Another Adventure in Sacramento
There we were, lucky grandparents that we are, heading last week for Sacramento again to help with grandbabies. You might remember reading about some of my adventures (see blog entry: Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This) the last time we helped with the little ones. To set the stage, it might help you to know that I've been fighting a bug for a month. I call it the "cough and guck" bug. Although I'm surviving its onslaught, my energy level is compromised, and I'm ready to get back to my normal, healthy self.
Anyway, when we're at Chris & Rich's house, Neil sleeps on an Army cot with a mattress on top, and I sleep on the sectional couch, which is long enough for me and quite comfy. Of course, I share it with the dogs, who come and go during the night as the spirit moves, but at least I'm never lonely or cold.
On the second night, Chris & Neil made me stay up 'till 10:30 watching funny TV shows. That was a stretch for my tired self, and when I staggered to my couch/bed, I found to my dismay that one of those sweet little puppy dogs had sprinkled my bed, so to speak. Setting the couch cushions on the back patio to air out and remaking the bed with clean bedding, we set the wet sheets & poncho liner on top of the washer for laundry detail in the morning. I was thankful that at least the dog sprinkled rather than baptized my Baptist bed!
On Friday, just before we left to pick up the little ones from daycare, Neil tapped the dogs' water dish with the tip of his toe enough to splash water on the floor. Grabbing a large towel and a kitchen mat, I sopped it up and dashed out to the car to get to daycare to rescue our babies. Within an hour of returning home, while I was working on dinner, Trisha crawled across the kitchen floor behind me, and . . . you guessed it! She grabbed the very same water dish before I could get to her and dumped the rest of the water across the floor. More mats to the rescue -- which then all needed washing, of course.
That third night was Friday. Rich had been gone since Wednesday morning to a convention in the mid-west, and Christy had left for a retreat at Lake Tahoe when school was out on Friday, so Neil and I were on our own with their two cutie bugs: Jon (3 ½) and Trisha (9 months). We'd picked them up from daycare, gotten them safely home, fed them dinner, and everything was going well when Trisha had -- hhhmmmm, how do I put this delicately? Trisha had a runny, messy, very smelly, pooey britch.
Calling to Neil to run water in the bathtub for Jon, my plan was to put Trisha into the tub with him and get them both nice and clean. But I took a risk, deciding to pick her up and walk her to the bathroom sans diaper. While we waited for the water to run, her water ran . . . all over my shirt, onto my pants, and right down my leg. After adding my wet clothes to the stack on top of the washer, I set Trisha's tiny buns into the bathroom sink, ran the water, and bathed her right where she was. She loved it!
Bedtime went well. Jon is a treasure and goes to bed so easily. Some hugs and snuggles, a book or two, prayers . . . and he's good to go. Trisha wasn't much harder, and soon both were sound asleep. Whew! Deciding to hit the sack ourselves, in case the little ones awoke in the night, Neil settled down in Chris & Rich's bed, door closed, while the puppies and I settled onto our cozy couch. I was just beginning to drift off when I heard a weird sound. Although I thought it was the yippy, yappy little dog next door, I decided to check on the babies.
Alas, the sound had been Trisha throwing up. There sat our sweet little girl with not a drop on her jammies, but sadly not the same could be said for her hair. YUK! Into the bathroom I go with a smiling (no kidding) little girl, where I gently wiped off her head. Almost done, I heard a little cough, and WHOOP! There it was again -- yuk all over her and wet, smelly splotches of it on me. Calling twice for Neil, I realized that he'd not likely hear my pleas for help, with the bedroom door closed and his hearing aids out. Anyway, what could he do to help that I couldn't do myself?
Changing her clothes and listening to her coo, I couldn't help but marvel at this child's amazingly sweet disposition. If I'd just upchucked twice, I'd neither be smiling nor cooing, believe me!
We settled into the rocker in the living room to see how things would go, so to speak. We'd probably not been snuggling for more than twenty minutes, when the now-familiar little cough came yet again. Holding the burp cloth under her chin and running for the bathroom, I held her over the sink and actually saved her clean outfit and my own already somewhat spotted attire from further smelly substance splatter.
Back again to the recliner . . . and cough #4 hit, but thankfully, it was minor and catchable, after which we settled down for a nice long, quiet, uneventful snuggle, ending at 12:30 when I put that sweet little munchkin back into her crib (now stripped of its wet sheet and covered with a clean liner) where she slept peacefully the rest of the night. I, of course, collapsed into bed, grateful that the upchuck ordeal was over.
The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful -- doing laundry, a great trip to the zoo, lunch and play at McDonald's, four messy diapers by Trisha that afternoon, doing laundry, bike riding, patio sweeping and gate building both done with Jon's able help, cooking and cleaning (also done with Jon's help), and did I mention doing laundry?
There is nothing quite like spending time with the world's sweetest little ones, and we are convinced that Trisha and Jon are certainly, along with our little Mea (now 10), at the top of the list of wonderful, sweet, easy-to-be-with kids. We are totally blessed.
One more thing: sometimes those sweet little ones come up with cute and funny things. As indicated, I've been struggling with a "cough & guck" bug. Sometimes, the coughing just won't quit, and that happened several times this weekend. There I sat, coughing my guts and lungs out, when little Jon looked up at me and said, "Grammy, is your mouth broken?" It cracked me up!! Sadly, sometimes laughter is not the best medicine, and his humor sent me into yet another paroxysm of hacking, but it was worth it all to spend time with these precious gifts from God!!
