Brooklyn and Her Stocking

Sometimes the strangest events can lead to the most unexpected pleasures.

After an absolutely fabulous weekend filled with family and festivities, Sunday afternoon Keith and I sat and blinked in the quiet of our house. Decided that we might as well get some shopping done and when we got back we heard from the kids that the heater had gone out in their house. Obviously it was too cold to stay there, so they gathered up the baby and the dog and came to our house to spend the night. Lynne' heard this and decided to spend another night at home. An unexpected blessing for this mama to have her whole family here, right after the other part of the family had just left. :)

We really did try to get Brooklyn in the house and right back to sleep, but she opened her eyes, saw Grandma and gave me a great big grin. That melted my heart and I couldn't help but grin right back at her...and that was the start of a bit of time where the little one wasn't really interested in going back to sleep. So I held her, rocked her, sang to her (Brooklyn thought Grandma's singing was funny!) and finally Loni got her to sleep.

That was one unexpected pleasure, getting to have all my family here. The second was the next morning and will sound strange. We got up and of course the guys were headed to their house to get the heater working. Loni had a dental appointment. And Brooklyn woke up sick. She had the typical cold symptoms and was wheezing while drinking a bottle. So I got to take her to the doctor! And that's what I meant by a strange sounding unexpected pleasure. I have to admit that I enjoyed this time with my granddaughter immensely.

I have a LOT of respect for young mothers - there's lots of juggling involved taking a baby to the doctor! We parked at the building and I slung the diaper bag and purse on my shoulder while looking at Brooklyn sitting in her car seat. I finally decided that carrying her in the car seat would probably be too heavy, so I reached in and plucked her out of the seat. This little princess surely does cuddle well. :)

We did make it in to the doctor's office and got checked in, which included them making a copy of the permission slip my son had written. My how the tables turn as you get older. No more am I writing permission slips for my children. Instead they are writing permission slips for me!

As we sat in the lobby waiting to be called back to the doctor's office, I loved on the baby, kissing her, telling her how much I love her and laughing with her. A mom across from me asked how old my baby was and I told her it was my granddaughter and that she is 5 months old. She smiled and said it makes sense that this was my grandchild - she just thought that this mom really loved this baby! Now, we've had many a conversation over this woman's statement. Most mamas I know love and kiss on their babies as well, so it seemed like such a strange thing to say. Oh well!

Turns out the poor baby has a sinus infection and got her first breathing treatment (lots more grandma singing involved during that as well!). It was great to meet the pediatrician and see how much she either genuinely cares for Brooklyn or puts on a good act. And of course Brooklyn grinned and played with the doctor the whole time.

The picture was taken at the discount store where Loni and I went to get Brooklyn's prescriptions filled. She's playing with her new stocking, the one that sings and has moving antlers and bells. Because nothing says Christmas quite like that! We all three had so much fun with the stocking and since she was so delighted with it that pretty well clinched the stocking choice.

And now my house is quiet again. And I am missing my family. :)