A Wonderful Day at Shriner's Circus

The alarm blared next to my bed as I struggled to find my glasses on my nightstand. The sun had already broke through the clouds and the sky became clear. As I lay in bed, I hear commotion in the kitchen with Victoria sitting in her high chair and her mother feeding her oatmeal with fruit. She has been 'finding her voice' for days now and shrieks (screaming out loud) to hear her own voice. Two wonderful faces to wake up to. (And my black cat Shaddow as well!) Today was the day we are going to the Shriner's Circus with Victoria. I kinda had the feeling that she would do well with crowds but with the loud noise I wasn't sure about. Today was also the day that she was promoted from her carrier to a 'big girl' car seat. Not the 'big, big girl' kind of car seat but the kind that toddlers are in. She is a husky 21 lbs. But she is also over 27 inches long. Big girl! But I bet when she starts crawling (which she is showing signs) that weight will melt off

her. Fat babies are cute babies! As we were walking into the Thomson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN there were people with children everywhere. I was kind of nervous, myself being in large crowds. And I had my grand daughter in my arms so I had to make sure I kept a straight face and took care of the task at hand. We searched for our seats in the dark in the nose-bleed section. Yes it was packed with children screaming from excitement everywhere! My daughter found seats for us and I handed Victoria to her so I could take pictures of her first experience with the circus. There were tigers balancing on beams jumping through fiery hoops and elephants dancing. There were trained dogs balancing on the backs of their trainer wowing the crowds. Victoria did enjoy it but the loud acoustics and flashing lights bothered her. After a few attempts to get her to look, we decided to retreat to the corridor of the arena so Victoria will feel a bit easier with all the hoopla that was before her. Finally we were standing in the corridor looking at the action that was happening inside the arena. I noticed a stand that sold wands that light-up. I decided to buy Victoria a big pink light-up wand. She was mesmerized by the flashing lights. It was great! She seemed so excited to see her new present come to life with just a push of a button. Fortunately that diverted her attention from the flashing lights and the loud noises coming from inside the arena. Then an announcement came on the speakers saying that there will be an intermission and a display of pony rides and elephant rides were presented to the little children. My daughter was so excited that she grabbed Victoria and announced that she will go down to see if she is old enough to ride a pony. I told her that she was probably too young and the clowns will probably scare the crap out of her. Like always, she paid no attention to me and walked down to the bottom of the arena where the pony rides were. I stayed up in the corridor searching for them to just get a glimpse of my baby and her baby within the crowds of other parents. I noticed that my daughter was next to a crowd of people strapping on harnesses for Victoria to ride a pony. I honestly couldn't believe it! She is only 7 months old and she is enjoying what other kids way-older than her- are enjoying. My daughter and a helper walked in a circular-motion following a circle of ponies attached to one another. Victoria enjoyed every minute! Soon the ride was over and she had to leave her pony. I was hoping that she would come back up to where I was standing but they were

surrounded by a bunch of clowns that took pictures with my grand daughter. If she was scared she never let it show. Then my daughter took her to get her face painted in the form of a cat. Yes she was young but I am so glad that my daughter introduced her to that type of social action. She didn't cry or become irritated. She just smiled and was very attentive. Basically she people-watched. As I sit here trying to find the words to put into this blog, I smile to the fact that my daughter had shown me what a true parent does. Its never too early to make memories with your babies.

I am proud of the mommy that she is becoming.

Victoria and her 3 month, 4 week milestones

Lately, we have been experiencing milestones with Victoria. She can now sit in her bouncer and reach for the dangling toys on the patted overhead bar. Well...a little bit. She actually grazes them with her left hand. As a grandmother, I think that is the best thing since sliced bread. Lol But what is even better is when she holds up her hands for me to pick her up. Its not a whole-hearted hands-out stretching-the-arms-out but its close. I see it. While it warms my heart so much, I wish she would hold her hands up to her mother who is always working. So. I mentioned that Victoria is going through a few milestones during her 3rd month of life. We want to believe she is teething. She shows all the signs except refusing food. (She is a member of this family; she never refuses food). Its hard to imagine all of the saliva that comes out of her mouth on a daily basis and then some. There is never a moment when she has a drop of saliva dangling from her bottom lip which, to me, signifies a baby. If we aren't careful and forget to put on a bib, you would find a big wet spot of drool on her shirt. Once we discovered a chaffed red ring around her neck from all the drool. A good friend of ours suggested baby powder but we found out that baby powder brings more bacteria to the 'fatty folds' and 'extra chins' that Victoria has gained over the 3 months of life. Mommy learned that using Desitin or some other form of diaper rash cream will do the job. She is also very fussy and bites on everything she can put in her mouth. Mommy decided to get a gallon storage bag and insert all of Victoria's teething rings 'just in case' and promptly put them in the freezer. We will never know if this is the reason of her little 'actions' but just in case, we keep this on the table. Victoria still does not like 'Tummy Time'. I've heard that most babies have a problem with this. When we place her on her stomach, she fusses. I shouldn't let this concern me. I've heard that some babies favor either side of their bodies and mostly use that side to view their surroundings. Victoria seems to favor her left side. Like I said before in the paragraph above, she uses her left hand to touch the dangling toys above her in her bouncer. I can tell when she is exhausted while playing or

