My My, How Time Flies!

This Granny has been so busy with Football season starting for the boy, and the exciting entry into entrepreneurship, we haven't been as chatty as we had hoped! I am excited to announce the launch of my new business, The Candeo Agency, offering all types of marketing support for Small Businesses - what a road it has been, but we're finally live!  I invite you to take a gander over to our new website and check it out - give me your feedback, I would really appreciate it!

I promise I will back-log some entries to share some of our favorite milestones and granny projects.  A couple of things to look forward (or, rather, backward!) to are:
Santa Baby
Meeting Dad for the first time
The Cloth Diaper Project
Head Gear!
Kiddie Pools and Sunbonnets
The Great Outdoors
Meeting Great Grandpa and Great Great Grandma (the picture will melt your heart!)
Our First Guitar Lesson
We hate puppies (wait, we love them! No, we hate them!)
The Princess and the Cardboard Castle
We're learning to Walk!

So stay tuned - we promise you won't be disappointed!


~The Young Granny

P.S. I'm a little miffed that when you Google 'The Young Granny' - you get my site mixed in with a bunch of porn! Yikes!! Maybe we should rethink the name??

A Granny By Any Other Name

I know it may sound vain, but I feel like I'm too young to be called 'Grandma'!  The name itself invokes images of cotton ball hairstyles, orthopedic shoes, and housecoats. The problem is, I really want to be a good grandma - you know, the kind that bakes cookies, decorates for every holiday and throws half-birthday parties! Ok..so maybe that was just my grandma.  I guess I want to be grandma without being called grandma, so that leaves me with a bit of a connundrum.  What should the baby call me? Oh, I know - she's too young to call me anything just yet!  But when we babble at the babies, we refer to ourselves as something, right? That's how they learn!

I have found no shortage of material on the subject - so I guess I'm far from the only one in this pickle.  Heck, there are websites designating pages upon pages about this issue, and boy are there some crazy grandparent names out there!  I just can't see being called Snuggums, Momsy or GeezerGirl (no offense to those who are!), nor do I want to be the ultra-trendy Glamma, GG, or Lola.  But on the other hand I'm not so sure about Grandma, Granny or Nana. 

I guess I wouldn't mind being called Grammy, but that is the nickname I have for my Dad's mom. My daughter is convinced the baby will call me 'Mimi' - which is adorable! But confusing. Around my house, mimi is a term we use for sleepytime, picked up from my Latina friend when my kids were small. Ack!  Well, I suppose when the time is right, that little bundle of love will decide what she wants to call me. Until then, I guess I'll just be...

The Young Granny! 

Princess Avelyn makes her grand debut!

On Wednesday afternoon, the doctor stripped my daughter's membranes in the hopes of moving the labor along. (After months of bedrest for pre-term labor, who would have imagined we'd end up here!?) She said it didn't hurt, wasn't even really uncomfortable, but later that night she noticed a difference in the intensity of the contractions (which had already been 5-7 min apart for the past several weeks).

The next morning it was business as usual - she was uncomfortable, but not any more than she had been.  After work, we decided to go watch my son's JV football game to get her out of the house. About halfway through the game, she looked at me and said - "These are really starting to hurt, Mom..but I don't wanna go to the hospital just to get sent home again." It was about 8:00. We watched the game a little more, and after watching her flinch and squirm more and more, I finally convinced her that we should go get her checked out.

We got to the hospital a little after 9:00 pm, and when they checked her progress she was already at 5cm!  We were both so excited and relieved that it was finally going to happen! The next few hours were pretty uneventful.  She decided she wanted to forego any medication, so we walked around the halls - some close friends stopped in to check on her - but it was pretty quiet.  At about 2am I thought that maybe the jacuzzi tub might help keep her comfortable through the contractions, which were still not all that bad. Let me tell you, I think that was the game changer!!  At first she was relaxed, the warm water and bubbles felt good, and then in an instant everything was irritating her - the water felt cold, the bubbles were annoying, the position was uncomfortable - so I helped her out.  The contractions started getting real intense, real fast!  By 3:30 she was dilated to 10, and pushing!  At 4:16 I witnessed the miracle of life as I watched my first grandbaby enter the world....and I got to cut the cord. *tears*

Avelyn Mae entered the world on Friday, September 21, 2012 at 4:16 am.

And my life will never be the same. :)

This is pretty much where we're at...

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/g/gives_birth.asp

Operation Dumbo Drop!

I'm happy to report that after 2 months of bed-rest, medication, and multiple trips to the hospital - we've passed the danger zone! Actually, at this point, we are way past the danger zone. In fact, we've crept into the 'When the hell is this baby gonna be born!?!' zone.

I suppose my impatience probably has more to do with the fact that I've been saving my vacation time since I found out she was expecting, so I REALLY need a day off! Is that selfish? Okay...maybe a little. *shrugs*

Being the mama of 2 early arrivals, I am completely in the dark about this stage of pregnancy. My first was born at 28 weeks, my second at 35, so this is looking more and more like the blind leading the blind! 'Mom, what can we do to get this labor moving?' For me, I just stood up and the baby was trying to escape, so I have NO CLUE! Nothing seems to work: walking, jogging, pineapple, warm baths, yoga - poor thing is just miserable! (I've already played the 'see what happens when you have sex?' card - it's no longer any fun!)

