Breakfast and Classical Music with Victoria Renee

Miss Victoria had her second doctor's visit today! She is now 7 lbs. 4 oz..a bit of a jump from 6 lbs. 10 oz. of her birth weight. She is moving right along. Unfortunately she has been dealing with constipation and reflux, (as I have heard a lot of newborns do) she has been prescribed medicine for the reflux and eventually, the constipation will stop. The doctor also said to add a bit of infant cereal which surprised me. I would think she would be too young. But for right now, she is hanging out with her hip grandmother listening to Bach and Beethoven. Gotta start them early with the music!

One small step for babies...One giant leap for Victoria

There are many things to be thankful of in my life. Victoria is one of them. She is basically the sun in my whole universe. Its unfortunate that I have to 'pull back' a little when I hear her whining in her crib while her mother picks her up to hold her. I want to be the one to do that for her. Realizing that her mother has been up every two hours with little Victoria, I wake up from a comfortable nights sleep. I Sleeping Beautyhear her whine in the crib (she doesn't have the chance to cry because she is rescued from hunger by her mother) as I let her mother sleep in so I can have that one-on-one time with my beautiful grand daughter. I suppose that is my way of getting what I want. Hee hee!

Victoria is definitely not a crying baby as of yet. She does, however have a whine that sounds a little over-dramatic which is why I refer to her as a 'drama queen'. And her name is Victoria. How appropriate! As I tiptoe by her crib with a nice warm bottle of a mixture of breast milk and formula, I turn off the sound machine my bestie gave my grand daughter (to drown out any foreign noises). Awake and alert is what I find! She is trying to turn over. So young! I remember she did that the first week of being home. My mother mentioned that I was constantly doing that as well. My daughter is sitting up from her pillow and I tell her to “stay in bed, I will change and feed the baby.” My own bonding moment with the Queen!

A very helpless feeling

Here I am. The grandmother of a 10 day old infant. Although I have been getting enough sleep, the 'every two-hour' feeding time has not yet bothered me. Looking at her face mesmerizes me every time I hold that little bundle of joy. She is such a good baby; always sleeps, never cries and has a great little disposition as of late. Both families are truly blessed with her. I am in charge of cleaning and preparation of the bottles. My daughter has decided to breastfeed but also use formula. We have already gotten the 'green light' from the pediatrician to do this. She seems to be satisfied with two ounces every feeding: one ounce of formula and one ounce of her mother's milk. But we have noticed something missing: it has been ½ a day since she has had a regular healthy bowel movement. I know this is not something one should blog about. If anything, I would love to hear some advice. I am in route to the store to get her some Karo syrup for her tummy. We tried gas drops last night but still little pellets are found in her diaper. She is having so much trouble staying comfortable that she seems to always lay on her side. Imagine what my little grand baby is going through....still...she doesn't cry about it.

Dear Victoria Renee ~

Dear Victoria Renee ~ Today you came into our lives with such grace and made our lives worth living. You remind us that there are positives in life. You are a blessing to my heart and I love you. Before you were born at 9:48 pm Monday 3-10-2014, before your mommy's water broke while she was being admitted into the hospital, before mommy woke me up at 1:00 am Sunday that she was dripping fluid, your mother and I was saying goodbye to your grandfather at the airport. I wished that he could see you in real life. You came into this world a little more than 24 hours away from when we left him off. It's okay, though. Perhaps he and his fiance, your step-grandmother can come for a visit. That would be nice. While you were waiting to come into this world, I have to say that I was worried if your mother was going to make it. I mean, I questioned why your mother couldn't dilate passed 3 centimeters in a matter of 18 hours. We were all pacing in the hallways; both mommy's family and daddy's family. Finally the doctor told us that your mother needed a cesarean which really scared me. As she was being wheeled into the operating room, she could hear the Beatles playing on the overhead speakers. I also know that when you were lifted from your mother's open belly, the song "Here comes the sun" was playing.

Grampa's Visit

As I look out the window, I can see the sun rise above the clouds. It has been unseasonably warm on a wednesday and I knew just the style of clothes I wanted to wear when we pick up my daughter's father from the airport. He came up from West Palm Beach, Florida (my hometown) in hopes that the baby will be born during his stay. Unfortunately he would have to return on Sunday but there is so much we can do during his stay.

