This afternoon with Brendan ...

I was very happy to be invited to babysit Brendan this afternoon. Dylan and Kelly were joining friends at a Whitecaps game, so I got to come over and care for him. He was sleeping when I arrived and slept for more than an hour more, but then he woke up! I think he was a little dazed at the sight of me, but I told him I was SO excited to see him and as a result, I got a big smile. We went downstairs to play for awhile.

 Do you see his Fraggle Rock doll? Kelly sings the Fraggle Rock song to Brendan and makes this little doll do a dance. Brendan likes it very much. I got the music up on YouTube, handed out the percussion instruments, and we rocked along with the song for awhile ...

 "Dance your cares away, worry's for another day! Let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock!"

We put our instruments away after a bit, went into the kitchen, got strapped into the high chair and had a little reading time. I brought two books along with me about Thomas the Train, but Brendan wasn't interested in them one bit! He wanted to hear "Curious George Goes to the Zoo."  

 "I don't want Thomas the Train, Grandma! I like Curious George the best!"

Brendan listened quietly to each word, and loved every picture!

It was a beautiful weather day, so we gathered up our supplies and took a nice long walk down Cherry Street ... 

We saw so many beautiful historic homes with amazing flower gardens. But for once in my life, I was not taking pictures of the flowers at all! I couldn't take my eyes of this little cutie pie.

"Are you SURE my mama is coming home in just a little while, Grandma?"

Brendan seemed a little concerned about not seeing his favorite faces (mom and dad), so I sang him the Fraggle Rock song ... he rewarded me with this sweet little smile!

I love this little face so much! I kissed these chubby cheeks 100's of times this afternoon ... I couldn't help myself!

We sat on a park bench for a little while and watched the cars and people go by. Lots of folks stopped by to chat, every single one of them mentioning this baby's fat thighs (!)

We were now about 3.5 hours into the afternoon and I think Brendan was getting tired of being with just his Grandma ... I kept telling him not to worry ... mama WAS coming back! 

These are the HUGE smiles that burst out of this little fellow at the sight of his mama! So cute. Well, we survived our second babysitting experience without any disasters ... I feel very blessed tonight ~ being a grandma is the best thing that ever happened to me. Thanks so much, Lord!

The cutest baby boy ...

Isn't this a sweet picture of Brendan and his mama? This is one adoring baby for his very sweet mom. I love to watch them together ... the sweetness of their love touches me deeply with peace and pure JOY.

Dylan, Kelly, Brendan and Shane came over tonight to have dinner. We had such a wonderful time together eating tacos, veggies and dip, chips and salsa, watermelon, chocolate-chip zucchini bread, and cheese cake for dessert! We were celebrating Shane's birthday tonight!

See my new ship's wheel clock? I think it adds nicely to my little cottage, don't you? 

I've decided that Brendan is the cutest little baby boy ... EVER. And I'm not one single tiny bit prejudicial ... not at ALL!  :)  And I will never ever tire of looking at his adorable chubby face!

See how Brendan is sucking these two fingers? Well ... his daddy used to suck two fingers as well, only in the other direction ... if you catch my drift. 

I brought out one of my beach balls for Brendan to play with ... after all, how can a person live at a cottage without enjoying a few beach balls every now and again?  

Brendan was definitely pleased ... I think perhaps Brendan thinks his Grandma Carol is going to be an OK person to play with some day! 

Dylan takes very good care of Brendan too. They seem to have an understanding between them ... Brendan knows this is NOT Mama, but Dylan is surely the next best person in his little life ... 

I am sure I have never seen Dylan any happier ~ and so, naturally, my heart is happy too!

Babysitting Brendan

Yesterday was my very first time to babysit for Brendan ... solo! Dylan and Kelly were celebrating their second wedding anniversary and asked if I would come over and take care of Brendan while they were away. Yes, yes, YES!

I packed a few little toys in my backpack to bring along just in case we needed some amusement ... 

I've had these little wind-ups for years and years. They didn't work very well on the carpeting, so I moved us over to the hardwood floor. Brendan was quite taken with the little monkey who walked and played his instrument ... see how excited he is?

 I love his expression in these pictures. He knows I am taking his photograph, and he is patiently cooperating with me.

The kangaroo wind-up actually does a flip and every single time the kangaroo flipped over, Brendan flinched and his body shook! But then when the kangaroo was all finished flipping and he stopped and did nothing at all, Brendan would look at me and give me this big smile. Isn't he the cutest little love of a baby?

We actually played with these wind-ups for about a half hour. Now and then, Brendan would reach for one and successfully grab it. The green polka-dotted ladybug was his least favorite. If you wind this one up, it zooms around, flips over and changes directions ~ but I think it was too fast and too erratic for a wee baby to appreciate.

