Life lately

Okay, so I finally squeezed in the rest of our holiday recap. Now let’s get caught up to real-time.

Life lately. Hmm. It’s been good and bad.

Two weeks ago, Jon’s grandma ended up in the hospital with an infection, and due to end-stage kidney failure there wasn’t much to be done. Suddenly, she requested to bid her farewells, and was able to do so with just about every member of her family. She sensed the end was near, which is eerie and also a bit comforting. Many of us gathered for days at her side (Carter and I the least given his age and need for somewhat regular sleep) until she peacefully passed two days later. We are all heartbroken to have had to say goodbye. She led a long, beautiful life, and knew this was her time, but nonetheless we are all missing her terribly and it's only been a week and a half.

Carter was a shining light in this terribly hard time for the family. In the hospital, he was running up and down the halls, shouting in his chirpy little voice, making everyone smile. He flirted with the nurses, waved at patients in nearby rooms, twirled and danced and knocked over towers of empty coffee cups. It was a welcome distraction from the inevitable tragedy that was about to take place. I will never forget our last interaction with Grandma the night before she passed, how she hugged us close, kissed Carter and squeezed our hands, told us she loved us. We have this photo, and I tear up every single time I look at it. 

Gosh, death is a hard thing. It doesn’t seem fair that these people we love so dearly have to leave us. She was the last living grandparent for either of us, so I think that has hit us even harder.

There was a moment where Carter ran to my mother-in-law in the hospital hallway, arms wide open and a giant smile on his face, and my heart could have burst. I see the pain my husband is in with the loss of his grandma, and know how special they were to each other. I felt the same way about mine. In that moment I realized that my little boy is going to have that same bond with both of his grandmas...I just know it. For hopefully many, many, many years. 

So yeah, life has been hard the last two weeks, but we are counting our blessings.

But, on a much-needed lighter note, there is so much good as well. Mainly Carter. He’s our joy. And he is becoming such a sweet, funny little man. 

A quick update on all things Carter before I forget this stage:

His little brain is picking up on so much right now that it’s a bit frightening. But mostly amazing. He understands words like, ‘Bye bye, milk, Mama, Daddy, upstairs, Carter’s room, bath, water, hungry, socks, book, where’s daddy, car, we’re home, ball, phone, belly button, doggie, hello, how big is Carter…’ and follows many other commands. He isn't really saying any words aside from 'Dad' and 'Mama' and 'Ba' but is still very loud with his own communication. He uses the word 'gook' a lot, which I first attributed to be milk, but now he uses it all the time for a variety of reasons. 

His memory is excellent. He recalls things we say or do weeks later (like stroking my dad's face when I said to be gentle - something I did to him weeks ago). He has associated my phone with YouTube videos (because I let him watch occasional nursery rhymes) and thus freaks out when he sees it and I won't turn it on. But? He will hand over Jon's phone (which he hasn't watched videos on) without a peep. Lucky Dad doesn't have to go into stealth mode just to use his phone.

He is also very opinionated. We let him watch a cartoon when he drinks his morning bottle (mostly out of necessity so we can get ready - I totally thought I'd be that mom to stay away from it the first two years!). He very much dislikes when Daniel Tiger goes away from cartoon to real life people, or there is the occasional commercial, and thrusts the remote at us and grunts. 

He dances to “What does the fox say?” (a regular daycare occurence) and sings “ting ting ting ting” as he spins. He wipes his face with a napkin, puts his clothes on top of his head, and tries to brush his own teeth. He likes to drink out of a regular cup, and just mastered drinking out of a straw. He figured out how to go down the stairs on his belly feet first, something we haven't shown him in months.

He loves looking at books in the car, and knows to look at them right side up. He fills up any sort of container he can find and then dumps the contents over his head. He loves The Wheels on the Bus and is lucky his mama has come up with all sorts of verses to the song to keep long drives interesting.

   

And that is him in a nutshell right now. 

Also, another 'good' - Jon and I leave for vacation soon! We are so excited to get away for some R&R and sunshine. I honestly don't think I've ever been *this* ready for a relaxing vacation. I guess motherhood will do that to you.

Work is good. Home is good. We had our carpets professionally cleaned for the first time EVER, and wow does it make a difference. Our families are good. We are looking forward to my sister and family's return to MN for awhile, the birth of my niece or nephew, and all that summer has in store for us. 

And that is life lately. Some of it, anyway.