Walking into the airport to the escalators, I notice there are not very many people running around to grab their bags or check in at the rental cars area. Soon my daughter will be able to see her father who she hasn't been able to hug in two years. We finally found some comfortable benches to sit and wait until he gets off the plane. We notice a lady (maybe in her 20s) waiting for her boyfriend to come off the same plane. My daughter strikes up a conversation with her while I look on. Just to joke with my daughter, I tell her. “There he is!” My daughter jumps up, looking at the empty ramp and giggles “No he isn't” with a smile. I continued to do that two or three more times until she stops paying attention to me. Suddenly there are people walking down the ramp that just got off the plane, the same one her father is getting off. “There he is! There he is!” I shouted. She didn't even turn her head from not believing me. He walked up to me, gave me a hug and turn to her. She jumped up in his arms like a child. “Daddy! I've missed you!” I whispered in her ear, “Told you he was coming.” Day 2 of Grampa's visit was rather exciting. We decided to ditch the Smokey Mountains and explore what Knoxville has to offer. As we are driving along, I have the great idea to drive to a place where I love to walk around and check out the local shops and art galleries. This is downtown Knoxville in a place called “Gay Street”. It has beautiful architecture of the different buildings. There is a place right beside it called “Market Square”. Its set in the middle of Market Square downtown with a concrete stage and the shops are surrounding it. During early fall, the city of Knoxville provides a big screen that shows family-friendly movies so the whole family can have a wonderful evening sitting on blankets and sipping on soft drinks (if they wish). Today it is empty. Still...no baby.

Day 3 of Grampa's visit was even more exciting. Although I personally prefer the city where there is civilization, my daughter and her father decided they wanted to go to the mountains. To me, it was a no-brainer to get my daughter to walk and hopefully dilate a little bit. When they asked me to go, I shrugged and said “Sure”. I made a few sandwiches, brought some fruit and packed my backpack with water. It was a beautiful day! Seems every time I go to Cade's Cove, in the Smokey Mountains National Park, its always a beautiful day! A few cumulus here and there but no rain clouds. Being in the mountains, you still have to wear a light jacket though. It was a very old place. We toured a cemetery and the headstones were dated as far back as the 1880s. We also got to see some deer feeding on the grass and a lot of other wildlife. Still...no baby. Day 3- Cades Cove Day 4 of Grampa's visit was a cloudy, dreary day. I wanted to stay and clean up the house a bit and her father stayed in his hotel room. It wasn't a very eventful day at all. Still...no baby.

Day 5 was Grampa's last day to visit. We went to a few shops around town and drove to different places. His itinerary said that he needs to be at the airport by 5:00 pm so thats where we spent most of the time hanging out, talking and going down memory lane. As we three said our last goodbyes, my daughter shed a few tears, looked down at her belly and whispered in her father's ear “Sorry Daddy, still no baby.”

Preparing for a birthday on my birthday

The time inches nearer and nearer! In the next week...or next few days I could have my granddaughter in my arms. The thought of my baby girl having a baby girl is so mind-blowing. And it is actually becoming more real. Last weekend we decided to get some of her laundry done. I remember holding up the Onsies and commenting on how adorable a little body will fit in them. The little socks and bibs. Or even the receiving blankets. Her little head will be covered with the cutest little pink and white hats that my daughter received at the baby shower. This child will have an assortment of nice, warm and comfortable things to wear. As my daughter was finishing some online college work due on friday, I have been in the kitchen cleaning and sterilizing the bottles and pacifiers. My bestie gave her a microwavable sterilizing kit and boy does it work wonders! When my child was little, her father and I had bought a sterilizing Victoria's bottleskit that cost in the neighborhood of $75-$100. It worked wonders as well but the price was outrageous! Thank goodness you can get a kit for around $10 at your local Target (from what I have seen) or you can clean the bottles, fill them halfway with water, get a microwavable bowl, fill it with water (about 7 oz) and throw in the nipples, rings and tops. I must say I have learned a little bit more about sterilization on my second time around. This generation has all the cool gadgets.

Finally we set up the crib. My bestie was here helping us put it together. It is a beautiful dark cherry wood-finished convertible crib which is from my family. See, this is what we normally do. Victoria will be the second baby that sleeps in this crib. The first? My beautiful nephew Cayden. Not only are they a few years apart but they will grow up together and hopefully have the same friends. This is my sister's and my hope. The theme of her nursery will be 'Ladybugs'. As I am putting the decals on the walls, I can't help but chuckle that my daughter has always been 'my ladybug' because of (from what I believe) is good luck. I also learned that ladybugs are some of the few insects the Native Americans watched before the winter. They could tell if it was going to be a harsh winter or a weak one. (Just another one of the many meteorological stories I have heard).

Yes, as I said before, today is my birthday. My 43rd birthday to be exact. Usually on this day, there is absolutely nothing going on. I mean, I am glad nothing out-of-the-ordinary goes on during this day. Shoot. This day is so mundane that I have found not many famous people share my birthday...probably since about 1678. Its ok. So I am not sharing a birthday with my granddaughter. But I will share our birthstone and zodiac sign. Things will work out just fine. Until then, we wait.