Tag Archives: GrandpaDiary

Grandpa Diary #45

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Dear Kaylee,

Well, the first year “firsts” just keep coming. This time, it has to do with food again. You are getting the chance to feed yourself. At least put some little puff crackers in your mouth. This is hilarious to watch because you put one in and then another and another, kind of like Grandpa shoveling in some BBQ chips. Nana and mommy watch you and are trying to figure out if you are using your left or right hand most. I think you are a two-fisted puffer. Keep using both hands and we’ll have a point guard on our hands…OK, that’s a bit early…

Another first is how animated you get now when we Facetime you on the weekend. You know it is me and Nana because you give us your “Hi, how are you doing?” grunts. Sounds like you are trying to mimic a machine gun. “Ach, Ach, Ach, Ach Ach!”

I don’t know orders of things and months when this or that is “suppose” to happen with you. What I do know is living in the present is the way we are wired anyway. Don’t worry about what happened in the past and don’t worry about what’s going to happen someday. Live the way you are designed. Live today. Sounds like a good plan for your whole life doesn’t it?

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #15

 

Dear Kaylee,

We spent much time together this weekend. I saw  you Friday, Saturday, and Monday. One interesting thing that happened is your eyes changed in only a few days! It seems all of a sudden, they are much bluer. I could look into those eyes all day.

I wonder what goes on behind those eyes? You are taking in so much of the world and processing it for the first time. Every time you see something for the first time, it creates a new world for you. Same with sound, same with touch, same with smell; you are a living, learning human being.

For example, your backyard is being changed at your house. New landscaping, electrical wiring being put in, lights being put up, even a whole cement slab was torn out. When all this is going on, there is a lot of noise. It doesn’t seem to bother you, but I wonder what happens when the work is done? Will the quiet be different for you? I guess we could could hook you up to some instruments and measure your stress level, but I don’t think that is necessary.

Babies go with the flow. What you are learning quickly is you can’t control what is happening around you, but you can work on how you respond. You seem to be doing well. You sleep when you are tired and you eat when you are hungry. Mommys and daddys, grandmas and grandpas, we don’t always do so well on those two simple things. We don’t always sleep well, even though we are tired, and we don’t eat so well; we skip meals, grab easy, but not-good-for-you meals, we might even not have an appetite, or we eat way too much!

A lot of this has to do with worry. It does us well to stop and think about babies like you, Kaylee. You don’t worry about things like sleep or what you eat. You just do it because you know the people who love you will take care of what you need.

You expect it.

The one who takes care of all of us is God. What if we live our lives like you, expecting that the one who loves us will give us what we need?

Sleeping and eating? No, problem…

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #5

Dear Kaylee,

Well, enough is enough! Today (7/17/13) it will be two whole days since I have seen you:(

I want to snuggle my nose against your little neck and smell my little Kaylee…

This is not weird, as I used to do this with your mommy, too. The sweetest “baby-smell” in the world! Actually, most of us adults do the same thing if we hold babies. Either their necks or their hair, y’all just smell so fresh and clean!

When I was a little boy, your great-grandma used to smell me, and she would make these, “Sniff, sniff” sounds, and then she would say,

“Oh, it’s one of my own. Mommy knows the smell of one of her cubs!”

Great-Grandma Hanson is talking about how mommy bears like to sniff their cubs. And Great-Grandma Hanson had 5 cubs, so that was a lot of sniffing! The other four “cubs” are your great uncles: David, Steve, Jon and Andy. David is married to Shari and Andy is married to Peggy, so they are your great aunts. They are all so excited you have finally arrived!

Great-Grandpa Hanson is excited about you, too. He and Great-Grandma Hanson don’t live near us, so he has to only think of you by looking at your picture.  He lives in a place with lots of other great-grandparents and he says, “My great-granddaughter is the cutest!” He has a big picture of you that he showed to everyone and now it’s on his refrigerator with other pictures I sent. This is so he can remember his first little grandchild, Kaylee, every time he wants to get something to eat!

Great-grandma Hanson is excited and loves you, too! You are deep in her spirit and mind. I told her all about you, but she can’t really talk about you a lot, because she has a hard time remembering things. But, O, how she loved your mommy so very much and she has a shadow in her mind of her special granddaughter, Kristina, so I know that she loves you so very much, too, even if she can’t talk about it. In fact, if she were holding you right now, she might just sniff your neck and say,

“A great-grandma knows her cub!”

Love,

Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #3

Dear Kaylee,

Today (7/14/13) is Sunday and that is your grandpa’s favorite day because he gets to worship Jesus with his friends! They were all so excited to see grandma and me and congratulate us! It was fun to receive all that love, but of course, your mom did all the work…

Kaylee, I teach people about God on Sunday’s and I got to talk about you today, because you are a wonderful gift from God! I even told everyone that I know you were 7 pounds, three ounces, and 20 inches when you were born, and how I didn’t even remember your mommy’s weight and height, nor your two uncles, Greg and David! Grandma told me I better get to work and memorize my own kid’s birth statistics. She’s right!

By the way, we did not see you today. We figured since you are home now, there are people who want to visit you who didn’t get a chance when you were in the hospital. I don’t like not seeing you; it already feels kind of strange. So, I just got off the phone with your mom and told her to give you a kiss from me.

Love,

Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #2

Dear Kaylee,

You are beautiful. At least that’s what everybody is saying on Facebook, texts, and conversations, thus far. However, there is another side to this.

Your mom is gorgeous, but it is her “inside” beauty that matters the most. She loves God and he works through her, especially as she works with teenagers. You have a “cool” mom. If you learn from your mom, your beauty will not remain hidden, as God will find many ways to work through you, too.

Well I know you are leaving the hospital. You will have a quick trip home, but don’t get used to it because your mom and dad bought a new house up in Valencia. I will get used to that house quickly because I will be seeing you a lot!

Love,

Grandpa