Grandchildren

I have to admit I wasn't crazy about the idea of becoming a grandmother. It took me a week or so to be able to fully wrap my brain around the realization that it was going to happen. When my dear son-in-law first spoke to me about his intentions to marry my daughter, we talked about his plan for their life. Spend time being a married couple, dear daughter would finish her education and children were 5 years in the future. Sounded like a good plan - I might be old enough in 5 years to be a grandma.

A little more than a year after that conversation - 7 months after the wedding, they very gently broke the news to me - My reaction was " Whoa, what happened to the 5 yr plan?" They both just shrugged. My next argument was, "I can't be a grandma right now, I just got my motorcycle endorsement" - again they shrugged. And so it was to be . . . the two would become three. (Actually four because they adopted a wonderful dog, but he'll be the subject of another post)

The more the new life created by their love grew, the more my resolve melted away. They chose not to learn the gender of their baby until it made it's entry into the world. This heightened the level of excitement. Of course, I, with all of my wisdom and experience, predicted a baby girl. Imagine my surprise when we gathered around the labor/delivery/recovery bed and were introduced to a beautiful baby boy! It was love at first sight. You know when you've been smitten by the love bug . . . you think about the object of your affection ALL the time, you can't wait to be with him again, and when you are, you are content to just sit and gaze upon him adoringly. I love both of my children with every ounce of my being, but this love is different somehow. It is something my friends tried to tell me when they became grandparents and I thought they were were a little "over the top" nuts. I now know that it is one of those things that you just don't "get" until you experience it first hand.

This precious boy is now 5 months old, rolling over in the blink of an eye and just today cut his first tooth. He literally lights up my life. God made him unique and special just for our family to love and cherish. A very special little boy indeed.

You see, he has 10 toes and 13 (sort of) fingers. His right arm lacks the bone structure for a thumb, but has double bone structures for the other 4 digits. He has 4 perfectly formed fingers on that hand and instead of a thumb, his body attempted to create 4 more fingers - they are fused together and for now he uses them as a thumb. He has seen numerous specialists and surgery will be performed to see about "making" him a thumb and perhaps grafting muscle tissue to make that hand a little more functional for him. The optimum age for this procedure is 6 months. I'll keep this udated when that takes place.

In this grandma's eyes, he's perfect in every way. His blue eyes and dimples make me melt and his smile and laughter create light on the darkest of days. I could go on and on . . . oh, I guess I already have. My final words are those of thanksgiving to God for my little buckaroo.