Observations

[larryJ]

Five years ago, when my #2 granddaughter was born on my birthday, I thought to myself......Self, they will never do anything special for your birthday anymore because the focus will be on the new baby.  And I was right.  But then, I thought, hey, I have had a lot of birthdays and it is now her time. 

And so........my daughter had decided to celebrate "our" birthday on Saturday.  Ribs were bbq'd, corn was cobbed, salads both green and fruit were made and presents were set out on the coffee table for the birthday girl.  The theme of the party was "Pink Pirates".  The birthday girl wore a pirate hat and my daughter-in-law showed up with some pink fabric which she fashioned into scarfs for those who would wear them (I passed.)  A small shoe box size treasure chest was buried in the yard and the kids had to follow the clues to the buried treasure which, when opened, held those gold coin chocolate candies and other goodies.  My daughter-in-law brought a craft for each of the three girls to make which was a treasure chest about the size of a fist.  They put the parts together and glued them and painted them and put decals on them.  The birthday girl opened her presents, mostly school clothes, and then she got a cupcake with a candle. 

At the time she was presented with her cupcake, I got a round gluten-free cake with seven candles, one for every decade.  It was very good, or at least it must have been.  I have had three pieces of an eight piece cake and it almost gone.  Someone around here is eating my cake!  But they remembered and that is what counts. 

Now for the mystery.....I am not a big college football fan.  I do watch it on occasion, but I don't really follow it.  My daughter-in-law graduated from USC.  We have many colleges around here and USC and UCLA are the biggest rivals.  So I was presented with a present from her which was a USC jersey.  Now........she is a very intelligent, creative and thoughtful person.  When she gives you something there is a reason for it, meaning she doesn't just get something for you whether you can use it or not.  When I opened it, I started ragging her telling her I was a UCLA fan.  We had a good laugh about that.  The mystery?  There was no explanation why she gave me a USC shirt.  There has to be a reason.  I guess I will find out someday.

Upcoming.........Friday, she will be going to the doctor for some tests and we were invited to come down for that.  Then it will be lunch at a really good Mexican restaurant and then shopping for clothes for #3 granddaughter.  My wife has already spent a small fortune on school clothes for the other two this week.  At the party on Saturday, I thought she was going to have that baby while I was sitting next to her.  No reason meaning she wasn't uncomfortable.......well, more so than being 8 1/2 months pregnant.  She just looked like she was ready to pop at any minute. 

Also.......school starts for #1 and #2 on Thursday.  I don't know why they are starting on Thursday.  One will be in third grade and the other will be in Kindergarten. 

Also......tomorrow my wife goes to the back surgeon and he will schedule her for "intense" physical therapy. 

Life goes on.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

I'm glad to hear things are going so well with your wife and family. Have a great day.

[larryJ]

STANDING BY WAITING.  MY DAUGTHER-IN-LAW HAS GONE TO THE HOSPITAL EARLY THIS MORNING.  HER WATER BROKE AND SHE IS A BIT EARLY AND THE BABY ISN'T READY SO SHE IS HAVING A C-SECTION.  MY GRANDSON WILL BE BORN PROBABLY AS I TYPE THIS.  MY GRANDDAUGHTERS ARE HERE TODAY AND WE ARE SCHEDULED FOR A HAIRCUT BECAUSE SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW.  MY WIFE HAS AN APPOINTMENT WITH HER DOCTOR WHO DID THE OPERATION.  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AS SHE IS TO START PHYSICAL THERAPY. 

I AM FEELING A BIT OVERWHELMED HERE. OR MAYBE 

LARRYJ

[Diane Amberg]

Thinking of you with prayers. Hope all goes well.

[larryJ]

ANNOUNCING THE ARRIVAL OF JACK RICE JORDAN AS OF 8:10 AM TODAY.  7 BLS, 10 OZS, 19 1/4 INCHES.  MOTHER AND BABY DOING WELL.  IF YOU ARE CURIOUS AS TO THE MIDDLE NAME, DON'T ASK CUZ I DON'T KNOW.  MAYBE A CHINESE THING.....

