Discovery Bottles for Babies

On Pinterest, I have seen a ton of the most beautiful bottles filled with little trinkets for babies to explore so I thought I would make one for my grandson. I added a few straws to an empty water bottle and screwed the lid on tight. I thought he might like the rattle sound or enjoy shaking the bottle or at least holding it...

The bottle kept slipping from his hands while I tried to take a picture.  He got mad and cried and so we moved on to something else. We will wait a few months and try this idea again.

Grandma's name

Before my first grandson was born, we talked about what our grandchildren would call us. I insisted that I didn't want to be given any pet names. I just wanted us to go by grandma and grandpa. And then one day, my grandson came up to me and called me Mema. It was as clear as a bell. He kept saying it over and over again. I asked my daughter if she was calling me Mema at home and she promised that she wasn't. A few days later, my grandson called my husband Pepa.

I felt good about knowing that my grandson came up with these names all by himself so my hubby and I wear the name Mema and Pepa proudly!  

Sleeping babies

While my daughter and her hubby were spending a much needed evening out with their good friends, Grandpa and I were keeping watch over our two grandsons. Although I could see both boys sleeping soundly through the video monitors, I kept sneaking up into their rooms to make sure they were okay.

They sleep so sound, so peacefully.

Out for Icecream

When your first grandbaby comes along, you are full of energy and can't wait to take him to the zoo or feed him that first ice cream cone. You hope mom and dad will let you take the kids all by yourself and are a little disappointed when they insist on tagging along..

But when grandbaby two comes along you realize that you are not as young as you used to be. It takes both grandma and grandpa to get both babies in and out of car seats and it takes twice as long to load up all the gear you need for even the most simple trip.  So instead of trying to talk mom and dad into letting you take the kids to get some ice cream, you wait for mom and dad to tell you they are going to take the kids to get some and then you invite yourself to tag along.

Messy face

When my own child was little, I was always quick to wash up a messy face. A messy face ultimately ended up leading to messy hands, messy clothes, and a mess on my living room furniture...

But as a grandma, I see a messy face as a symbol of childhood at its best. So I tend to let the messy face slide and take as many pictures as I can before mommy comes along, then I grab the closest washcloth and pretend to be worried about keeping that nice new t-shirt clean.

Plenty of trucks

When a grandchild comes along and suddenly this new little one begins raiding all the snacks in your pantry or leaving a pile of trucks on the coffee table, you don't feel the need to correct this...

Instead you make a note to keep plenty of trucks in the toy box and plenty of snacks in the pantry.

Layers of love

There are many layers of love. As a grandparent you begin to realize this concept. You love your own children and whatever happens in life, you love them deeply and unconditionally. 

When a grandchild comes along there is a realization that you are capable of loving even more deeply. The word unconditional doesn't apply to grandparents because there is no condition by which this new level of love can be tested or measured - it just is what it is.