It Was A Pretty Special Day Around Here!

Cheerios!

Phone Pictures!

Nora and I went to the library this morning, since her books were due...and we stumbled upon story time, which starts with lots of kids with jingle bells and songs and dancing. She was fascinated with it all!

She met a little girl near her age named Anna. They pretty much worked on putting their fingers in each other's eyes, and smiling a lot.

We hope to run into her again!

We have a couple of new obsessions. One is the Teletubbies. The TV now has to go on at 9 a.m., and off at 9:30, or she'll watch it all, but nothing quite brings out the giggles like the kid in the sunshine, and the opening introduction of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po!

(This Mommy is horrified she knows the names of all four Teletubbies).

If she can be on her feet, she is. She stands alone, loves to cruise the furniture, and is doing everything except walking. She gets so excited when I coax her to, she takes a Frankenstein-step towards me and falls right into me.

There's nothing quite like that grin! She knows what she's SUPPOSED to be doing. It's just a matter of time!

Nora needs new dishes and spoons, right now this is the only one that won't slide out from under her, and I need to get her a couple more spoons, but she LOVES trying out new things. Everything is a mess these days, and today we're going to get a vinyl table cloth thing to put under her chair so she can eat in the dining room.

Someone shoot me for putting brand new carpet in the dining room. DOH!
And while we're getting into new things, Nora's figured out the computer keyboard. She has one with the cord cut off to play with on the floor, but she likes mine BETTER! Here she is reaching into the keyboard tray so she can type just like Mommy!

Cute Pictures of The Day

Nora's cousins Hannah and Miriam are home from Costa Rica, so they came over with Bestema today to have some fun with Nora.

Nora enjoys standing and playing and climbing all over everyone, but Bestema tried hard to hold onto Miss Nora for a few minutes of snuggling.
Then Nora decided it was time to escape!
And down to the floor she went..

And Nora of course being her age and loves shiny things, was obsessed with Hannah's earrings, her necklace, and pretty much anything that was off-limits.

The Clean Girl Doesn't Start Out That Way...

This morning I cleaned both bathrooms, and realized that I was scrubbing up cookie slime that had stuck to the floor.

We have a new bedtime ritual around here, and it starts at dinner time, when she eats her cookies and is covered head to toe in Cookie Slime.

Then of course, it's time for a very quick, unceremonious stripping and dump into the bath tub, which Nora just loves.

It used to be that she'd just sit there and suck on a washcloth, or play with the faucet.

But recently, bath time has turned into an all-out splashfest. It's so much fun to watch her have a good time in the tub!

Here's a quick video that I think is clean enough that no "parts" can be seen so I don't think I'm violating YouTube's terms of use! LOL

Channeling Oma!

It's like peering into the past. Or is it the future?

Oma, Nora's Grandma, sent me a copy of her baby picture from when I saw it this weekend and couldn't get over the likeness of Nora and her.

Isn't it amazing?

We see so many grandparents in her. I see a little of my Dad in Nora's smile, the sparkle of the evil grin he had...

But the shape of the head, her beautiful eyes and ears, that cueball blondeness that looks like baldness...That's all the Swedish search-and-ignore others' genes from the Oma side.

My sister-in-law Julia who has some Hispanic roots, had blue-eyed baby boys with Brian's brother David. She said after being asked in the mall with her son Geoff "if she was the nanny", and when she said no, that "surely he must be adopted."

No, No, No.

Like Julia said. "Sometimes I think we were just "the host."

Kisses At The Carousel

There are times when I wonder what goes through Nora's head when those eyes get so big as they did today.

It was a normal morning, up around 7:30, breakfast, a few Teletubbies, and BAM!

She's in the car, headed to Starbucks, and has NO idea that a ride on a good old-fashioned carousel awaits.

I just wonder how she just might be sitting around thinking "Oh great, another boring day with my books, toys and Mommy", and suddenly she's on the back of a brightly colored horse, with a mirror, lights, music, and then the turning! And the UPs and DOWNs!

Nora's eyes got really big...and she enjoyed it for a couple of turns, then decided it was a bit too risky, and wanted to hang on to me Koala Bear Style.

My friend Patti (in the picture taking a picture of us) brought her son Sullivan with her, who's TWO, and really mostly not that enamored with Nora as she is with him.

