Becoming a Grandparent

Last Thursday, baby Aiden arrived into this world and I officially became a Grandparent.  He is full of sweetness and purity and definitely the most beautiful (handsome) newborn on the planet.  These last few months I've pondered what do I want my grandchildren to call me.  Do I like Nana or Mam-maw or Granny or Grandma?  I just don't know, it's all so new I can't even comprehend that I'm now in this phase of my life.  So my plan is to just take it as it comes and enjoy each moment as it happens and my name will evolve.  The right name for me will come to me as I start this journey.  I will cherish each moment I get to participate in of infancy, toddler hood, childhood, teen years and beyond.

I was blessed to spend his first three days with him in the hospital.  Along with Stephanie and Aaron, we sat in that small room and marveled at his existence and worried about his body temperature dropping and waiting for the yellow line on the outside of his newborn diaper to turn from yellow to green so the hospital could discharge him out into the world.  He's now been home for three days and all is well.  He's had his first appointment at the pediatrician's office and got an A+.  We are blessed.  We are blessed to have him and hope he will always feel blessed to have us.

Aiden was not a fan of being upside down in utero so he arrived by Cesarean section.  The morning of his delivery, Stephanie went into labor and by the time they got to the hospital and settled in, the baby monitor was showing contractions every two minutes or so.  

I was 2.5 hours away, stuck in my house with 12 inches of snow on my driveway and in my street along with snow drifts that offered many challenges.  I wanted to get to them and was determined to find a way.  I paced around the house and cried about it for a while, then got dressed and decided I would go from door to door until I found someone who wanted a snow shoveling job.  Luckily one of my neighbors was outside working on his own driveway and said he and his son would take on the work.  His son was a few hours from getting home with a snow blower so he said he would do one half of the drive by hand and his son would finish it with the blower.  I was good with that so I started packing my bags and packing my car with my snow shovel, ice melt, boots and blankets in case I got stuck in the snow somewhere or off in a ditch.  After all my packing was done, I raised my garage door to see how things were progressing, and my neighbor had done it all by hand shoveling.  He understood my plea and wanted to see me on the road as soon as possible.  He even cleared a small area at the bottom of my driveway.  Others had made some ruts through my cul-de-sac so I knew since I had backed into my garage the night before, that if I could get up enough speed, I could make it out of my driveway, through the cul-de-sac and down the street to the snow route that was cleared.  My neighbor went and stood about 4 houses down to be ready to push if I ran into trouble.  I gathered up all my courage and determination to get out of town, said a quick prayer for success, grabbed the dog and we were on our way.

I got to the hospital not too long after Aiden arrived........

My son and new proud dad......

The three generation photo...........

Aiden looking right at the camera.........

I'm looking forward to the gifts that grandparenthood will bestow upon me.  I want to push his stroller around the block repetitively and read the same silly book over and over and over.  We'll make amazing forts out of old sheets and collect all kinds of creepy crawlies to show mom and dad.  I'm already planning the tasks of making superman capes and helping with Halloween costumes and birthday parties.  I can't wait for the adventures to start !!