Baby Love

Baby love.  Pure and simple.  The love I feel for this little one knows no bounds.

We have just returned from Toronto where Joe, Paige and Will got to meet sweet Josephine.  We spent a week jostling for position to hold and cuddle her.  She went from one pair of arms to another. She slept on our chests while we kissed the top of her head and inhaled her baby goodness.  We oohed and ahhed over every move this girl made.  We were smitten by her infant charms.

We crammed all the winter holidays into our seven day trip.

We celebrated Josephine's one month birthday with party hats, goofy masks and a cake.

We celebrated Hanukkah with a feast of Jewish deli foods shared with beloved friends.

We celebrated Christmas by visiting Santa, strolling about the Toronto Christmas Market, opening gifts under a makeshift balloon tree and enjoying dinner complete with Christmas crackers and tissue paper hats.

We ate in, we ate out.  We enjoyed gathering for our daily happy hour.  We pushed Josephine's stroller up city streets and down residential blocks.  But mostly we sat around staring at our beautiful granddaughter.  We could not get enough of her.

I must admit I had several moments of sadness during this trip.

I wish Will could have spent the entire week in Toronto.  He was able to get just a few days off work. I missed him when he wasn't here with us.

And I kept thinking of my mom who would have LOVED her great-granddaughter.  My mother was the biggest baby hog ever to walk the earth.  It breaks my heart to think Margaret missed meeting Josephine by a mere two months.

As you know, good-byes are terribly difficult for me.  Especially ones like these.  But I was able to hold it together somewhat and for that I am proud.  I wasn't the blubbering mess I was the last time I left Toronto.  (It probably helped that we almost missed our flight to Vancouver due to an accident on the 401 freeway.  By the time Jordan's car pulled up to the airport's drop-off area, Joe and I only had time to give everyone a quick kiss before running to our gate.)

In a few weeks, this beautiful little family is moving to Boston.  I can't lie.  Having them live 5,000 kilometres away is going to be extremely challenging for me.  I am going to have to quickly develop some strategies to help me cope with this long distance separation.

What does help is witnessing the love Jordan and Molly have for each other and how they adore their little girl Josephine.  I find great comfort and solace in that.

Molly, Jordan and Josephine will travel out west at Spring Break for my mom's 'Celebration of Life'. I can't wait.  March 2017 can't come fast enough.