Time has just flown by – Paisley and Griffin keep us hopping. They greet us every morning with incredible enthusiasm; jumping up and down and lots of noise – even though we usually were there the night before. Julie has started her home pre-school. Right now, it has just Paisley and Griffin for students, but after the baby comes, her friend’s children will be joining. I serve as Teacher Aide Nana while Doug does double duty as Grandpa Lunch Lady and Janitor. The children have already adjusted to their new routine. Learning and activities meld with some playtime. We all enjoy school!
Jake thought the baby was coming on September 8th; I think maybe today September 10th. Doug says maybe tomorrow – Friday. Of course, the baby will come when he wants to. Julie has had a tough pregnancy primarily complicated by COVID and now the wildfires have made the air quality so bad the kids can’t play outside. Everything seems harder. So, in some manner she wants Beckham to come but there is still an underlying worry that she is bringing a newborn into a pandemic. How scary is that? But she and the baby are doing well, and we are confident that soon we will be cuddling another sweet one.
We are keeping as safe as possible – doing grocery pick-up instead of going in the store. Wow, I am horrible at this. Apparently, I am a visual shopper. I need to see the items and touch them – I try but every trip I miss something. And because we are at Julie’s most days, I find that even with the greatest effort on my part whatever I’m trying to make for a meal is lacking an important ingredient that is at the RV or vice versa. My confidence in being able to produce meals for my family is waning.
We did manage to have a small socially distant, mask-wearing family gathering in Julie’s backyard. To keep everyone safe, I made everything in individual portions in cups. We gave everyone an aluminum tray and they went around the table and picked up their food – little tacos, tiny pizzas, deli wraps, cream cheese swirls, and s’mores, brownies, pineapple cake and strawberry short cakes. It was great to see everyone and the food turned out to be a bit hit. Jake and Julie have decided not to have their usual welcoming party for the new baby so this will be the last family interaction for a while.
Julie’s friends hosted a “Sprinkle” for her – a small, intimate “baby shower” with six attendees. I felt lucky to be with her and meeting her friends was wonderful. What amazing young women, coping with raising children during this difficult time. Their struggles are hard, but they manage to come up with creative solutions to give their children a good life even in a weird time.
We had a small 98th birthday party for Doug’s dad. We stopped by in the afternoon and Doug’s sister stopped by later. We spent some precious time with him. We also celebrated our 33rd anniversary COVID style with a car picnic!
We have been getting out on some adventures about once a week – walks in the woods, a morning at the river beach, picnic lunches at Champoeg State Park and a few other places. Lots of neighborhood walks and scootering. Jake works from home most of the time with occasional meetings at school so we can mostly all be together. We are all enjoying this time and know that we are lucky to be able to do this.
Griffin eats a lot of goldfish crackers and Paisley loves unicorns and tutus. We play with kinetic sand and magnatiles. We paint, color and create with play-doh. It’s a beautiful life!
Our next post will announce the birth of the baby!
You are so blessed to be able to spend time with two, and soon, three, of your grandchildren.💕💕