And They go Two by Two

My grandma died at the hospital at 6:20 this morning, and my grandpa followed just a couple hours later at the nursing home. When my mom called with the news soon after each death, I could hear the ache in her voice, and in my dad's in the background.

We're holding a double wake on Wednesday evening in Brainerd and the funeral on Thursday. I have no other details yet, but if any dear friends have questions, please feel free to drop me a line. And of course you can always call.

As sad as it is, it's also kind of romantic. Side by side, grandma and grandpa are moving into their next realm together. How very peaceful.

Please keep my parents and my dad's siblings in your prayers as they grieve doubly.

Opposites and Extremes

It hardly seems fair to be writing that we enjoyed one of our most relaxing, slow-paced weekends in quite some time. We took a leisurely road trip to the Twin Cities to send off a dear friend as she follows her heart to LA. The going-away party was full of pleasant well-wishers and long-time friends. And of course, it's fun bringing two well-behaved kiddos along to show off their almost-walking skills a bit.

Today, we stopped in at my cousin's house to meet the newest family member, sweet itty bitty Chloe. What a treat to hold such a teenie little baby again - and such a darling one! The visit was just the right length for us - our babies fell asleep in the car soon after we left. And hopefully our stop was quick enough so that the new parents still had some alone time before more of their relatives arrived.

As lovely as our weekend was, my parents had a time on the opposite end. My dad, as the proxy/power of attorney/oldest child, etc., has been faced with making the decision about whether to allow my grandpa to continue receiving dialysis. My grandpa had his last dialysis session on Friday, and now my folks get to spend grandpa's last moments at the nursing home this week. While all this has been going on, my dad's mom was found on Saturday, having collapsed and hit her head on her bathtub. She's in the hospital for night number 2, ready for a barrage of tests tomorrow to see what can be done about her numerous, very serious conditions. My folks left the hospital near midnight last night.

I guess that at around 5 this morning, the sound of wind woke my dad up and he said he felt it was his dad calling him. My folks called the nursing home, and sure enough, the nurses said they'd better come quickly. Grandpa perked up a little later today, but my oh my, I hope this all happens quickly for everyone's sake. Especially my grandpa's.

Needless to say, my folks are exhausted. Emotionally, this is so hard. Physically, they're not sleeping well and juggling all their time with parents in different locations, while trying to coordinate care at the same time. Please keep my family in your prayers, and count your blessings for the health you have every chance you get. I sure am.

Good night, friends.

Plea to the Faithful

If you're a believer, please keep my family in your prayers.

My dad's dad is dying, and has been for a long time now. And as my folks stay by his side, hoping that Grandpa will be with people who love him when he passes away, they're exhausting themselves. Add into the equation my dad's very sickly mother and her house to keep up. And then there's my mom's mom. Dementia has hit in full force. The toll on my folks is amazing - they rarely get home before 9 at night after working all day.

Please pray for comfort for the sick ones, and physical and emotional strength for my parents.

On a positive note, I'm all for prayers of thanks. We've been blessed with the arrival of a healthy new girl cousin (Welcome to the family, Chloe!). And our girls are getting along famously. Lillian has been such a trooper that we didn't even realize her molars were coming in until they were already through. Breanna's still working on it. Add to that gainful work and a little down time here and there, and we really are blessed. (Busier than ever before, but so very lucky...)

13

13 teeth in our babies mouths combined at 13 months - can you believe it?

Here's a proof from a month ago (Lillian's on the left). Since then, Breanna's had her nose touched up and Lillian has filled out a little in the face. Now that I've trimmed Lillian's bangs a teensie bit to match Breanna's, holy cow! They look more and more alike each day!

We went to a surprise 30th birthday party for our old neighbor, Handsome Joe, last night. He was back in town visiting from Alaska for the week. What a fun time! Handsome Joe referred his parents to DH for some remodeling, and they've pretty much done the whole house now. They just love DH! They're putzy and tight with their money, but so nice. We had a great little "date" for a couple hours last night.

I can't really say what's in store these next few days - nothing is concrete except working during my working hours. In the background of the chaos of getting ready to sell the house, I've been obsessing over summer suits. Since Petite Sophisticate went out of business during my pregnancy, I didn't dare stock up - fearing the worst in post-pregnancy body problems. Oh how I wish I'd had the foresight. I seriously have nothing in the closet but black, gray, brown, red, burgundy, etc. No nice khaki suits. No cream. No white. Everything I could need for winter, and nothing fresh.

Yesterday was a pretty major meeting day for me, and so in every free moment during the past week, I've been scrounging for new suits. I'm SO very frustrated at the quality and dumb shapes out there. I did stumble across a few nice-fitting outfits at Talbots, but some were pretty frumpy and the rest weren't actual suits. They'd pair a salmon blazer with navy pants and a navy shell. Fine, but I wanted a full matching suit. No such luck.

Are there any others out there who are mourning the loss of Petite Sophisticate? I seriously don't know what I'm going to do. Luckily, we're heading to the Twin Cities later this month for a going-away party for a dear, dear friend, so I hope to get in at least a little shopping along the way. I just don't know where to even start. We'll see.

In the meantime, please keep your fingers crossed for me to either have a great growth spurt in my arms and torso or to stumble across a great designer who knows how to make nice petites (as in, suits for women under 60 - no elastic - nice lining in the pocketless pants - and classy buttons - what's with all this plastic junk out there anyway?).

OK - enough of my rant. We're over half-way through the week. Friends, please call if you want to get together this weekend. I'll be happy to grind up some good coffee, and add some Irish Cream if you wish. : ) I'm so delighted to report that I have no structure scheduled at this time. Yahoo!

Still Kickin'

Still swamped, but kickin'. Our house is finally officially on the market - big huge hoorah! We're selling without a realtor, at least for now, so if you hear of anyone ... please pass the word on.

The girls are doing great! Breanna's nose is looking good. Both babies are crawling faster than ever and my glass table tops have never been filthier - we're going through Windex like crazy! But, oh what fun we're having!

I promise to post new pics soon. And then I'll fill you in on the excitement going on for me career wise. Projects galore - fun projects - well-paying projects - working with people who appreciate what I can offer. Very rewarding, but I'm swamped. Gotta run.

Have a great week, all!