It is amazing to me to watch Nora be so fascinated with him. She just grinned and grinned at him while they were in the strollers.

But while we were waiting in line for the carousel, Patti said something about a kiss, and Sully just bent on over and laid a big ol' wet one on her.

It was SO cute!

I guess I can't catch EVERYTHING on camera, but dang, that would have been a good one!

(Sorry, Louis, Nora's got a new boyfriend! LOL)

Pee

How long does it take for me to walk from one end of the house to the other?

About 20 seconds, or, as Nora discovered, the same amount of time Mommy left her with a bare butt to walk to her bedroom and get a clean diaper, and then pee on the carpet before Mommy got back.

And yes, I'm just glad she didn't poop too.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

A Blast From The Past...

She was only 2 weeks old when I made this video...it still amazes me that she was so small!

The Messy Girl...

This picture is of Nora after a couple of Gerber biscuits...she LOVES having her "cookie" after dinner, where she sucks and chews and messes with the thing til it literally disintegrates...

This video is of her after her cookie, saying goodnight to Daddy who's working out of town tonight!

Caffeinate Me

I just wish I could wake up nearly as happy-go-lucky as Miss Nora does every day.

For me? It takes a few cups of coffee to get going.

But Nora? All she hears is my morning greeting and the light flipping on in her room means "FUN TIME!"

I hope she keeps that sunny disposition in the mornings...and I try REALLY hard not to show her how BADLY I need that cup of coffee by totally faking being cheerful in the morning for her sake.

Reunion Crasher

Brian's 25th High School reunion was this past weekend, and along with seeing my old friends at Jeremy's in Bellingham, and giving Nora a little face time with her grandparents, our last reason for going was to stop in on the casual Saturday night drop-in at the local bar owned by Lance, also in the Class of '83.

Brian didn't really care if we went, but then found his friend Alan D. from his class on Facebook who also lives in Seattle, so once they both said they'd be there, there was an actual reason to go.

When Alan D. arrived with his wife, I grabbed her while our husbands talked and said "Let's go sit down, since I barely know anyone here either!" and we had fun talking and getting to know each other. Ah, perfect stranger, a drink, and just knowing she was married to Alan made her cool.

As many of us probably feel, there really isn't a reason to go to a reunion, unless you already live in town and have nothing to do but to go hang out in a bar and have flashbacks of what it felt like to be in high school all over again.

If you were a jock or a cheerleader or something else that made you popular, and you don't weigh 450 lbs., then a reunion is probably fun for you.

If you were a band geek like I was, the only real fun is going and realizing that I probably don't have as much gray hair as most people in the room, although there was an AWFUL lot of frosted heads in there, so who knows.
No, the best part for me was seeing Michelle W., who went to our church and was in my sister's class, and who I always thought was a great gal. Good to see her happily married to a nice guy from their class, and see a few pictures.

The other part was watching people like Marilee L. and Randi S. staring at me from across the room as they tried to figure out if I was Jill, or her little sister.

I remembered Randi and since she has a sister in my class, I immediately walked up to her and said "Hey, you're from the S. family, huh?" (I'm a brilliant conversationalist, what can I say?)
Oh but wait. There was an even better part. The other night I had gone through our yearbook from 1983 (I was a sophomore that year) and saw a picture of Pat, the girl who briefly dated my husband Brian WAY back then, and discovered that there was a good chance she'd be at the reunion since she posted on the class's website that she owned a business in town. (She's in the black & white outfit, seated on the right).

I asked Brian about if he remembered "that drill team chick who he dated while I was crushing on him so hard," and he had the perfect answer. "Who?" he asked. "Oh, Flag Girl?"

Yeah. Flag Girl.

So later after he explained that she was quite nice and was fun to hang out with (WHATEVER!) I said I hoped to meet her at the reunion, which I did.

And it turns out, she was still quite nice and fun to hang out with. She at least talked to me for a few minutes and didn't get all clique-y like high school kids do.
And near the end, I got to talk with Glen E. who knew my sister by being the boy and girl "student of the month" with her (my sister was the over-achiever in the family/one of them anyway). And talked a few minutes with Scott L., who was always a cutie in high school, and still seems as nice as ever.

And when Jodi D. (pictured here on the right) found out Scott was married to a former ballerina, she laughed and said "That sounds so CIVILIZED, compared to my cage fighting career!!!"