watching “Baby Einstein” videos because she looks to the left. I Victoria Renee 6-30-14am assuming the left side of her neck muscles are tighter than her right. We have been helping her move her head to look straight, eventually looking right. This is a concern I hope her mother talks to the doctor about. She has her four month appointment in a few days to get her next series of her immunizations. So this means we are going to have to wait to see her roll over...maybe....because she could surprise us. She already does 'mini-scoots' and likes to see her surroundings in ways she couldn't before. As I mentioned before, her mother goes to work. I feel my daughter (and most working mother's) feel cheated because Victoria does pay attention to me more than her own mother. This is why I have to step back and let her mother care for her during the times when she is off of work allowing my daughter to bond with her mother. http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-3-month-olds-development-week-4_1477212.bc

The Easter Bunny: An Obtainable Goal

Boy! Are my dogs barking! What a fun day I had on Easter eve. This morning was no different from the rest, fixing bottles and preparing her diaper bag to spend the day with Victoria's daddy and her Nana. As we hurry to get ready to go see the elusive Easter Bunny, I make sure we have enough diapers and wipes while my daughter is getting her hair ready. This is Victoria's first Easter and we will get a picture even if we have to get an old stuffed animal out and set it next to her in the living room. But being parents and grandparents that we are, we want to make sure it is professionally done. At first, I thought it was silly to have a one-month old all gussied up to take a picture and not even know what was going on around her. I used to think that in my younger years. I remember when my daughter was still an infant, her father and I brought her to the mall to see Santa Claus. Well...her grandmother wanted a picture and I was too narrow-minded to see that they wanted a picture and enjoy their grandchild in the arms of Santa. Now I know how they originally felt. The night before my daughter's friend posted something on Facebook about the Easter Bunny and pictures in the mall of our little town. We made plans with Daddy and Nana to accompany us to achieve our goal. As we were walking into the courtyard in the mall, we noticed....nothing. No long lines, no kids running around chasing one another, no bows of pink and green to signify 'come take a picture with the Easter Bunny'. Nothing. My daughter went up to an employee to ask if the Easter Bunny already came for a visit to the mall. The lady looked at her and said, “We have decided not to have the Easter Bunny here this year.” This year? My grand daughter is finally born and you decide that you aren't going to have the Easter Bunny come to your mall this year?? Nana and I did not take the word 'NO'. Back to the car we go. We also heard about a park nearby and they were hosting the Easter Bunny. It was our town's Park and Recreation. If we hurry, we can finally lay our 'grandparent' eyes on this elusive Easter Bunny and snap a picture with him holding our bundle of joy. We see many people walking with their kids to their cars as they carry baskets of eggs and other belonging, collecting their children from running out into the street. We parked the car and I walked up to a bystander. I asked her if the Easter Bunny was going to show up today. “You missed him an hour ago! He was here but left!” I turned to Nana and threw my hands in the air. Nana wasn't going down without a fight either. We are going to see this child with an Easter Bunny even if we have to dress up like one ourselves and take a picture! Back at Nana's house, we had a lovely dinner: steak with baked potatoes and corn on the cob. It was good for us to gather our strength while we decide to go to the next city to see if they have an Easter Bunny on display. Nana called the mall clerk and received some good news. We found out that one of the bigger malls does have a professional Easter Bunny (and the best part is we can get pictures!) It was 20 minutes away but that didn't stop us. As we pulled into the mall, we could see a lot of people walking back and forth going into the doors of the mall, exiting the building. I was prepared to wait in line, no matter how long, just to see Victoria and the Easter Bunny. Walking into the courtyard, there is the Easter Bunny we have been searching for all day!!! AND the line wasn't long. I noticed people with baby carriages taking out their babies for the Easter Bunny to hold. I didn't feel so bad after that.

