Year in Review and Wishes for the New Year

It’s New Year’s Day and time to look ahead to a fresh new year. Before we do that, though, let’s take a look back at 2011. I have a lot of pictures to share, and I didn’t get Christmas cards or a letter done, so if you don’t mind...

January found us moving Jessica and Bradley into their own home about 15 miles away after living with us for over a year. Jessica found out in late November 2010 that she and her boyfriend were expecting a baby, so they started building their new life together. We have enjoyed getting to know Scott and he’s an amazing partner for Jessica as well as father to Bradley.

I still kept Brad during the day while Jess worked full-time. I must’ve blinked, because all of a sudden, he grew from a baby to toddler.

  

   

At the end of April, I left my early morning job in preparation for caring for Bradley and the new grandboy we were expecting. It took a few weeks for me to sleep past 4 a.m., but it’s all good now.

In May, our son Nick was hospitalized suddenly after becoming quite ill. He’s doing great and living a healthier lifestyle now.  He was able to join us for Halloween this year, in costume even. Don’t ask who he was supposed to be – just a generic character from a video game – I can’t be more specific than that…

Greg and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in May, and I turned 50 in July. We celebrated by attending the  Bob Seger concert in Omaha. It was a great show! 

I’d like to say I’m none the worse for wear at 50 years old, but in May I fell down the deck steps, landing on my knee, and I’ve been hobbling about ever since. That, combined with the arthritis, has slowed me down a bit.

The injury kept me in my chair for a few weeks, and I wanted to be productive, so I dug out my crochet needle, invested in some yarn, and turned on YouTube for instruction. Many hours spent over several weeks found me with a pile of dishcloths for Christmas gifts, a blanket for Silas, and some winter scarves. My nephew Wyatt saw the yarn and things I was working on, and asked me to teach him, so with a few quick crochet lessons, he was on his way.

We had a fun week in June when my nieces from Sioux City visited. Tay got to go to Vacation Bible School with Randy’s kids, Reese and Brad became friends, and we enjoyed a day at the zoo.

The last day of July, at 3:26 in the morning, Jess and Scott welcomed their baby boy, Silas Paul. He’s our sweet love-bug.

    

 

In September, Jessica, the boys, and I went to Sioux City for a visit. One of the fun things we did was visit at the shop where Alan works. Bradley saw all the motorcycles in the window, yelled “GO!” and ran to the door. He wanted to sit on every bike, and was thrilled when Uncle Alan finally let him on one.

Bradley had his second birthday at the end of September. He’s a big fan of Cat in the Hat, so Jess constructed a giant hat for his cake.

Halloween was our usual fun time with Randy’s family joining us for a quick supper then trick or treating. The weather was awesome and it didn’t take Bradley long to figure out the whole “trick or treat” scheme!

In November, Jess and Scott put a bid on a house here in Benedict, and closed on it a few days before Christmas. They moved enough things to be in their house for the holiday, and the past few days have been spent painting, packing and unpacking boxes, and getting settled into their new home.

That pretty much sums up the past year for us. What do we look forward to in 2012? We know we’ll enjoy those grandboys who live just down the street from us now. They grow so fast and we don’t want to miss a minute of it. I have a list of craft/sewing/decorating projects to tackle. Greg plans to build a covered patio in the backyard. (He’ll be building lots more things if I can give him part of my list, but I’ll have to be sneaky…)

We are incredibly blessed with a happy healthy family and more, and we thank God daily. We wish you many blessings also in 2012, and if the world doesn’t end on December 21 like the Mayans say it will, we’ll try to get real Christmas cards done!

Introducing the New Grandboy…

You know when the phone rings at 10:15 on a Saturday night that something is afoot. It was Jessica calling to let us know that she was on her way to the hospital in Lincoln. Contractions were 3 minutes apart, and had been going on like that for two hours. She’d had so much “false” labor over the past several weeks that she wasn’t counting on staying at the hospital, but stay she did, and at 3:26 Sunday morning she gave birth to the sweetest little boy!

