My daughter and the baby have been here since Friday … and won’t be heading home until July 13. A week ago, eighteen days seemed like a long time. This morning, I’ve been fighting tears because there are only two weeks left.
It was hard enough when it was just my daughter living two hours away. But now there’s this beautiful baby I want to spend every moment I can with. It doesn’t matter whether I’m making a total fool out of myself trying to coax smiles from her, or sitting here cuddling her … or even just watching her sleep. Like Aerosmith sings, I don’t want to miss a thing.
But there’s that rotten hundred and twenty miles between us and so I miss a lot.
Yeah, I know. I have it a lot better than people whose loved ones live a country or an ocean away. Two hours isn’t that far – but it’s not a ten or fifteen minute drive either. I can’t just ‘drop in’ for a visit. I have to plan for at least a full day … if I want to spend more time with them than I do on the road.
And trust me, I do. I want to spend every second possible with them – especially with the baby though. Right now, things change so fast between visits.
She’s been gaining almost two pounds between visits. From birth until my trip down the end of May, she went from slightly over six and a half pounds to eight and a half pounds. Now she’s over ten. Outfits she was swimming in the month before fit her well now. Smiles that were hit and miss accidental kinds of smiles are now very deliberate. I know if I make a face or noise she likes, she’s going to grin from ear-to-ear.
Grins I’ll only get to see in photos my daughter sends every day between the too infrequent visits.
So you know what? The book is going to wait. If I finish the final editing and get it out before the thirteenth, I’ll do it. And I will try to have it out by the end of the week. But if I don’t, I’m not going to sweat it.
Aria has been sleeping beside me in her Rock ‘n Play while I’ve been writing this. I’ve looked at her probably a hundred times in the past hour wondering for every sweet smile I see while she’s dreaming – how many did I miss?
Now she’s awake and letting me know it’s time for a diaper, which isn’t such a sweet part about having a baby in the house, but I’d rather deal with that than have her mom deal with it two hours away. Okay, so maybe I’ll wake my daughter up and let her deal with it…
Anyway… I’m going to spend every second I can with my granddaughter. Three’s only 317 hours and a handful of minutes left until they go home.
Yeah. Thank God for Aria. 🙂
It’s good to see a child in a home where she will learn love.
She will definitely learn that, Dale – or at least know I love her more than I’ll ever be able to express. 🙂
Good for you Kristy! Those grandbabies won’t stay that size forever. And you don’t want to miss it. It’s much too important. I’d say more important than the book. Go for it. Enjoy every second. The book will be there when you have the opportunity to finish it. Life is like that. Life happens. Love that baby! 🙂
Oh… I do love this baby, Karen. Even on nights like last night when she was definitely not happy. I prefer nights like tonight when she’s happier though – but mostly because I don’t want her unhappy. She IS learning to throw tantrums though … and I actually find them kind of cute. 😀
But yes … everything else can wait. Especially now that Monday is almost here and I’ll have to take them home. I’m not looking forward to that.
Just a suggestion. Plan to go! Our family lives 2 hrs away and we go every other Saturday to eat a meal together. I’ve noticed that when we put in on a set schedule and plan it, it’s so much easier to make it happen. Some months we can’t, but it’s very rare that we miss, now that it’s become a habit 🙂
That’s actually my goal – to go twice a month. I just can’t stand the thought of seeing her less than that. But good for you for doing that. I don’t envy you the drive though … because I’ll be doing it too. 😀
Enjoy the time you have with her now. I know how you feel. My grandkids live 4 1/2 hours away from me.
I’m sorry they’re so far away, Denise. I thought two hours was bad. That would be a hard trip to make a regular part of your life. 🙁
But yes, I am enjoying her – a lot, which is why I’m so late responding to this. When I have a choice of holding her or being on the computer, I’m holding her. 😀