Ten Days Of Pure Sweetness

My daughter Molly and granddaughter Baby J recently visited for 10 days.  The sweetest ten days.

Joe flew Molly out from Boston and arranged this visit to coincide with Mother's Day; my first without my mom.

It meant the world to me that Molly would travel across the continent with her young babe to be with us.

This child has brought such joy to our lives.  She is an extrovert who loves people.  She was passed from pillar to post for ten days and enjoyed every minute of it.  No one was a stranger to her.

We had a wonderful time.  It was busy and fun and full of laughter and baby slobber.

I never wanted it to end.

Gerber Baby.  (Photo credit: C. Touchet)

Our first morning together.

 Skyping with Daddy.

 We were not yet able to convince Josephine to embrace the great outdoors.

 Such adoration.

Some of the 'kids' came for a visit.

 Eleven guests for lunch on the back deck.

 Full of smiles.

"Hmmmm, can you let me think about that for a minute, Auntie Paige?" 
(Photo credit: C. Touchet)

 Having a wee cuddle with Uncle Will.

 Fun with Mommy.

 Receiving a few bouncing lessons from Auntie Paige.

 Happy hour with the all blue-eyed ladies.

 Josephine's BFF was not sure what to make of her.

 Some of our oldest and closest Squamish friends.

 Mother and child #1.

 My favourite Canadian.

 It wasn't all about the baby.  Here's Julia is receiving a bread-making lesson from Joe.

 Early mornings with Gwamma.

 "My mom is so much fun."

 Early morning adoration.

 "How do you like my first tooth?"

 Facetime with Dad.

 More smiles.

 "This pillow is my new best friend.  I could stare at it for hours!  Oh wait, I already do."

 She is such a jolly jumper.

 Baby and Papa.

 "Oh, Grandma!  You're so funny."

 Baby J and Great-Grandma Sotham.

 Baby J and Great-Grandpa Sotham.  "Here, Grandpa, gimme a little taste of that watch." 

 "My newest BFF!  Tulips!"

 "Where'd everybody go?"

 "Oh, hey there!"

 Molly brought Josephine to my school one morning where she was an instant hit with my colleagues.

 Josephine visited my classroom.

 "Oh, Grandma, would you please stop kissing me for one minute?"

 "This book is the tastiest one yet, Danelle."

 BATH TIME!

 "Who is that cute baby, Mom?"

 Mother and child #2.

 SLOBBER ALERT!

 "Watch this, Grandpa!"

 Early morning 'pain au raisin' by pastry chef Joe.

Firing up the outdoor pizza oven before dinner.

 Hangin' out with Grauntie Chrissy and...

...Gruncle Kevin.  (photo credit: C.Touchet)

 Mother and child #3.  Happy Mother's Day!

Me and my kids on Mother's Day.

The fam damily hiking the Four Lakes Trail.

As you all know, I am a crier.  I cry at hellos, I cry at goodbyes and I cry at everything in between. Saying goodbye to this baby is always difficult for me.  And this good-bye was especially hard.    

The hardest good-bye at 3:00am.  

I was incredibly sad to see them leave.   

For ten days, our house was so lively with this baby in it.  

Drinking coffee in the living room at 6:00am and having a smiling, squiggling baby plopped in my lap every morning was pure heaven.  PURE HEAVEN I TELL YOU!

I am counting the days until Joe and I fly to Boston in July to visit this sweet bundle of love and smiles.

See you soon, my sweet Baby J.  

Gwamma loves you.

Spring Break In 48 Photos

My darling granddaughter Josephine.

It was a busy and highly enjoyable Spring Break.  

Our eldest daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter arrived from Boston as soon as school let out for the holidays and spent the first week with us.

My sisters and I hosted a memorial service for our mom.

And Joe and I whisked ourselves away to Puerto Vallarta to spend the second week in the sun.

It was lovely having a baby in the house.  Josephine is an easy-going baby full of smiles and cuddles. She does not make strange at all; she happily goes to anyone who wants to hold her.  And of course everyone wanted to hold her!

Here are a few photos from our time together.

 The first order of business was to introduce Josephine to the 'greats'.  Here she meets her 102 year old great-great-grandmother.

It was very special to witness Molly with her baby and great-grandmother.

Five generations spanning over a century.  Joe is looking like a pretty proud Papa!

Falling asleep on Grandma.

 Hanging out with great-grandpa for the first time.

Watching the birdies.

 This baby's feet barely touched the floor the entire time she was here.  Auntie Paige and I were in direct competition for Josephine's attention.

 Our son-in-law is a pizza lover so of course Joe fired up his outdoor oven to mark the occasion of their visit.

 A happy pizzaiolo.

Proud parents.

Happy baby.

Not only does he bake pizza in his wood-fired oven, Joe also bakes bread!

As happy as Josephine is, she is definitely not an outdoorsy gal.  She never smiled once on our walks.

Never.  Once.

We sent Jordan and Molly out for dinner to celebrate their first anniversary just so we could babysit!

Getting ready to go out for another walk.  So many smiles!

As soon as her face hit the great outdoors, her smile turned upside down.  And nothing we did made her happy.

Strolling through the moss-laden trees.

"Oh, Grandma!  How I love to bite your chinny-chin-chin."

"Oh, Grandma!  I also love to lick your face!"

Contentment.  

A walk in the rain to the duck pond.  Again, Josephine's face.  The saddest baby on the planet.

"Yay!  I'm happy now!  We're back inside."

Uncle Will getting ready to feed his niece.

Kisses for Grandma.

Our cat Daisy staking out her territory just so everyone is clear as to who is the boss.

Early morning horsie rides with Dad.

Happiness is...

Every evening, once the baby was down for the night, we'd play board games.  It felt like we were staying in a cabin or on a camping trip.

Do not get between this baby and her prunes!

So happy after sleeping for 12 hours every night!

Auntie Paige doing her part to raise a reader.

A moment with Papa.

Strapping Josephine into my vintage highchair from 1958.

Like I said, baby loves her prunes.

Meeting the resident cat for the first time.

Molly and one of her oldest and best friends had baby girls 5 days apart.

Reading aloud.  It's one of my strengths.

It's been a long time since Papa read a Dr. Suess book to anyone.

"This is how I like to read books.  With my mouth."

This is what we did all week.  Just sat around and stared at this adorable baby.

We left Josephine at home with Papa and I took the new parents up to Fergie's for brunch one morning.

The most thrilling news of the week is that Josephine learned to roll over!  She got lots of coaching on the finer techniques of the move.

At the end of the week, my sisters and I hosted 130 people for an afternoon to mark our mom's passing.  Through laughter and tears, we remembered Marg's kindness, sense of humour and love of red wine.

Great-aunt Chrissy and her birthday buddy.

Great-aunt Mary and Baby J.

Packing for Mexico!

The second week of Spring Break was spent lounging at this resort in Puerto Vallarta.  For seven glorious days we ate, we drank, we napped, we swam, and we read.

Thank you Molly, Jordan and Josephine for spending a week with us.  We know how exhausting it is travelling with a baby.  We really appreciated it.  

Thank you to everyone who attended my mom's memorial service.  It was wonderful to see so many people, especially those we hadn't seen in many years.

Thank you Joe for having the brilliant idea to fly to Mexico for a last minute vacation.  It was a perfect way to end the final Spring Break of my career.