Happy People

Here I am!
Signed, sealed, delivered,
I'm yours!
~Stevie Wonder

Ha!

Are y'all thinking about the past year? Thinking about what the coming year could mean? Changes yes?

I read an article a few minutes ago (and promptly Pinterested it -yeah, I said it!) about the things that happy people do differently. One of the things was be in the moment.

It sounds so simple. Aren't we all in that moment? I mean, I'm there aren't I? How could I not be in the moment? After the moments, after things are quiet and I'm left to my thoughts I realize many times that I was forward-thinking. "Oh! I never lit the candles!" "Oh! If I were a size or so smaller I could have worn that cute outfit!" "Oh! What is the next hilarious thing I want to say?"

Yesterday I watched my little tater-tot while his parents attended a memorial service for Bella's grandma. I know I could have gone - that great woman had been my mother-in-law for 23 years - but for some reason I did not feel right about it. There were a few logistic reasons I couldn't go, but nothing that I couldn't have figured out. But when Bella asked if I would watch baby KD while they attended the service, I jumped at the chance. Even though she said the other Granny could watch him if I wanted to attend the service.

I said, "No, please, I'll watch the sweet baby."

So KD and I hung out for four hours or so. And I practiced being in the moment. Because everything stops when you look at your first grandchild's face. Everything! It's fantastic. He and I talked about his Great-Grandmomma and how perfect it had been that he got to meet her and how she loved him and was happy for his parents. How blessed he is to have so many people love him.

He listened to every silly thing I said to him. He's a rapt participant right now. He fills me with tears and joy.

Bella said her dad wrote something that she read for him. He talked about the bond between mother and child. How he saw it when he and I had children and now he's seeing it with his own Bella. And how his momma had that bond with her children.

I will think about momma-Sylvia and how she loved her children and how she loved her grandchildren and how she loved her great-grandchildren. It's New Year's Eve and all things are there for us.

Giving Those Loving Gestures

Getting the trees!

Little K (the Baby-Doll) is our beyond-blessing for the year. The year has been full of blessings and I sometimes can't believe how blessed we are. Then I think how we might just deserve our blessings. And why not?

I was at happy hour the other day and I was speaking to a friend. She mentioned something I had done for Pup when she was with us. It was something I did during dinner to make his experience better. Pup is a picky eater and sometimes I ignore his wants, sometimes I cater to his wants, and sometimes I help. I can't worry about him and what he will or won't eat all the time because his eating limits do make me insane, but I love him.

She said she would have wanted to get angry or smack him or get disgusted. I could tell that she thought my helping him in that moment was something she would never do. While she was telling me this I felt a flash of shame. Was what I had done a weakness on my part? Did it make Pup look weak? Was it less than perfect (something I apparently worry about all the time)?

It didn't hit me until days later that what I had done was a loving gesture. That's all. Just a simple, loving gesture. Done in the moment. Only because I love him. It was a good thing. Nothing for me to think twice about. 

Loving gestures. I want to give more of them. To those I love. Not worry how it makes me look. If loving someone and wanting to make something more comfortable in a moment is weak, then I'm wanting to be the weakest!

I see that today. I wish I had seen it then and always.

I will be watching for opportunities to give loving gestures. And why not? It takes nothing away from me and might make me happier.

Merry Christmas my hooches! Are you ready for your own loving gestures?

Minnesota Nice

This the view out of my office window.

It was about 10 below or some horrible temperature. But the sun was shining, the winds were calm, there was fresh snow all about, I was finally wearing my wool, my boots, my grandpa socks, my scarf, and lovely gloves. And putting my beloved Ruby (my Jeep Wrangler) in 4-wheel drive so I stick better on the roads.

4-wheel drive does not make you invincible nor does it keep you from sliding on ice, but you do stick just a bit more in places where you need to stick. Lovely!

It is a gorgeous time of year!

Get happy and invite me to watch!

Dream a Little Dream

you're no good

I had the craziest dream last night. I woke after/during it and thought, "This one is actually worth telling!" But it disappeared this morning. Only the wisp of crazy remains in my memory. Which is good because having to listen to someone else's dream is second only to looking at someone else's vacation photos. Oye to the vey! I like to have a stick in my handbag just for poking out my eyes on such occasions. I have had to hand my sticks to those I have inflicted with my vacation shots. That's the kind of woman I am!

This just reminded me of when I was pregnant with my dear Bella. I had made friends with a neighbor in our fairly isolated rural neighborhood. She was a cousin-in-law of one of our dear friends and while she was not my normal girl, she turned out to be a very good friend at a time I needed another mother to help me along my brand new journey of becoming a momma.

One evening she and he husband invited us over for dinner on a Saturday evening. She had recently had a baby and I was about seven months or so along in my first pregnancy.

After dinner the guys were enjoying an after dinner beer while she dragged out one of those slide projectors people used to have with the circle of photos. She was a talker and I confess to only listening to her half the time on occasion so I wasn't entirely certain what we were going to be looking at.

Suddenly her peek-at-chu came peeking out from the screen. Along with her baby's head poking out of that peek-at-chu. My poor wasband nearly came undone. What the hell? I could hear his unspoken cries. As for me, a very pregnant first timer, it was rather horrifying. My own little baby started doing summersaults in utero in response to my fight or flight adrenalin pouring out.

Along with the slides was a running dialog of the whys, hows, whens and every other unimaginable thing you do not want to know.

This experience scared me so I was seriously dreading when my own babe would pop out into the world. My experience was just fine, but that should have been a lesson to me to not overshare birth experiences. But women can't help themselves. It's a big thing we can do and the stories need to be told.

But maybe not shown.

A Bit of Self-Indulgence

Because . . . because . . . well, because!

I'm trying really hard hooches. So hard to not be annoying. Y'all know that is nigh-on to impossible. In fact, it is absolutely impossible.

So, with that known, please enjoy the adorableness that is a newborn.



Pup and I got to watch Baby Boy-Doll last night while The Little Family went to a movie and dinner. I don't think the two of them had been out of the house except for appointments and Thanksgiving since the Tater-Tot's arrival.

We sat on the couch with him either holding him or sandwiching him between us on the couch. It was heavenly.

And he went through nearly all the outfits his momma packed, all the receiving blankets, and all the bottles. Burping, pooping, peeing, and just generally being adorable.

You can see a little bit how adorable his smiles are going to be when they come. I love this newborn stage.

The Masher

I love this. Look at the way she picks up her britches.