His name is Silas Paul Robinson and he’s so cute we could just eat him up! Everyone thought Jess would have at least an 8-pounder this time, but he was a lean 6 lb., 13 oz., and 19 3/4” long.

Mama and Daddy are both very happy -

and his big brother Bradley just adores him!

Of course the rest of us, do, too, and we can’t wait to get to know the little guy!

 

Grammy Tammy

Sweet pea

Just showing off a photo of the grandboy and his mom. I took this last week when they were playing on the floor. 

Bradley was three months old last week. He’s starting to grasp objects and when he happens to get ahold of something,  puts it in his mouth – his favorite thing being our fingers.

He seems to be recognizing people, or realizing when he doesn’t recognize someone. He also recognizes the bottle and opens wide when you show it to him.

The jabbering continues, cooing and squealing and belly laughing. Takes after his mom…  :o)

What fun we had!

Halloween has always been one of our favorite holidays. We enjoy the costumes, the decorations, and passing out the candy.  When our kids were still young enough for trick-or-treating, Greg and I would take turns each year, one of us staying home to answer the door, the other toting the kids around town for the candy-fest.

Obviously, with our kids being 22 and 25 years old, we haven’t done the trick-or-treat thing for several years. Instead, we just enjoy the young ones who come to the door, chatting with those who aren’t too shy, and pretending to be horrified at the scary ones.

The past few years, Wyatt, Garett, and Grace have been our helpers, answering the door and giving away handfuls of candy to each trick-or-treater who came up on the porch. This year they did the same, up until time to head out into the neighborhood themselves for their first time to wander the dark streets, begging strangers for candy.

Here we are when they first arrived and were pretty cooperative about picture-taking. Wyatt is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, the good Transformers. Garett is Bumblebee, guardian of the kid in the movie, also an Autobot, and only talks through the radio. Bradley the Cat has no idea what in the sam-hill is happening, and Grace was the Snow Princess with beautiful hair, though you can’t really see her hairdo in this picture. 

When it was time, we met up with niece Hannah and her two young cousins, Olivia and George, who are visiting from Hawaii with their parents. Grace decided Olivia was pretty wonderful and the two of them walked and talked. We didn’t get to hear much of their conversation, but at one point Grace was heard to tell Olivia, “I live in the country.”, to which Olivia replied, “I live in the jungle!”

Here they are at their first house, getting treats from our sweet neighbor, Jo:

(Bradley had to stay home with Grampy.)

For awhile, Garett followed behind Olivia, clucking like a chicken. We aren’t sure why. :o)

We pass out candy for the trick-or-treaters, but I always have something else for Wyatt, Garett, and Grace. This year the big hit for Wyatt was the glow-bracelets and glow-sticks that I picked up at Dollar Tree. We’ll definitely invest in those again. Here he is using two bracelets to make himself some eyeglasses:

It was a very fun evening, and I enjoyed that little blast-from-the-past from when my kids were little. Next year, if the weather is good, little Bradley may get to go along. Oh, Grammy can’t wait!!

Hey Baby!

This past week has gone by in a blur, and here’s the reason why:

Bradley Nicholas Lott was born on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. He weight 7 lb. 4 oz. and was 21” long.

Jessica began having contractions on Sunday afternoon, but we didn’t head for the hospital until 1:30 Monday morning. It was a very long day waiting for the little guy, but all went well with labor and delivery.

I was Jessi’s coach, so it was my privilege to watch Bradley be born. Jess says I deserted her to watch at the end of the bed, and I did, but what an awesome blessing to be witness to that miracle.

They let me cut the cord, and my hand was shaking so much I was afraid I would poke the baby with the scissors.

He had such a sweet little cry, not frantic or scared, just curious. Does that make sense? Quiet and like he was saying, “Hi, I’m here. Now what?”.  They needed him to really cry, so they took him to the warmer and rubbed him all over with a blanket – he gave some good wails then, but when I touched his cheek and started talking to him, he immediately stopped crying and looked around in wonder. I could tell he was listening to me, so I just blathered on like a person does when talking to an infant. Everyone does that, right? :o)

 

After they weighed him, I went out to the hallway to make the announcement. He was about 10 minutes old by then, and Greg said nurses kept coming out of the room, but no one would give them any details about anything. I think he was a bit worried, but I assured him all was well and after awhile, he met his grandson.

