Goodbye, Grandma

My grandma passed away a couple of days ago. She lived a long life, and I'm glad she's not in pain anymore, but it's definitely a change. 

When we booked our flight to go to California for the memorial service, my dad mentioned how it was strange, because normally one of the first things he would do once we made travel arrangements was to let her know we were coming down. She liked to know what was going on, and she liked bringing people - especially family - together.

Changed Plans

This past week was going to be awesome. It was going to include scoring tons of adorable baby clothes at a fantastic price, dinner with one of my best friends and her husband, a baby shower, a visit from a friend from Jr. High and then a trip to the zoo. At least that was the plan...until I threw out my back hours before the baby clothes sale. It was bad. I could barely walk.

So instead my week was spent alternating between lying down and walking around, and disappointing a 16-month-old that kept running up to mommy, expecting to be held. Needless to say, I was disappointed too.

I don't know why this happened this weekend instead of one where I didn't have any plans. But I thought it might help to make a list of the positive things about the situation:

Nothing Extremely Profound

Well, it's been almost 7 months since I've updated this blog. It's funny, because the longer I wait to update, the more pressure I feel to write something really profound. But in the end, I usually just start typing and letting my stream of consciousness come out. And because I still have a tendency to fight bedtime, this usually happens when I'm tired and should be going to bed. Anyway...

7 months. Even though it's gone by quickly, when you live with a toddler, 7 months is a long time. It's the difference between struggling to maneuver your body to reach a toy that's just out of reach and running around the house, giggling as Mommy or Daddy chases you. Or being able to clearly communicate what you're curious about, excited by or want to have, even though words are limited to a single consonant and vowel.

Despite times I wish I could just leave her lying on a blanket or move something out of sight so she'd forget about it, I absolutely love this age! It's so much fun to be able to interact with her and catch a glimpse of what's going on in her head, like when she references a song we were singing earlier or starts pretend playing. Needless to say, I'm still really enjoying being a mom!

Okay, as a side note, as soon as I wrote that last sentence guess who woke up and started crying for me, reminding me that even "my time" isn't my own. Perfect timing, as usual :)

Anyway, I feel like we're in one of those moments where everything is perfect. Or at least as perfect as it can be. Of course there are days I feel drained or moments I get frustrated that someone isn't cooperating, but for the time being we're in a good place. I have no idea what's coming up next, so I may as well enjoy where we are now, right?

So besides having fun with our 16-month-old, what else is going on?

• Work is going well. I've especially been enjoying recording my first vlogs (video blogs). You can see some of them here, and make sure you check back on Monday. I'm really happy with how that one turned out. I'm also excited about a new account I just started working on. It's still in the very early stages, but once I can tell you more about it I will.
• Matt's job is going well too. His schedule has been working well with balancing against mine, meaning we're still fortunate that we don't need to worry about childcare. Even when his schedule switches around in the summer, we can still make it work without needing to totally change my schedule.
• And although our schedule is somewhat busy with the whole work and parenting thing, we've been able to find time for family nights, socializing with friends and occasional date nights, too. I think that's one big thing that's been particularly helpful for us.
• We're also still very active at church. It's so fun to see how comfortable the little girl has gotten. The last few weeks she hasn't even complained when I've dropped her off in her class! Hopefully that will continue, although I expect it will take some adjusting when she moves up to the next class in May (once she's 18 months).

So I guess that's all I have for now. I should probably head to bed - I do need to be up in 5 and a half hours. But I'm excited to see what comes next and think this summer will be really fun, with trips to the park, friends and family visiting, vacation in California for a week, etc.

On that note, here are a few pictures. Good night!