Yup.

Nice to see you Class of '83. You've made me decide I'm crashing the Class of '84 next year. I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Cute Picture of The Day

Nora had a good day today. She routinely pulled herself up, and spent probably half of the day on her feet. The rest she spent chasing cats, and showing Mommy how she still needs to "babyproof" a bunch of stuff.

It's so much fun to see her so happy. If she has my attention and is on the move, she's in heaven.

Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jeremy

Hi. This is Nora.

My parents took me a LOT of places this weekend, including getting to see my Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jeremy at their house in Bellingham.

I love my Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Stephanie.

Jeremy is quite a clown. He was playing around a lot while they were taking pictures and stuff.

Someday I'm going to be big enough to balance a chair on my nose too.

We got to see their house and play in the yard a lot. We weren't there for long, but we sure had fun!

Look at my Aunt Stephanie. Isn't she pretty? She has red hair, so my cousins call her "Red". I hope my hair is that pretty when I grow up.

Aunt Stephanie showed me a lot of stuff, including this lady bug! It was so neat to watch it move around. Eventually it flew away.

Then she shared her YUMMY YUMMY ice cream sandwich with me. I tried to get as much of it as I could! Ice cream is cold, but it's sweet, so it's worth it!

Look At MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Nora's been able to stand a few seconds at a time for a couple of weeks now, but these past few days, she's started cruising the furniture, and if she's not too tired, she'll stand on her own and even try to take a step!
This morning I stood her up withe the phone cocked and loaded to take a picture...It's SO hard to get a picture of her standing because she gets so excited, she lunges for me, and of course falls right down. But today we got these shots, and you can just see the pride in her face!

Mom said she didn't think Nora is going to be walking before she gets home from Costa Rica on Saturday...I think the race is on!

GOooooooooo Nora!

Reunions...

What a CA-RAZY weekend!

Brian and I went up to his folks' house for the weekend, and stopped up in Bellingham at Jeremy's to meet up with my friend Dhan and her sister Paula (and two of their boys).

Dhan and I were friends from "WAY BACK" in the 1970s when Dhan and I were in the 4th-5th grades, Paula was Joel's age (3.5 years behind us) and Jer was just this side of a baby...

As Paula greeted 33-year-old Jeremy, she said "You're a grown man!"

We've CLEARLY waited WAY TOO LONG for that reunion! LOL.

It's 10. It's late, I'm tired, and I SWORE I'd be in bed by now...

So this picture is for the parents, who will enjoy the fact that their kids saw fit to drive extra miles and sit on a couch and take a picture that pretty much only those with the last name N and P could enjoy...

From Left to right, is Jeremy, Jules, Nora, Gleeson, Dhan, Paula and Joel...named perhaps not without some nod towards my brother Joely-Oh...

What fun...

More tomorrow!!

Actual Conversations With My Sister Jill

If you run into my sister Jill, go ahead and give her a thwack on the head for me.

And don't do it to me and say it's because I look so much like her you couldn't tell. It's pretty easy to tell us apart because she's markedly thinner and usually a lot more tan then I am. If she has any color to her skin, chances are she's Jill, not me, so thwack away.

Why, you ask?

Last week, she went with her son Erik on a "mission" trip to the Yakima Valley, where she promptly got a terrible cold, but Jill being Jill, she didn't slow down, and instead proceeded to work in 90-degree heat. OK, kudos to her for being such a trooper.

I talked to her a couple of days ago, and it's been 10 days since she got the cold, and she sounds like hell, and said she's coughing all sorts of gunk up.

ME: "Well, as along as it's not GREEN, you'll probably be ok."
JILL: "It is green."
ME: "You should probably get into a doctor then. Not to hit the panic button, here, but it could be pneumonia."
JILL: "I don't feel that bad."
ME: "Yeah, I think that's why they call it WALKING PNEUMONIA."

OK, so the next day, I call her again, and THIS conversation takes place:

ME: "How you feeling?"
JILL: "Much better today."
ME: "So you're not going to the doctor?"
JILL: "No, I was at a meeting where there was a doctor, and I was coughing the whole time and he didn't say anything."