 Brendan has such a sweet personality. He is very social, very friendly, and such a neat little person!

We went shopping for awhile around Eastown, just to get out of the house.  We weren't seriously shopping, just playing and talking ... 

 ... and then finally our little dear fell sound asleep. 

 And this face! I haven't the slightest idea WHAT he is thinking ... don't you wish you knew? But I wonder if he is thinking: "Wait until she tries to put me to bed later on ~ won't she be surprised at how tough I am then?!!"

We had a good time together, at least most of the time. But then it was bed time and there was NO mama, NO daddy ... just Grandma?!! Yikes. Brendan was NOT happy about that one single bit. But thankfully, he did finally fall asleep ... after some anguish and lot of tears. I told Dylan and Kelly the whole sad story when they got home, but they've decided to STILL let me babysit now and then! Whew!

Baby baby, sweet baby ...

It was another scorching day in West Michigan today ... but who cares when you can share it with a sweet little baby like Brendan? 

Last week while I was out and about, I stopped by at "Once Upon A Child" and picked up a few slightly used, but very nice, items for this little sweetheart. I couldn't WAIT until he came over to try them out! 

Brendan has always always liked being upright where he can see every little thing that is happening, so he was very pleased to sit in this walker while we ate our dinner tonight.

Brendan is fully five months now and has graduated to sitting by himself, very steady and strong ... which makes it possible to play all kinds of stuff with him. We got out all of the baby toys we could find, and even did some puzzles with him tonight ... in this smoldering heat! We tried wrapping him in a Frogg Togg, which is kind of a sports towel that stays cool and is supposed to keep a person from sweating and overheating ... I think it helped baby Brendan a tiny bit. 

We took a short walk around the neighborhood tonight. A friend of mine was having a garage sale with some baby things, and since I was looking to buy an umbrella stroller for Brendan, she sold me this one for practically nothing! We stopped by where there was a sprinkler so that we could get Brendan's little feet cool ...

But then it was STILL too hot, so we walked home and put him in my shower for a little while. He seemed very happy with the cool water pouring over him. Doesn't he have an adorable little face?

The evening went by too quickly. The toys are put away. The dinner is cleaned up. I'm so thankful this little grand baby is here in town where I can see him and love on him on a regular basis. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Too hot on the fourth ...

It reached 100 degrees here in Grand Rapids yesterday, but since that temperature only officially lasted three minutes, it could not be counted! The temperature has to maintain a full five minutes in order for it to be counted. However, in my books, it was fully 100 degrees most of the day yesterday. The humidity reached about 74% in some places, making the heat index 110 degrees. It certainly felt at least that hot at my place!

Dylan, Kelly, and Brendan came over in the early afternoon to spend some time. According to Kelly, my little house was cooler than their inner-city apartment. Poor Brendan was pretty miserable in the heat. 

We gave him no less than THREE baths in our kitchen sink throughout the day to help him cope with the heat ... poor baby.

 It was too hot to entertain going to see any fireworks whatsoever. Just the thought of being outside in the direct sunlight was almost sickening to consider. We at least had a little tree cover at my place. Shane came over and joined us for awhile too. 

Look at the fatness of this wee baby! Isn't he such a chunk of adorableness?!! 

Brendan is happiest if he is standing. His legs are so strong! 

It was too hot to sleep, so he only got a small nap in the afternoon. But finally, while rocking on Dylan's lap, he drifted off to slumberland ... what a sweet picture! The heat is supposed to peak tomorrow and then lessen by the weekend, which is just fine with me. 

Home again ...

I've been home now for about two days, arriving in Grand Rapids at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning. While I was waiting for my flight out of El Paso, I noticed a AA worker talking about how they had "overbooked this flight again!" and that she would need two people to voluntarily be "bumped" to the next flight. I jumped at the chance when I heard her offer a very nice travel voucher, plus two meal tickets as well.

I took a taxi home from the airport. It was pitch dark when I got back to my little house, but it was SO good to see it again!

While I was waiting at the Dallas/Forth Worth airport, my phone completely died (the white screen of death evidently). So I am presently without a phone. I did go to the AT & T phone store today and got everything straightened out. Since there was no physical damage to my phone, and it was still under warranty, they are completely replacing it. The downside to all of this, is that they are snail-mailing the replacement to me. I most likely will not receive it until Monday. So if you are trying to reach me, please use my e-mail address or Facebook.

 It was super hot in El Paso ~ some days it was 105 degrees. I have come home to extreme heat as well, but a completely different kind. I don't mind the heat, though (good thing) because I love everything that goes along with it ~ the abundant green grass (hardly anything is GREEN in El Paso), gorgeous flowers and trees, the fragrance in the air ... I love summertime! Missing all of you in El Paso. Looking forward to Jesse and Diana posting more pictures of baby Kaitlynn over on Facebook ...