Anyway, when we're at Chris & Rich's house, Neil sleeps on an Army cot with a mattress on top, and I sleep on the sectional couch, which is long enough for me and quite comfy. Of course, I share it with the dogs, who come and go during the night as the spirit moves, but at least I'm never lonely or cold.
On the second night, Chris & Neil made me stay up 'till 10:30 watching funny TV shows. That was a stretch for my tired self, and when I staggered to my couch/bed, I found to my dismay that one of those sweet little puppy dogs had sprinkled my bed, so to speak. Setting the couch cushions on the back patio to air out and remaking the bed with clean bedding, we set the wet sheets & poncho liner on top of the washer for laundry detail in the morning. I was thankful that at least the dog sprinkled rather than baptized my Baptist bed!
On Friday, just before we left to pick up the little ones from daycare, Neil tapped the dogs' water dish with the tip of his toe enough to splash water on the floor. Grabbing a large towel and a kitchen mat, I sopped it up and dashed out to the car to get to daycare to rescue our babies. Within an hour of returning home, while I was working on dinner, Trisha crawled across the kitchen floor behind me, and . . . you guessed it! She grabbed the very same water dish before I could get to her and dumped the rest of the water across the floor. More mats to the rescue -- which then all needed washing, of course.
That third night was Friday. Rich had been gone since Wednesday morning to a convention in the mid-west, and Christy had left for a retreat at Lake Tahoe when school was out on Friday, so Neil and I were on our own with their two cutie bugs: Jon (3 ½) and Trisha (9 months). We'd picked them up from daycare, gotten them safely home, fed them dinner, and everything was going well when Trisha had -- hhhmmmm, how do I put this delicately? Trisha had a runny, messy, very smelly, pooey britch.
Calling to Neil to run water in the bathtub for Jon, my plan was to put Trisha into the tub with him and get them both nice and clean. But I took a risk, deciding to pick her up and walk her to the bathroom sans diaper. While we waited for the water to run, her water ran . . . all over my shirt, onto my pants, and right down my leg. After adding my wet clothes to the stack on top of the washer, I set Trisha's tiny buns into the bathroom sink, ran the water, and bathed her right where she was. She loved it!
Bedtime went well. Jon is a treasure and goes to bed so easily. Some hugs and snuggles, a book or two, prayers . . . and he's good to go. Trisha wasn't much harder, and soon both were sound asleep. Whew! Deciding to hit the sack ourselves, in case the little ones awoke in the night, Neil settled down in Chris & Rich's bed, door closed, while the puppies and I settled onto our cozy couch. I was just beginning to drift off when I heard a weird sound. Although I thought it was the yippy, yappy little dog next door, I decided to check on the babies.
Alas, the sound had been Trisha throwing up. There sat our sweet little girl with not a drop on her jammies, but sadly not the same could be said for her hair. YUK! Into the bathroom I go with a smiling (no kidding) little girl, where I gently wiped off her head. Almost done, I heard a little cough, and WHOOP! There it was again -- yuk all over her and wet, smelly splotches of it on me. Calling twice for Neil, I realized that he'd not likely hear my pleas for help, with the bedroom door closed and his hearing aids out. Anyway, what could he do to help that I couldn't do myself?
Changing her clothes and listening to her coo, I couldn't help but marvel at this child's amazingly sweet disposition. If I'd just upchucked twice, I'd neither be smiling nor cooing, believe me!
We settled into the rocker in the living room to see how things would go, so to speak. We'd probably not been snuggling for more than twenty minutes, when the now-familiar little cough came yet again. Holding the burp cloth under her chin and running for the bathroom, I held her over the sink and actually saved her clean outfit and my own already somewhat spotted attire from further smelly substance splatter.
Back again to the recliner . . . and cough #4 hit, but thankfully, it was minor and catchable, after which we settled down for a nice long, quiet, uneventful snuggle, ending at 12:30 when I put that sweet little munchkin back into her crib (now stripped of its wet sheet and covered with a clean liner) where she slept peacefully the rest of the night. I, of course, collapsed into bed, grateful that the upchuck ordeal was over.
The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful -- doing laundry, a great trip to the zoo, lunch and play at McDonald's, four messy diapers by Trisha that afternoon, doing laundry, bike riding, patio sweeping and gate building both done with Jon's able help, cooking and cleaning (also done with Jon's help), and did I mention doing laundry?
There is nothing quite like spending time with the world's sweetest little ones, and we are convinced that Trisha and Jon are certainly, along with our little Mea (now 10), at the top of the list of wonderful, sweet, easy-to-be-with kids. We are totally blessed.
One more thing: sometimes those sweet little ones come up with cute and funny things. As indicated, I've been struggling with a "cough & guck" bug. Sometimes, the coughing just won't quit, and that happened several times this weekend. There I sat, coughing my guts and lungs out, when little Jon looked up at me and said, "Grammy, is your mouth broken?" It cracked me up!! Sadly, sometimes laughter is not the best medicine, and his humor sent me into yet another paroxysm of hacking, but it was worth it all to spend time with these precious gifts from God!!
posted by Patty @ 8:27 PM
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