I want Victoria to know that there are so many people out there that care about her. That care about her being HERE. The love that her Nana and I express for her is so powerful. We are the lucky ones. We are Victoria's hip grandmothers.

Hey Grandma Titi! I'm 3 weeks old!!!!

We have finally made it to THREE WEEKS! There is a lot that has gone on in this household. 'Somebody' has decided to start sleeping all day and is awake for most of the night. That does go with our 'former' sleep schedule. It was just my daughter and me when we would sleep til noon on weekends and at least nine during the weekdays. Ahhh what a change. And I am positive there will be more changes to come. The constipation she was experiencing has 'hopefully' come to an end. See, I was told that she has acid reflux. The pediatrician gave us the medicine she needed and because of the reflux that cleared up, her constipation went away. Thank goodness she can now lay comfortably in her swing and has stopped making those painful-looking facial expressions. Shaddow finally met her first hand. We have been leaving her blankets and spit-up rags out in the open for weeks so that he can smell her scent. Shaddow is a very, very good cat with an awesome disposition. We are very lucky to have

him. He did, however walked up to her swing (while she was in it) and smelled her hand. We watched him closely to see what he will do. What he did next surprised me. He started smelling her hand then rubbed his face on her hand. That means that he accepts her into his 'group' of 'fellow felines'. lol We took a picture of him during his meeting with her...then casually walked away. I believe we are still in the 'danger zone' for an infant. Every little fever or jolt that she has makes me jump. She is also trying to focus with her eyes. She seems to know both her parents. And the other day my daughter was holding her, I called to Victoria and she turned her head in my direction. I hope that means something.

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!

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.”

What? Grandmothers and more Grandmothers!

It seems like EVERYONE loves their grandmother. I had a grandmother once. He had a grandmother once. She had a grandmother once. Grandmothers are a very important part of society. Lets rejoice and celebrate how wonderful it is to be a grandmother. After all, they are known to display humor as well as passing the baton to their children for giving birth to 'our reason for living'. Here are a few examples of 'the humorous grandmother'. Just to let you kiddies know, we still can be funny as well as responsible. Ok. Ok. So that wasn't THAT responsible. But it was funny! No one would expect that from a 'little ol' lady' (which I am not!) But it shows you, my faithful follower that Grandmothers can have a humorous side to them.We love our children's children and want to spend as much time as God will allow to see them grow. This especially goes for holidays. I am lucky enough to have my daughter live with me. So that means I will have my grand daughter live with me! Yay! Yes, having the two of them live with me will have many ups and downs but knowing they both have a safe roof over their head and food in their bellies is the utmost importance. While she finishes college, I can make sure everything else is taken care of. Of course, my energy level has gotten lower in the past few years..but I will find a way to regain that much-needed energy. Maybe this next clip can shed some light on regaining strength that I thought I've lost so many years ago with the Fibromyalgia! Grandmothers are a very important part of the family (even more-so now). In my family, the grandmother is the Matriarch and her word is law (or at least, considered). As a Native American proverb says, "Treat the Earth well, it was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children."

Day of Dread: Getting a Glucose Test at 7 months pregnant

Aaarrrgggh! I am not a morning person but today is a very important day for my daughter and grand daughter's life to get her Glucose tested at a Knoxville hospital. I was seriously dreading this day. Dragging herself out of bed only to run on a few hours of sleep, my daughter comes in my room to wake me up five minutes before the alarm goes off. Crawling out of the warm covers, I reach for my glasses and turn off the alarm before it starts blaring. My daughter is in a pretty good mood this morning at 6 am which is rather surprising to me. We both prepared Mommy (seven month preggers)for this day by making sure we set our clothes out the night before; took our showers and made sure we crossed our “T's” and dotted our “I's”. My mother, who plays a pivotal role in our lives, texted to tell us she was on her way to pick us up to bring us to the hospital in the city. “Omw” read the text from one of my best friends. I locked the door to my apartment while my daughter ran downstairs with her purse and lunch in hand. She was instructed to fast and hasn't eaten since midnight last night so I wanted to prepare a small lunch for her. We found a parking spot in the garage next to the hospital. Although my daughter was in a rather up-beat mood, she mentioned that she wasn't looking forward to the orange concoction that she had to drink and the nurse drawing blood from her arm by the hour. She started the test at 8 am and ended at 11:30 am. Although it was grueling for her while we waited in the lobby, I could imagine how grueling it must be for her not being able to eat anything. When my daughter drank the orange Glucose drink, my grand daughter jumped back and forth, rolling around as if she was doing jumping jacks or somersaults. She was very active and it wasn't hard to see why. Hours later, my daughter is warm in her bed taking a nap after eating a submarine sandwich from Publix supermarket. We stopped there on the way home from the hospital to get her a favorite meal of hers. The dreaded day is finally over.

