Good-bye Great Grandma Helen

We had the sad news this morning that Great Grandma Helen (or mom or just grandma, depending on your generation) passed away. It was expected, but that did not seem to make it less sad. I was so glad that Kate, my mom and I were all together today. We looked at some pictures and Kate surprised us both by pointing out "Great Gamma Helen." It seemed such a nice sign that Kate will know about her even if she didn't get to spend much time with her in person. Someday, we'll tell Kate all the fantastic, zany and mischievous things Great Gamma did (and, as anyone who knew her knows, there's quite a lot to tell!). As for today, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we spent most of it outside, where Great Grandma would have been on a day like today. We took Kate for a walk along the river, and Kate dug around the apple tree Ryan and my mom planted for Great Grandma. There is something about the joy of the newest generation that does help soften the blow of losing the eldest generation. On a light note, and just to prove that Kate can make me smile on the saddest of days, we stopped by a maternity store that is right by the river trail. I had to take the leap and just buy a swimsuit (who likes to do this, ESPECIALLY when pregnant??) because I want to put Kate in swim lessons this summer. Kate was in the dressing room when I put it on and, without any prompting whatsoever, she looked at me and said, "mommy look good." If she's not perfect, I don't know what is. Grandma used to call me her "SPA" (Smartest Person Alive) and now I feel just that same way about little miss Kate. Great Grandma Helen will be watching her grow and loving every minute of it.

Lost in translation

I got a good lesson today in the literal nature of toddlers. We have a Berenstein Bears book called "New Baby" which I've been reading to her. I loved these books when I was little, but I did notice that either this wasn't one of their best adventures or my tastes have changed because it's, well, a tad weird. Papa Bear takes the Brother Bear out into the woods one day to chop down a tree and there informs him that there will soon be a new baby in their house (which Brother Bear has no inkling of despite Mama Bear's enormous mid-section). By the time they're back from the woods, by golly, there's a NEW BABY right there in the house (about the size of a toddler, mind you) and already with the ability to playfully pop Brother Bear right in the nose. Perhaps in bear country this sort of gestation/birth scenario is quite plausible but in humans, not so much. We all joked that Kate was going to have quite an impression about the birthing process, so we shouldn't have been surprised when she looked at me this morning and said, "I go outside and new baby comes," and "daddy go outside and new baby comes." I told her it wouldn't be happening today because the baby had to spend more time growing in my tummy, to which she demanded that I pull up my shirt and "show her baby." I showed her my belly and she looked at me as disparagingly as a toddler can and said "can't SEE baby, take off skin." All day long, she kept telling me that the new baby was coming when she went outside, so I guess the Berenstein Bears made more of an impression than any of my explanations did. She cleared things up a bit at bedtime, when she looked at me while I was reading to her and said, "new baby go outside. Not now. Cook longer." Hmmm, sounds about right to me!

It's in the genes

To me, my grandma Helen in one of the most tenacious, determined woman ever. I'm happy to say that I think these qualities have been passed on to Kate; everyday, I see shades of my grandma in this pint-sized package. This morning I had to chuckle at the very evident expression of her great-grandma's genes. We went out to take a walk to the mailbox to pick up the newspaper. Kate wanted to carry to watering cans with her. When I suggested she might want to leave them, as the walk in over a half mile round-trip, she said, "I do it myself." I already know that I will not win any battles that include her saying "I do it myself," so I didn't fight it. Lo and behold, she hauled those cans in her tiny hands. We must have been quite a sight: a toddler with two watering cans, a pregnant mommy, five dogs and Frank the cat. How nice to think that I'll see my grandma every day just by looking at my little girl.

A kid's rite of passage

Ryan, Kate and I had a really lovely Mother's Day today, just hanging out with our little family. It's hard to believe that, first, I am a mom at all and, second, that I'm nearly a mom of two!! Unbelievable. It's also my grandma's birthday today, so my went to Salem to spend it with her. We all know that these are grandma Helen's final days, but I thought of her a lot today, knowing that she has had quite a life. She is one of the people I admire most in this world, and truly one of the most caring, hard-working moms and grandmas there could have been. My mom, Kate and I weeded some in the yard yesterday and decided that we were weeding in grandma's honor since she loved being out in the garden more than anything. It is a sad time, but I cherish all the memories I have of her. She was one of a kind, I know that for sure. On a much lighter note, Kate a had a kid's rite of passage this weekend: her first ice-cream (or "ice-ceam" as she called it). Her verdict was that it was "yummy." My sentiment's exactly! We made a great discovery because we ordered a cone from McDonald's to let her have licks of, only to be offered a baby-sized cone for free. We don't frequent McDonald's, but that was quite a deal!

The biggest event of the day

Kate's favorite moment of the day at Grandpa Bill and Grandma Connie's house is when Grandpa feeds the horses. She asks "Grandpa feed horses with Bobcat?" all day. When he does fire the Bobcat up, she watches in complete awe. As soon as he's done, she says something like, "again, pretty soon?" I think she--and the horses--would love it if they were fed all day long. While she waits, she likes to go down and check all 7 of the horses out. She never tires of watching them, and has even gotten brave enough to touch them on her own. I'm sure it won't be long before she's asking for a pair of boots and spurs of her very own!

Hello, Bend!

We made it to Bend yesterday afternoon, and Kate must have been tired out from the journey because she slept hard--and woke up with the most fantastic bed-head I've seen on her yet!! She is happy to be here with Grandpa Bill and all the animals, but she is really missing Grandma Starla and Grandpa Bob. She's been asking for them over and over again, and spent quite awhile on our car journey saying "I don't know where Grandma Starla is," "I don't know where Grandpa Bob is," "I don't know where daddy is...." Poor thing! I feel so bad that she is confused, but she is handling it really well so far. She's definitely missing her friend Kevin, and keeps asking "if Kev's sick" probably to figure out why she hasn't seen him in so long. Making everything even more confusing is that Grandma Connie isn't here. My grandma Helen has taken a turn for the worse and my mom went almost straight from her plane to Hawaii to Salem to be with her. We're not sure what is going to happen, but it's where Grandma Connie needs to be right now. We'll be excited to see her when she gets home, hopefully on Friday. It's quite a time for everyone right now, but we are lucky to have such a strong family to help each other through everything. Ryan and Bill are at work (they go EARLY), so it's just Kate and I today. We'll be doing chores, checking out the horses and hoping for better weather than yesterday's random snow flurries and incredible winds!! If the weather doesn't cooperate, Kate will likely be happy to entertain herself as she did yesterday for over an hour: with a dryer sheet and some animals, playing "bed time." Kids are creative, for sure!

Bye, bye Yreka...

Halfway there!

Helping Gumpa

Fun with Cali

We've had such a fun, relaxing time in Yreka, it's hard to believe we've been here 10 days. Tomorrow, we're moving on again, to our third temporary housing with grandparents! What would we do with all these willing hosts?? Our menagerie is heading to Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill's house in Bend, where we will add ourselves to 4 dogs, a cat and a whole bunch of horses. We'll officially be moved to Bend, but we have a lot of work to do before we get settled---namely, finding a house! Everything else has fallen into place, so we're hoping the perfect house finds us as well. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the "ranch" life for a bit!