Sorry for the lack of posts (funny thing to say when you have 2 followers, I guess) but it still feels appropriate. I do enjoy writing and know I will be glad for a record of this time of my life when I am older so I want to be more consistent in my posting, while not just posting for the sake of it.
This year, VeeVee and I spent Christmas in the south with my mother, a.k.a. Gran. The twist to traveling this time was that VeeVee, my wife, was flying separately from J Bean. This was the first time J Bean had her own ticketed seat on a flight which she thought was just fine. She slept on some of the flights and gave little protest to the presence of the seat belt most of the time.
After a few days at Gran’s house, it became apparent J Bean was getting really sick with medium to high fevers and some trouble sleeping. One morning, J Bean woke up early with some vomiting; as I entered her room to check on her she proclaimed to me through tears “Mouth hurt! Mouth Mess!”, which was her way of describing the unfortunate turn of events in her crib (and more importantly, her mouth). With our road-trip to a Pensacola wedding on the horizon and J Bean’s condition worsening through the day, we headed to a pediatric after-hours clinic where J Bean was tested for the flu and ultimately diagnosed with an ear infection and tonsillitis. We were prepared for me to stay at Gran’s with J Bean while VeeVee attended the wedding without me. Fortunately, a double shot of antibiotics had J Bean on a strong rebound by the next morning and we were ultimately able to continue with our plans to drive down to Pensacola, FL for a couple of friends’ wedding. The trip turned out to be a nice little side show for the holiday visit. The wedding was held in a unique venue, inside a commerce museum with an old time Main Street setup in this hangar-type building. We had a great time at the wedding and going out with friends while we there.
By the time we arrived back at Gran’s my sister, Eska, and her husband, Matt, were in town. We spent almost every night drinking heavily and playing “Apples to Apples” and “Smart-Ass” which are both wildly entertaining (especially when you are drinking heavily). One of the mornings was, of course, Christmas and we shared gifts. J Bean was soon into the swing of unwrapping presents as she recently had practice at her birthday. This time she would often open one side of the present, then toss it aside and inquire about “Mo presents”. It took about a week to convince J Bean there would be no more days in the immediate future where the agenda would include multiple gifts to be unwrapped. This conversation is similar to attempts to convince a 2-year old that chips and chocolate will not make up a balanced meal; although that pairing will, no doubt, be on the menu when she reaches college.
We are now back home, and the weather is cold… really cold compared to the faux winter we were enjoying down south. On a side note, we now have Gran “on the computer” with Skype and were able to talk with her via video conference for the first time tonight. Of course, I had to help with click by painful click assistance to get her logged in but after the trial runs we had attempted last week, it went pretty well although the video left a lot to be desired.
A computer in my Mom's house: $199. Internet connection: $59 a month. USB video camera for Mom (aka Gran): $9.99. Seeing her blurry face in 8bit quality as J Bean hugs and kisses the screen: Priceless.
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