ME: "Mmmmkay. What kind of doctor was it? Like our brother Jeff's a doctor? (He's got a Ph.D. in Sociology)
JILL: "No, he's a doctor who knows a lot of stuff. You know, like Armin."
ME: "Armin's an Ophthalmologist."
JILL: "No, this one's a preterm baby specialist."
ME: "Well that makes it all better then. I am SO blogging this conversation."
JILL: "Oh no! Please don't!"
ME: "Too late!"

DO YOU SEE WHAT I AM UP AGAINST???

Happy 10 Months Miss N...

Look At Me Go!

The race is on!

Last weekend when Brian took Nora over to Judy and Jeff's house, Mom said how she LOVES to walk (with help) but she isn't quite cruising the furniture yet.

But this past week (literally 7 days since they left last Thursday), Nora's gone from a very few seconds of standing on her own to ROUTINELY letting go of me or furniture, and standing on her own with a VERY proud look on her face for several seconds at a time!

She stood for about 5 seconds for me today and longer tonight for Brian before sitting down. She's getting much bolder and starting to cruise around on the furniture.

She's 10 months old tomorrow! Yikes!

Here's a little cruiser video if you want to see her move...

Small Steps...

I've done a few things around here to reduce my "carbon footprint" and that of my family...

I recently decided to just keep it at the forefront of my mind for a while to turn the lights off in the house. During the day now, I keep ALL the lights off, unless I need them. In a matter of just a few weeks, I actually notice if lights are left on, instead of not noticing at all.

The other thing I've tried to do more and more is not to bring anymore plastic bags home with me when I go shopping. One by one, I've bought a bag or two at each of the stores I visit, so I have one or two from Target and Safeway, a couple from Trader Joe's (they're the nicest -- canvas!) and a couple from Roth's, and a couple from Albertsons. I finally have enough to cover pretty much any trip to any store, and I use them everywhere -- not just groceries like yesterday, but also Target, and the fabric store where I bought some fabric on sale to make my own curtains.

It's amazing how many people are starting to do this too. What was hardest for me was remembering them. Often, they'd be in the back of the car, but I'd get into the store and realize I'd forgotten them! With a baby in the cart, you can't just dash out and get them, so I'd just get plastic and feel guilty about it.

Finally, I decided that if I'm leaving the house with a list to buy things, I automatically put the cloth bags in the FRONT seat of the car, along with the diaper bag and my purse. That way I don't forget!

We have a lot of plastic bags to use for garbage bags and cat litter box bags, and until they're gone, I'm going to do my best not to bring any more into the house!

DARN! My Racist Neighbor is GONE!

For those of you just joining in -- I had an "incident" with my neighbor across the street, who decided to take down and toss my OBAMA sign into the bushes. When I asked her if she did it (she was seen doing it by my Mom and niece who happened to be driving up to my house) she said yes! When I asked WHY, she said "Because you're a nigger lover".

SERIOUSLY!

So I reported it to the police (in case she was going to start burning crosses in my yard), and told her if it went missing again, that the cops would be on her door looking for it.

This was several weeks ago -- I'd say around Memorial Day weekend. My response had to be very careful in the coming days and weeks. Because as Obama says, "We need to keep this a positive campaign." Which I took to mean, don't resort to name-calling anywhere except your blog, and definitely, absolutely, mess with their heads and be nice to the racist idiots!

So in the past few weeks, I was SO enjoying messing with her! She had such a normal schedule, (she'd leave at 8:30 and be back at 5:30 M-F) I'd often take Nora outside and sit on the front porch when she was on her way home, and make sure to wave at her if we saw her. I dindn't do this daily, because I'm not a complete psycho!

I was having SO much fun watching her purse her lips and get all pissed that I was being NICE AND using my baby as a human shield!

July 4 weekend I saw her drive away with her car full of stuff, and it looked like she was just going on vacation (no moving van). Well, the past couple of weeks she hasn't been back, but I figured her piece of crap car just died or something. Then last night her boyfriend/brother/friend came over and moved her big living room furniture out.

And just like that, my entertainment is GONE.

I'm sad, only for her next neighbors, but the load is a bit lighter on my end of the street!

A List of Things That Annoy My Husband About Me

I had a friend ask this question -- "What annoys your DH (Dear Husband) about YOU?" And I started off thinking I could EASILY come up with 10. I mean, I am, after all, annoying on some level I'm sure, and being that DH has known me for nearly 24 years, he's had puh-lenty of time to rack up a list.

