What a month April has been.
Easter has come and gone with a wonderful family dinner at Cathy and Cliff's house. All of our children were there, including 8/9 Grandchildren which made for a lovely family gathering.
Unfortuantely Kayla was unable to be with us too or this would have made the perfect grandchild photo!
When you put these six together there is no end of trouble that they get into! Note the Easter Egg in Nick's nose!
In September, Dick and I started taking 5 of Cathy and Cliff's children to Sunday School and then back to our house for lunch and then while Pappa was cleaning up the dishes, the kids and I would be very busy making some sort of "art". It has been such a fun time, watching them create and then improve and improvise on their original ideas. The mornings are early for we retired folks, a 9:15 a.m. start and we usually drive them home about 2:00. It is a long day for Nanny and Pappa but a great one for us too. It has been so much fun listening to their jokes, hearing the stories. Making them laugh. Them making us laugh. Wouldn't trade a sleep in for all the world.
Way back in January Dick and I began a 500 Mile Challenge, which was essentially put out there to encourage people to join in and get fit. Each person keeps track of the number of miles you run/swim/etc. and in our case walk, record it and submit it weekly. Laura, one of the moderators of the blog along with her blogger friend Erin, came up with this great idea. So Dick and I decided we'd like to participate too. The blog includes things like profiles of participants, motivational ideas, and healthy recipes. Our daughter Cathy was profiled a few weeks back and then Laura asked us if we'd be willing to write something up, so we did. If you'd care to have a look, you can find it at the following link.
http://500in2010.blogspot.com/2010/04/meet-challengers-allyson-and-dick.html#comments
I have tried and tried unsuccessfully to put the logo on my blog, but it is beyond my powers of reasoning as to how to go about it!
The bulk of April has been taken up with waiting for our youngest daughter Amy to give birth to her baby. With a due date of April 13 or 17, combined with the fact that both her sisters, Cathy and April had early deliveries, so why wouldn't Amy deliver early too. It seems like we've been waiting virtually all month long for this blessed event.
There was always much speculation about when it would be born. Would the baby be born on April's birthday? How about mine? Or the baby's sister's? Or the baby's Oma's? The April 13th date then the 17th, came and went. There were the weekly visits to the doctor, week 39, week 40, week 41 brought not the most encouraging reports, " the baby hasn't dropped", "not yet" and yet, Amy was always so positive and really enjoying this pregnancy. She was the perfect candidate for having an overdue baby if there ever was one!
Finally, the big day came, she started to have twinges, twinges turned into labour pains! Maybe we'll be woken up with a telephone call tonight I'd say to Dick. The cell phone always fully charged and at the ready, in my pocket when we were walking, on silent when we were in church, on the night table, waiting for the call. Night one, no baby! Night two, no baby! Hour 46 of labour--a baby! Our daughter is a Warrior Queen I tell you and Tyler, her beloved is worth his weight in gold.
Here he is! Colby Thomas, all 8 lbs 1 oz. of him! He has downy redish/blond hair and is the spitting image of his daddy! What a little wonder he is. A perfect little miracle.
Just 13 hours old, so worn out from his long journey into love!
People have said to us, "this must be old hat to you, you've been through it so many times before." My answer is this. Each and every time we are blessed with a grandchild it is as if this little one is our very first. You never ever get used to it. It is exciting and scary and it is nerve wracking and exhilarating each time. It never grows old. When I get to gaze at their little face I instantly fall truly, madly and deeply in love. I makes me wonder, how did the world exist before you were born?
Our blessings:
Cameron
Claire
Carly
Catie
Caroline
Abby
Coco
Kayla
Hudson
and now Colby.
What joy each and every one of them brings into our lives. Magical!
