn't have a seizure. We called for the flight attendant to come over for help. She asked if we'd like her to page a Dr. on board and we said YES! Turns out the lady next to Nathan was a Dr. Thank you, God! She advised me to eat and to take 800 mg of ibuprofen. I did and waited patiently. As patiently as one could with 105 degree temp and a fussy baby. Amelia needed a diaper change so Nathan went to the spacious airplane bathroom and changed Amelia. I sat there and tried to remain calm. I downed glass after glass of water and the flight staff brought me a barf bag filled with ice chips, water and a wash cloth. I kept that on my head, face and neck and that helped cool me down. My temp went down a degree about every 40 minutes. We landed in Houston 30 minutes late and it settled around 101 to 102.

Long story longer, we get home get me to bed and went to the dr the next day. I have strep. Now, it's Saturday night and my throat still hurts but no fever. I'm on the mend. Thank goodness. More "Ahhhhh" pics tomorrow.

Ahhhhhhhhh

We're still in Mexico and life is soooooo good here. I've been brainstorming ways we could stay here and make a living so we could be close to all this beauty. The ocean is so blue. A beautiful turquoise. Nathan has gone snorkeling a couple of times and tomorrow is my turn. Amelia isn't quite ready to put on her flippers and mask just yet.

Our flight was great. We were in 1st class on the way here. I've never flown 1st class. Seats are roomier and you get a pretty decent meal plus alcohol. Doesn't everyone have a little vodka with their cranberry juice at 9:30 am when on vacation?I giggled to myself when the stewardess commented"Getting started a little early, huh?". She's just jealous!Amelia already has a couple of flights under her belt. She did great on her first international flights, too. She sleeps really well especially if there's a lot of turbulence.

When we landed in Cancun we went to baggage claim and discovered Larry and Mary Grace had no luggage. Aye,aye,aye! That's why Natthan and I try to always "carry on".

We got our car rental and started on our way to Tulum. We stopped in Playa for lunch and made it to the house around 3. OMG! The house is amazing. It belongs to Jo's partner at Smith Barney and he lets her use it every year for her birthday. This is her 3rd year celebrating her birthday at Casa Maravilla. Check out their website. Our pictures are really great but all the info is here.

On this trip we have the Jo, the birthday girl-

Becky and Jim-Larry and Mary Grace-And, Yours Truly-On Sunday, we pretty much got settled and stayed in. We got our suits and hit the beach and pool. Those were the pics in yesterdays post. Yesterday we woke up and had a yummy breakfast and then went swimming and to the beach. Amelia had a little fever so I kept her inside while Nathan went out to play and then we switched. She's feeling fine, just a little temp. Maybe because of her teeth coming in.

Monday, today, we went to Tulum walked around the ruins. Most of the pics of our friends are from there.
It was overcast so it wasn't too hot.


This house is a private house in the middle of Soliman Bay. When you walk out the back door, this is what you see. The amazing pool.

The kitchen....To Be Continued. My friends want to use the laptop.....