For the love of a sister

One of the most precious, genuine and melancholy relationships one can ever have will be with a sibling. If you attain one of these, your life will be filled with ups and downs but through it all, there is always someone who 'knows you best'. Having a sister would make most relationships with other women very humdrum. She is always there on a rainy day, always there to see your triumphs and let-downs throughout your life. My sister came into my life on a cold day in December while I was a 6 year old tomboy. I was so upset when my parents explained to me that they were going to welcome another bundle of joy in the family unit. I knew then that I had to start sharing my toys, offer hand-me-downs and learn how to deal with another type of personality. It was actually a good thing. I remember that I could hardly put her down when my mother allowed me to hold her on the couch. I used to rock her while she was in her bassinet with my foot while my mother was preparing dinner. I loved her more and more with each rocking of the foot. I was well into the year of kindergarten. I loved my family, friends and life.Baby in tub Throughout the years of having a little sister was a very different experience. While she was just starting kindergarten herself, she was instructed to learn the basics, for instance, counting to 10, alphabet in the english language, color, etc. Our mother was a single parent which in turn, labelled us as 'latch key' kids of the 1980s. As the eldest child, I was instructed to walk my siblings home from the bus stop, make sure they finish their homework, clean the house the best I can,make simple dinners for them and (at times) make sure they take a bath and get prepared for the next day of school. Because of my attentiveness to my little sister's needs, she walked into her first day of kindergarten with the knowledge of being able to count to one-hundred, knew her ABCs, knew how to differentiate between primary and secondary colors and could read and construct a few sentences at command. Not only did she benefit from this experience seeing her grow mentally, but I grew as well. Fast forward to October 1987. I was in high school while she was in middle school. Our mother was still the glue that held my siblings together. I was still in charge of making sure everyone came home from school with all the other responsibilities that was mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, I was stricken with a stroke at the tender age of sixteen. My siblings had thought they had lost their big sister, especially my little sister. While I lay in bed, she wouldn't know what to say or how to act towards me. Things were different between us. Physically, I am the big sister and she is the little sister. Unfortunately, from a mental aspect, she was the big sister. Most of the intellect that I have acquired over the years had left me in a vegetated state. As the months and years went by, I slowly regained my intelligence again, because of her. She was the one who would read with me, re-taught me the alphabet, re-taught me how to count, re-taught me how to differentiate between my primary and secondary colors and re-construct a few sentences at command. So if it weren't for her, I would not be here to tell you my story.

An open letter to my grand daughter Victoria Renee

My darling first grand daughter,

As I sit here anxiously waiting for your arrival, there are so many things I want to be able to introduce to you. This world, having so much negativity, also has an equal amount (depending how you view it) of so many positive things that surround us in our daily lives. I can not wait for you to have this wonderful opportunity to discover the many prospects in this life.

You are only 9 ounces now, but soon when you arrive, you will meet the family that loves you so much. I can not wait to finally hold you in my arms. I often wonder what you are going to looks like, who you are going to be when you grow up, and how you are going to view this wonderful world we live in. Believe me, it is wonderful and I hope you benefit from all the great things that are headed your way. My wish for you most of all is having great health, a positive perspective on all living things and knowing the difference between right and wrong in every situation.

We found out that you are a female on October 18th. The waiting room was filled with people that love you so much. As we walked into the ultrasound room, (room number 6), your Mommy and Daddy were together. Mommy laid on the bed while the technician started searching for your gender. It was hard because you wiggled around so much, mommy even commented that you couldn't settle down.

Finally we were able to see three little lines. Mommy and Daddy held hands while the ultrasound technician waved her magic wand across Mommy's tummy. Everything was great and in working order! A healthy baby girl!

Welcome to this beautiful world! Always remember your grandmother loves you so much! I can't wait to finally meet you!

Grandma Titi