I AM CURRENTLY TRYING TO GET THE TIME OF BIRTH CHANGED TO 8:14......GET IT?  8:14 ON 8:14!

LARRYJ

[Diane Amberg]

Hurrah!Congratulations to all!

[larryJ]

Yesterday, we drove to Irvine, some 40 miles, to finally see our new grandson.  He is a handsome young fella and seemed pretty happy with his parents and grandparents.  My daughter-in-law is doing great and will probably come home today although I think she would rather stay there where they feed her, pamper her and help with the baby.  He room includes a couch and my son slept there the first night and probably again last night.  They don't keep babies in separate rooms like they used to.  If the mother is well, baby stays right next to her in his own little bed.  Something else I learned....(getting older).....the first hour after the baby is born and cleaned up, the nurses initiate the "skin contact" phase.  It is thought that the baby should have skin to skin contact with the mother for the first hour of its life.  Since she had a C-section, the skin to skin contact was handled by my son. 

My daughter-in-law's mother is in town and has been taking care of granddaughter #3.  However, she might come here today and spend the night or go to my daughter's house and spend the night there.  She loves her new little brother and likes to pet his head like he is a dog or something. 

So, our Friday plans mentioned earlier are canceled as the baby is here.  This means that my son will not be taking me out to a really nice Mexican restaurant for lunch and there will be no shopping for clothes for #3 today, at least not with my DIL.

Proud Papa.......again.

Larryj

[larryJ]

My daughter has decided to sign the girls up for winter softball.  That is a loose term considering that it is still summer and still in the 90s temperature wise.  However, they practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  As they are my responsibility on Tuesdays, I get to pick them up from school and take them to their practice.  The other grandmother has them on Thursday.  This makes for a long day for them and for me.  Not sure I agree with this decision, but......oh, well.

Yesterday was the first practice.  #2 was to have practice at a park not far from my daughter's house at 4 PM and #1 was to have practice at a school just down the street at 5 PM.  The way this works is that I take them both to the first practice at which time their father shows up from work and then I take #1 to the school for her practice and stay until my daughter comes from work.  The key word here is.........MISCOMMUNICATION!  When we arrived at the first practice, my son-in-law was already there.  There were only three girls at the practice.  A phone call to the team mom let us know that we were in the wrong place and that the practice was at the school where #1 was supposed to go.  I'm thinking this is good, because both girls will be practicing at the same field.  Upon arriving at the school, there were several girls on #2's team.  At around 5 PM, we began looking around for whoever was supposed to be the coach for the other team.  Finally, a guy walked over and asked us if we were waiting for #1's team.  Five girls showed up for this team and they don't even have a manager or coach.  So this guy had them doing warm-up exercises and then running to the fence and back.  Of the five girls, my granddaughter is the tallest and leanest, meaning the other four could miss a few meals.  When they ran to the fence, #1 was way out in front of the pack and the other four looked like they might collapse at any given moment.  On the way to school this morning, #1 remarked that the other girls were "puffy."  I asked why she said "puffy" and she said that the other grandmother, who could also miss a few meals, had told her not to use the word "fat", but rather use the word "puffy."

It is a good thing I only have to do this one day a week.  The highlight of all this is that one of the mothers whose daughter is on #1's team is "puffy" in all the right places.

I know........shame on me.

Larryj

[Warph]

This morning on Interstate 10, I looked over to my left, and there was a woman in a brand new Cadillac doing 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror, putting on her eyeliner.  I looked away For a couple seconds... to continue shaving, and when I looked back, she was halfway over in my lane, still working on that makeup.  As a man, I don't scare easily.  But she scared me so much; I had to put on my seat belt and I dropped my electric shaver which knocked the donut out of my other hand.  In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone away from my ear which fell into the coffee between my legs!  Splashed, and burned Big Jim and the Twins, ruined the damn phone, soaked my trousers, and disconnected an important call.

Damn women drivers!!!

[Bullwinkle]

      Damn good thing you weren't puffing on a big ole Cohiba. She could have set your car on fire.