I brought them home on Wednesday and slowly our life is taking on a new routine and a new “normal”. Jess is a natural at being a mommy. Right now they’re snuggled into the recliner, both asleep.

He’s a lucky boy to be so well-loved.

Hey There!

I've had complaints that I'm not blogging enough, and I know the reading has been slim the past few months. We've been busy getting ready for Jessica to have her baby, and the garden did really well (I dreamed about canning tomatoes last night - does that tell you about my weekend?), and I've had the privilege of having nieces and nephews here now and again over the summer, but just haven't made the time to tell you much about any of it.

I really want to show you how Jess is setting up the baby corner of her room, but she wants me to wait until we've finished personalizing it, and we can't do that until Baby is here since we don't know if we're getting a he or a she.

I do have a few photos from her baby shower which was held a little over a week ago. Family and friends gathered to wish her well, and she had a wonderful time.

Grace and Taylor were such good helpers with the gifts. Taylor wanted every toy and rattle, saying "This is Tay Rae's". She was in charge of bringing me the trash, and being two years old, wanted to throw everything away. We brought the trash bag home and salvaged quite a lot of tissue paper and a few bows, but nothing major. In this photo, Hannah is decorating Grace's, er, behind while Taylor wonders why that bow wasn't thrown in the garbage bag. :o)

Everyone was very generous, and Jessi had such fun sorting through all of the sweet gifts the next day. Everything is washed now and ready to be put away until they're needed.
Doesn't she look cute? She won't let me post "belly" pictures, but she's looking wonderful. Remember to go fill out an entry for the baby pool. Just click on the red button on the top left column of this blog. It's easy and free, and you just may win the prize!

Take a Guess!

Jess has just under a month until her due date, so I thought it would be fun to have a Baby Pool. If you want to take a shot at guessing stats, click on the button at the top left of my blog that looks like this one. You will go to the baby pool site where you can easily enter your predictions about baby's sex, birthdate, weight, etc.

I will have a yet-to-be-determined prize for the person who comes closest.

Here are a few facts that may or may not help you:
a. We do not know the sex of the baby.
b. Heart rate is consistently between 140-152.
c. She's carrying high.
d. She's measuring farther along that she is now, so the dr. thinks it will be a large-ish baby.
e. Her original due date from the calendar is October 4.
d. Her due date from ultrasound is October 2.

According to the dr., since it's her first baby, they don't want to induce labor. Even if you don't join in the pool, we'd appreciate your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery (and as close to the due date as possible - she will not entertain the idea that she could go overdue!). :o)

Introducing...

Reese Renae Regier with her proud parents, Angela and Alan:

And her happy Auntie...

born this morning at 9:05

6 lb., 11 oz.

19 1/2" long

Loved and adored by her big sister, Taylor!

Welcome Baby Reese! We love you!

Congratulations Alan and Angela - good job! :o)

You can call me...

Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny, or you can call me Grammy!!

Yep, that's right, we've entered a new season in our family and I can finally tell you about it. Jessica is expecting our first grandchild in early October. This baby came as quite a surprise to everyone, but is very much wanted and we look forward to loving and snuggling and cuddling and spoiling it as much as possible.

Jess is doing well - she was very sick during her first trimester, but that seems to be subsiding. Today she got to see the little bean on an ultrasound, but they didn't give her a photo so I could show it off. Perhaps next time, though we won't know ahead of time the sex of the baby. That'll be a surprise kept for when it's born.

I guess that's about the biggest news I have to share today. I'll be heading outside to enjoy the sunshine and 70 degree temps while I putter in the garden. It's a good day!

Welcome to the Family!

Cousin Jeff and his lovely wife Shannon have added a new member to our family - Case William Anderson was born on Friday, June 22. We cannot wait to meet him!

Congratulations to the new parents, and to his GRANDMA!

Introducing...

Taylor Rae Regier

Friday, May 25, 2007

2:21 p.m.

7 lb., 4 oz.

20"