My seven month old grandson, Benjamin, figured out the mechanics of crawling. His opposite knee/hand coordination, accompanied by an occasional body slam to the floor, kept me on my toes for the several days he spent with us. He's sitting up on his own; no more worries about him tipping over. We have to worry about him tipping other things over! And he did - the plant stand for starters. Lots of dirt to clean up and lessons learned about what needs baby-proofing. I'm shopping for a baby corral, but in the meantime, we used our dining room chairs flipped over on their side. Ben was happy, if I was inside with him, but not so much when he was in and I was out. All of a sudden and all too soon, creating a safer environment for infants is important.
Other firsts. Scott visited his first orthopedic surgeon in Seattle. After x-rays and more x-rays, it was determined both his hips need replacing because there's no cushion left. The odd thing is that he only has pain on the right side. The doctor was not anxious to operate on him because he's medically complex. By the time we got home, Scott had decided not to have surgery. We go back to Seattle on Monday for him to get a shot in his hip to see if that will help. Solving the pain problem to improve Scott's quality of life is now very important.
Speaking of medical firsts, my sister, Lore, did have a mastectomy and had a number of lymph nodes removed as well. It's been determined she had stage 3 invasive lobular carcinoma. More than likely, she will have to undergo either chemotherapy or radiation or both. She finds out more this coming week. Her attitude has been wonderful. She's just taking it one day at a time, all the while letting everyone know that in spite of being 75 years old and having cancer, she's really in good health! Letting my sister know how much I care for and about her is more important than ever.
Although I've taken their pictures before, it was a first to take photos of Ben and my other grandson, Micah, at seven and four months respectively. It was also the first time for Micah to have his pictures taken by me while he was naked and laying on my white backdrop. When we finished, my white backdrop wasn't so white! Not a big deal. I just cut off a length and threw it away. The paper wasn't important, but the fun of being with the boys and their parents was.
I'm proud to announce that for the first time, I took care of both Ben and Micah at the same time - if only for a hour and a half. Ben was already staying with me and my daughter, Kendall, had an appointment, so she left Micah with me. What a hoot! I was holding Micah and gave him one of Ben's toys. Since Ben is mobile, he crawled right over to protest the injustice of it all. How could this other strange creature (not even hairy like Ben's dog), be playing with his toy! To add insult to injury, I sat on the floor and fed Micah his bottle. Ben assumed it was his bottle and his turn. So - what do you do? I took turns feeding one and then the other. They were both happy and so was I. These are the moments that become great memories.
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Son-in-law, Ron, had his stent removed on Monday. This was the one to open a passage-way between his pancreas and his stomach. Unfortunately, the stent had migrated in the last month and hadn't done what it was supposed to do, so the docs inserted a new, larger stent to be removed in June. It used to be that nothing small would do for my larger-than-life son-in-law. Everything had to be super sized. In the last year, the man has lost so much weight because of stomach problems, he's down 10 pant sizes! I loaned him a couple pair of Scott's walking shorts this week, after he asked me to whack off the legs of the pants he was wearing that fit - sort of. There's probably no sense in buying new clothes right now until the stomach issues are resolved. The clothes aren't important, but the man is.
All these firsts - and more to come I'm sure - remind me of what's really important in life. And for that - I'm very grateful and blessed. BonnieKingPhotography.com
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