This is starting to feel like the longest pregnancy in the history of pregnancies! With her being trapped in the house, it kinda feels like I've been grounded too! (Oh, what I wouldn't do for a glass of wine!) I've already reassured her that in the history of mankind, no woman has been reported to have been pregnant forever, it just feels that way. Although if this keeps up, she may have to start kindergarten in-utero.

Now, I know this isn't *really* the longest pregnancy. Elephants have been known to go a little bit longer, right? She is full-term, baby has reached her birth weight and all systems are fully developed - so let's get this show on the road! I WANNA MEET THAT BABY!

So this weekend, as you probably enjoy another mild, fall weekend, we're embarking on a mission. It's been appropriately dubbed 'Operation Dumbo Drop'.

What did you do to get labor moving along? Did anything work? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!


~the granny

WTF Baby Products

Alright, so I know it's been a few years since my kids were babies, but I am simply blown away by some of the products they are trying to sell new parents! These are just a few of the WTF products I have come across since I started scouring the internet for new baby swag.  I hope you enjoy our little stroll through the Twilight Zone!

 These here are neat little cubes you can have created from the 3D image of your fetus!  This is even creepier than those 'reborn' baby dolls.  On the other hand, you could always chill it and pop it in a friend's drink! What a conversation piece at a dinner party, no??

 "Just sit on the blue head and poop, sweetie.  No, he won't eat your butt, I promise!" Me thinks this would hinder potty training more than it would help.

 Now THIS is a product I completely get!  Anybody who knows me will understand, and I hope I get a couple of these in my stocking this year! ;)

 Ah, yes.  Anything that will take the effort out of teaching a child to walk.  And as an added bonus, you don't even have to touch the sticky little monster!  Yikes - is this the polar opposite of attachment parenting?

 Why let your toddler figure out how to keep their balance and avoid walking into things?  Just pop a helmet on their little noggins so they can keep weeble wobbling around without ever having to feel the stinging pain of the real world. And when they get to kindergarden, they can graduate to a life-size bubble!

 A bite counter? For the parent who's child just isn't OCD enough yet. Look for our other Mommy Dearest products,  the pea slicer, the grape peeler and the wire hanger alarm in stores near you!

 "Lug-a-Bucket, hands free, so you can carry your child without actually touching them." Because the extra 10 lbs of car seat is worth the convenience of never having to feel their sweet little warm body snuggled next to yours.

Wait, this isn't a goofy product at all!  I would absolutely put these on my granddaughter. Note to self: add to wishlist!

Hey, that little rugrat has to earn her keep, right? I suppose I'll only be able to put it on her when mama's not around...the whole child labor thing and all. shhhhhh.....

 Ok...I had a hard time even writing about this without gagging!  With this disgusting little contraption, you put it in the baby's nose and the other part goes in your mouth. Seriously, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth!

 Keep your head up, kid!  Because a nice, tight plastic ring around the neck is so much safer than floaties! This one is completely lost on me...

 For some reason, this product just brought flashbacks of The Hangover...

 Umm....I think this works a little like a tire gauge, without the little measurement stick popping out. Just make sure and point it away from your nose!

 Is it just me, or does anyone else love the smell of a clean baby, fresh out of the bath?  No? Then this is for you. Just remember, this is NOT a bath in a bottle!

 Is your baby getting bullied at pre-school?  Toughen him up with a baby tattoo!  All the other little 2 year olds will cower in fear. Heck, your little one might turn the tables and end up with their lunch money - or at least an extra serving of strained carrots.

 In it never occurred to you to use the clean diaper to prevent pee in the face, here's a nice little money waster!

Ah yes! No layette is complete without a wiglet for your little piglet. If you've ever found yourself lost at a reggae concert and wanted to fit in? We've got you covered! Toddler & Tiara pageant, perfect fit! Trying to sneak into the penthouse at Trump Tower? Nobody will be the wiser!

Call me if ya need me!

As I walked out of the house this morning, I called out my usual 'Call me if ya need me!  Try not to need me!' My kids usually giggle or roll their eyes because, obviously, they are way too mature to need their mother.  Unless of course they actually end up *needing* their mother.

Recently that has been altogether too often, and for the worst reasons!  Over the past six weeks, we've spent 3 Fridays and nearly every weekend patronizing the local Labor & Delivery department.  This is in addition to her twice-a-week visits for non-stress testing, once-a-week visits for birthing classes, and a few extra during-the-week visits thrown in for good measure. I'm tired, my daughter's tired.  Thankfully, she's been checked, double checked and given the 'thumbs up' to head home....and continue her prescription for bed rest and boredom.

Evil mother that I am, every time we hop back in the car, heading to the hospital for another bout of unrelenting contractions, spotting, and dull lower-back pain, with a twinkle in my eye I tell her, only half sarcastically, "This is what happens when you have sex!"  And she rolls her eyes again.

We've still got about 7 weeks left. This weekend, I just hope we can stay home. :)