Each Day Is a Gift

Flying out to Tucson this morning.  Rubz the Plantar Facia while sitting at the departure gate. 

SO happy to see the grandkids.  Alina (16 mon.) warmed right up to me!  My, she's grown heaps since I last saw her at Thanksgiving!  Emi (5) was excited to see me and had heaps of things to tell me.  Devin (3) was still a bit unsure at first but warmed up when we started to play.  Marianne is an amazing mother nurturing her precious little ones.  She showed me the kids routines and schedules, their likes and dislikes.  They basically eat every two hours (3 meals and 3 snacks) and play/read/small outing/nap/quiet time in between eating! 

Eric is super busy and dedicated to his Fellowship at the U. of Arizona.  He got home around 6:30 (usually it's 8 or 9) and ate his dinner (only meal he eats) of meat-loaf that Marianne made.  Larry would be jealous of our dinner cause he LOVES meatloaf.

While visiting/chatting with Eric, his pager and phone would go off; so even though he was home, he was still working!  After putting the kids to bed, he finally had time to talk about the job interviews and career opportunities/offers; all the while packing his suitcase for a week's of clothing since he'd be going to L.A. for conference straight away after the 2nd interview (with Marianne) at Alburquerque, NM.  He also took time to examine my feet/ankle and gave me advise on treating my Plantar Faciitis.  Such a good son! :)

Went to bed pretty late and the grandkids got up very early.  Watched (and participated) closely what Marianne does with/for the grandkids.  We went to the park to play before going to story time (10 am) at the library. 

Marianne left around 3pm after Alina woke up from her nap and she read to Emi and Devin.  She has prepared the kids well for her leaving so there was no drama at her departure.  :)

I LOVE my grandkids SO MUCH!!! :)  Being Nana and spending time with grandkids is both FUN and exhausting! :) :) :)

AM: we had a "funtastic" walk race!  Devin rode his trike, Emi jogged/walked while I carried Alina (when she let me, she preferes toddling/running) jogging along.  We stopped a lot to examine the different desert wild flowers, cactus, bugs, birds (heaps of birds), waved at the airplanes flying overhead (that the kids were very sure was their momma's airplanes) calling out "Hi, Mommy!".  It was a blue sky, cool morning after a light rain earlier.  The air was filled with fragrance of desert flowers.   We jumped over small rain puddles.

PM: we had heaps of fun building bridges, birthday cakes, houses, swimming pools, garages, interesting buildings with Legos.  We watched two short videos of Dora the Explorer.  Emi and Devin put on their swim-suits and we went to the "beach" which was the couch and used the cushions for surf-board.  They have never ever been to the beach!  We played with things from the "Nana box", bubbles, colored and drew pictures, Devin especially loved his "robot arm" to pick up things.  We played Candyland.  We sang and danced to the music from Pandora.   We played hide-n-seek.  We ate cookies! :)

Evening:  the only challenging thing was to get Devin to eat.  Alina on the other hand, eats a lot.  She consumes more than what Devin and Emi would eat combined.  While cohercing Devin to eat with all sorts of funny antics.  We laughed and giggled with "what would happen if we swollen a train".  Devin loves trains.  Normally, Alina would laugh and giggle when we laugh even if she has no idea what we're laughing about.  She is a very bright, delightful, happy little baby.  But I noticed she wasn't smiling but instead had this serious look on her face.  Then all of a sudden, without warning, she vomitted (good thing she was strapped in her high chair) the undigested dinner on her tray.  For the next two hours I held her in my arms and intermittently rushed to the sink as she continued to empty the content of her stomach (all the food she's eaten that day: banana and oatmeal, chocolate chips granola bar, green and red grapes, green and red apples, sweet and white potato, cheese stick, peanut butter,  crackers, cookie, tuna fish sandwitch, whole wheat noodle with cheese, milk...)  Poor thing!  Emi urged me to call her mommy; but we had just called her before dinner and I didn't want to worry her and Eric.  But, I was so worried that I called Larissa (she's a nurse practitioner and worked at a pediatrician office).   It was a little tougher to put the kids to bed (brushing teeth, toilet, changing to pajamas, scriptures, prayers, story books...) while holding Alina and rushing to the bathroom with each vomit.  By the time the kids are in bed it was nearly 8:30.  I held Alina as she slept in my arms for another 30-45 min. to be sure she's not going to vomit anymore.  Finally put her to bed and she slept soundly while I cleaned the kitchen and took a shower.  I slept fretfully worrying that Alina would vomit in the middle of the night...but she didn't! :)

Devin woke up very early to use the bathroom.  He seemed super tired and grumpy!  I started to worry that he might be sick.  Alina initially did not want to eat.  So I held her while Emi and Devin had breakfast.  I let Devin had granola bar which was the only thing he wanted for breakfast.  Alina didn't even ask for her granola bar (which was her favorite yesterday).  Emi handed her small pieces of corn and oat flakes from her cereal.  She ate it and then wanted more.  So I fed her some baby rice cereal with water and banana.  She ate them heartily.  Yay! No more vomitting! :)

Devin was mean to Alina so I sent him to time out in his room.  He fell asleep shortly!  He must be so tired!  We had a quieter play time mid-morning.  Then I put Alina down for nap.  Both her and Devin slept for two hours.  They would probably sleep longer if I hadn't woken them up. 

Marianne came home in the afternoon and the kids were SO happy to see their mommy.  I was relieved that the kids were not sick.  

We took the kids to the children's museum.  It was a lot of fun.  Enjoyed my last day in Tucson with my grandkids and talking with Marianne. 

It's been a week since I last ran.  Each morning I would stretch my pf, archilles before getting out of bed and so far no "first step" morning pain.  Eric has advised me to stretch my calves three times a day (at least 10 min. each time).  I did that a couple of days this week so hopefully my PF is getting better.
 

Fly home today.  Going to really miss my grandkids!  The return flight with an hour lay over in Vegas seemed much longer than the outbound flight.  I rubz the pf when sitting at the airports. 

Thinking about Toby and others who are running the Buffalo Run today as the plane flew over Utah Valley, no glimpse of the Antelope Island, as it landed in SLC.  Looks like a gorgeous day for a long long trail run.  Can't wait to hear how Toby does!  :)