These are the some that I'm fairly sure are on his list. But who knows, his top 10 could look totally different.

1) I give him no end of grief about his parking strategerie. He drives around and instead of parking in the closest and first available one, he gets all strategic about trying to find a place that will put the car in the shade based on how long we'll be in there and where the sun is, the curvature of the earth, etc. I not only point the ridiculousness of this crazy strategerie, and he hates it. But I seem unable to quit.

2) I don't put my shoes away. Although now that Nora's sucking on all of my shoes, I'm getting much better at it.

3) I seem to need to talk to him whenever he's in the bathroom, but not nearly as much when he's out.

4) I hog the blankets, but I say he does it more. The fact that I can't/won't admit it is some basic character flaw of mine. It's genetic. My family is known for being right. Not all the time, and not about all the big stuff, but A LOT.

5) I drive "overly confidently" as he says it. But since I have the cleaner record, he has to admit (his words) "If I had your record, I'd drive like you too."

6) I refuse to tell him the truth about how much I weigh. I make him tell me how much he weighs, then I tell him I weigh less. In my defense, asking me how much I weigh is like asking a Grandma in a nursing home old she is. It's rude, and irrelevant. He, however, seems to think he has a right to this information.

7) I like to hold the remote. More than my share. I don't know why he lets me, but he's a bigger man than I am. That's for sure.

8) I will drink milk for a week after its date. This is one of those funny things he puts his foot down about. The day it expires, if he sees it, it goes down the drain.

9) I don't tolerate tardiness. I think it's the height of rudeness to be late for anything. Especially these days with cell phones, text messaging. There's really no excuse. Brian soon learned that if he's three hours late, Jules starts calling hospitals. I don't think he liked that.

10) Well, we have to leave a blank one...so this is it. Brian if you read this, I love you. And I know this list could get a LOT longer!



Those are the ones that come to mind...I'll stop now.

You Might As Well Look At THIS Picture

I'm a total failure these days at getting shots of Nora's mouth, which is usually hanging open and awash in drool.

I joked with my nephew John the other day that Nora was drooling her baby weight on a daily basis.

You see, she's cut a second tooth. As of today, I can officially see it without looking too hard. Yesterday you really had to have a suspended moment in time when she would be: a) still; and b) holding her mouth open without shoving her tongue out at me; which is apparently a reflex in a child whose parent is trying to look in their mouth to see if there are any teeth sprouting.

So if you click on the top picture picture, back up a bit, and squint real good, you should be able to see two white patches where her bottom two teeth are.

That's the best I can do.

And here's one of her stuck in the couch. It was really cute till I tried to get her out. She sank a foot in there pretty good.

No harm though. She's fine. Really.

I just can't believe those clown feet (size 4!) were really THIS small once:

Quote Of The Week

I'm sitting here, blogging as I often do when Brian's watching Nora, and I hear:

"Nora, as you can see, the kitchen is clean. So what that means is, we don't leave dishes in the sink. That would be bad. If there was another dish in the sink, we could probably get away with it. But since there isn't, this is where we put it."

Way to go Daddy.

What Is This Thing, Facebook?

Last week while wandering around Seattle with my friends Barb & Wendi from Denver, we were on our way out of town, needed some gas, and I could remember that there were a couple of stations up in the U-District, and while we were there, why don't we just drive on campus and see how it looks?

As I directed my friend Wendi up NE 45th Street towards 17th Avenue, we had the opportunity (but did not take it) to hit a few tourists running in front of cars to get their pictures taken in front of the University of Washington sign.

Being Sunday, we didn't have to pay to park on campus, and we drove around a bit before parking our car not far behind Denny Hall, and we walked toward The Quad and Red Square for just a glimpse of the huge, and still beautiful campus.
A rush of memories always comes when you visit some place that had such a large, important chunk of your life experience. The Daily at the University of Washington, where I worked. Passing by the turn-off to the dorms. The hall from hell that held all the English TA's, what was that, Paddington? I just remember that the story was that they built it in the 1960s as "anti-riot" in that no one could possibly find their way around the hall without getting morbidly confused, so surely a sit-in was impossible.

Now why they never moved the Administration there, I'll never know...

Anyway, that trip to Seattle was so neat to look back, and then this weekend I was looking at a friend's post for a private online group I belong to, about how she was finding all these people from way back when on Facebook, and it occurred to me that I should FINALLY get off my butt and join.

