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The Support Team

I never actually wrote down my thoughts about Barry’s half Ironman and what an amazing, inspiring experience it was. We’d been living with him in the training bubble for so long, the race was a perfect payoff for the rough and tough months.

Barry had loads of support coming from friends and family , but nobody was as creative as my grandparents. They had wanted to come to watch, but we insisted that they stay home because the crowds would be too much for them to navigate.

Not ones to ignore such a significant event, they snuck over to our house during the race, left a little gift and decorated our garage door. I didn’t get a good picture of the streamers they tacked up. They also left a bag full of beer, cookies, baby food, candy bars and a hilarious sign celebrating Barry. If you can’t read the text it goes as follows:

 

 

We are BARRY proud of BARRY

He trained BARRY, BARRY hard for BARRY, BARRY many hours

and did his BARRY best

and did his BARRY best

He is our BARRY prettiest grand son in law!

The last part is an ongoing joke about me being their prettiest granddaughter, which makes sense if you’ve been around my family when that’s come up.

The race was phenomenal and Barry’s times were much better than he thought they’d be. I happily have my husband back and we can kiss the training schedule bye-bye until the next race pops up on our calendar.

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The Right Side of Happy

This morning Maggie brought to me a couple of her blankets and plopped them in a pile next to me. I asked her where her baby doll was and she promptly went and found her doll and brought it back to the pile of blankets to be tucked in and kissed. Maggie’s ability to follow directions and interact just keeps increasing and this age is becoming my favorite, although I’ve said that since the day she was born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that Maggie understands more about life in general, she wants to ‘help’ out with various tasks around the house.  I’m working to let her be a part of the action, rather than asking her to wait until I’m done with the task at hand. Both Barry and I have had the pleasure this past week of having her ‘help” in the kitchen and we’ve discovered her affinity for baked goods. This morning I was taking the hardware off some cabinets I’m painting and she used the baby sized screwdriver to unscrew a few screws. Granted, it took longer than if I were to do it myself, but she was so satisfied to be a part of the team.

Our goal as parents is to make sure that Maggie lands on the right side of happy.  By allowing her to mix the batter, unscrew a few screws, walk Sydney, pick blueberries, feed the fish, dig in the dirt, unfold the laundry, and tag along for whatever it is we’re doing makes me believe that we’re doing just that….finding the right side of happy.

Sometimes that means that we’ve got to make decisions for her that don’t always equate to immediate happiness and we’re learning that our child is very strong-willed. But the right side of happy and safety go hand in hand and so wearing bike helments, sitting down on beds, not climbing fireplaces, having awareness of hot stoves and holding hands when crossing the street are just as important as all the ‘fun’ things.

And if we time it just right, we’ll be able to help Mags safely land on the right side of happy.

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The Men

When I was pregnant, I spent a substantial amount of time talking with the women in my family about all sorts of things related to my growing tummy (what Maggie would call everyone, where she would sleep when we’d come to visit, what type of PJs were easier to zip in the middle of the night, diapers, breastfeeding, cribs,  etc.) and the men didn’t partake in the conversations unless they happened to find themselves nearby. More often than not, the men were more than happy NOT to have an opinion about All Things Pregnancy or All Things Newborn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that Maggie is here and we’re well beyond the bubble of pregnancy and newborn life, the men will stop whatever they are doing just to have some special time with her. Between her grandfathers, uncles and father, the girl gets plenty of their undivided attention and the result of this is total and utter adoration. The girl loves each and every one of ’em and they each have their own special inside jokes. For example, Phil keeps trying to teach her the peace sign and Greg takes her around his shop to see his tractors and tools.

Now that Maggie is well versed in giving hugs and kisses, each uncle and grandpa has been showered with a kiss and a hug or two. My grandpa, my dad and Greg have all been in the middle of big, dirty jobs when we’ve showed up for a visit and all three of them have stopped working almost immediately to get some time with their favorite girl, Maggie Mae.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It never crossed my mind that Mags wouldn’t have a relationship with her grandfathers and uncles, but never did I guess that those men would be so sweet to her.

 

 

 

**One of our photos is featured to day over at Life to Her Years. Click HERE.