It is, after all, free, and what else do I have to do besides make sure my kid's not getting into the cat box?

And it's not a blog, it's not private (you have to know someone to know someone, in a neat but oddly cultish sorta way). So I'd say it's more of a social networking thing, a way to keep in touch, without the blog/journaling.

And as far as I can tell all the kids in our families over 12 have a FB page. I felt like a dinosaur navigating Manhattan at first, but I quickly (and with the help of my 17-year-old nephew John) got the hang of it.

Before I knew it, I'd found Mike G and Marie Z and David W, all from school days at the UW. And a few friends from high school, and some from further back even.

It's just amazing how quickly you can find old friends.

It's like joining a cult, and finding out all your friends from your past are there, waiting for you!

Anyway, here's to Facebook! Another timesucker, but well worth it!

You Know It's Weird When...

After a couple of months of non-stop guests, traveling and more guests, the place went dead quiet this week when Barb and Wendi went home, and everyone in Oregon in our families left for Costa Rica.

It's a fine day in technology when you realize that even though they may not have cell service where they're going, it's pretty easy to keep up with the family, and them with us!

My brother Jeff is a professor at a local college, and his wife Judy took their kids, my Mom and my Aunt Kathy from California to Costa Rica for a family vacation (and meeting up for a few days with my brother Joel and his boyfriend Dave too from New York!).

Afterwards, Jeff will stay behind for a couple of extra weeks to do some work stuff. But in the meantime, we can watch the blog here.

I just think it's cool that we can keep up with each other!

Love you guys, and safe travels!

Just a Bunch of Pictures!

Nora and I had a great day today. Brian had to work at home this morning, then was out this afternoon, so we decided to get our weekly shopping done.

Nora's dress she's wearing here (sorry it isn't clearer) is SO cute. Her Aunt Jill gave her this dress, and as long as she isn't trying to crawl around (like when she sits in a grocery cart) she doesn't trip over it. I just LOVE dresses like this on her. It's just adorable. She got lots of compliments on it today.

Thank you Aunt Jill!
And she's got this thing about stealing my glasses right off my face. She's sort of obsessed with taking my glasses off, and it doesn't matter where she is. At home, in the swimming pool.

She hasn't dropped my glasses to the bottom of Olinger pool yet, but hey. It's just a matter of time, right?

So I decided one day to just throw them on her for a second, and she got a good laugh out of that.

And with the sun blazing, I found a pair of sunglasses for Nora to wear outside which help a bit. I don't even know where these came from, maybe in a box of clothes from friends -- but they are handy, and if I wait to put them on when she's in the sun -- she "gets it" that they help her eyes and actually leaves them on!

We went to Goodwill today to look for a few toys at the suggestion of my friend Patti. We lucked out and found this table and chair, Nora-sized, and ADJUSTABLE for as she grows! If you look in the middle you can see a big "screw" that you can twist the table top and the seat chair and raise/lower the whole set.

All for $14.95!

It's got a little wear and tear on the painted tabletop, but I have a feeling Nora not only won't care, but will add to the damage herself!

And the best thing besides having a new play surface for her, was seeing how STABLE the thing is. Nora pulls herself up on everything right now, and this thing is rock solid!

Nora's smile just gets me sometimes...There are times like in this picture where I can see that little face and get a glimpse of how she's going to look years from now!

Deep Thoughts...

"If you choke a smurf, what color will it turn?"

-- Thanks Carmel. I don't know if one of your cherubs said it, but it's a scream!

Holy Crap!

I saw this video about how children immitate what they see, and HOLY COW!

It's GENIUS!

I'll Try To Take This The Right Way. Repeat.

It's official.

I'm OLD.

I took my daughter Nora to the pool today, and we swam and swam and had a grand time.

And on the way out I got the question every over-40 Mom has prepared herself for, or should:

"She's darling. Is that your granddaughter?"

Um.

No.

"She's my daughter. Thanks."

The lady said "Well, it just looked like you were enjoying her SO MUCH!"

That a Mom can't enjoy her kid as much as a Grandma? That's what she was saying?

OK.

Well, I could have been nicer. But I just said "Well, I lost four babies before I had her, so maybe I just look like I appreciate it more."

And off we rolled.

Some people!