News Pileup

 Sometimes I just wait for a couple months so that the news piles up. That way, you are far less likely to be subjected to my rambling thoughts on whatever pops into my mind.

School came to a successful end as far as my job was concerned. All the graduation ceremonies and the printing of diplomas are over and done with, and I've since been enjoying very limited work hours since.

Far more importantly, Siân gave birth to my third grandson, Christopher, who is perfect and beautiful and looks just like a miniature copy of his oldest brother, Tyler. At almost six weeks, his goals are to stay awake and very alert as long as he can between naps while also strengthening his neck muscles. His smiling and cooing skills have suddenly blossomed, which I find delightful. He is a content, sweet baby who is obviously just as smart and clever as his older brothers. 

Siân, on the other hand, has suffered. She had some bad hemorrhaging during and after the birth (her first natural birth after two C-sections), and that blood loss weakened her quite a bit. Furthermore, she is still in a great deal of pain at all times, enough so that she can barely walk more than to make a very short shopping trip--when she gets out at all--and she needs pain medication almost all the time. A couple days ago, on Sunday afternoon, I insisted on taking her to the emergency room because the symptoms she was describing to me sounded very alarmingly like a brewing infection--and catching something like that early is crucial! Six hours, a few blood draws, a urine sample, and CT scan later, the doc came in and told her that they did not see any infection and discharged her. I asked him if there was any reason that he could think of that would be causing her to have so much pain and nausea when she should be well healed from the delivery, and he just shook his head and told her to follow up with her OB/GYN. Of course, the OB is booked out into August, so Siân just has to wait until her regular follow-up appointment in July. 

Siân's husband, Nathan, has four months of parental leave, so he and Siân have been able to help each other take care of the three boys and spell each other for sleeping and naps. They're both always exhausted, of course, so I help out in the mornings with getting the older boys breakfast and then holding Christopher while Siân prepares bottles for the day and eats something herself (when she isn't too nauseated to eat). After breakfast, Husband and I sometimes watch all three boys when we can convince Siân to go take a nap. If not, we play with the older boys while Siân feeds Christopher. Later in the morning, when Nicholas, the 14-month-old, starts getting droopy, Siân takes all of them downstairs to their rooms so Nicholas can have a nap and so that she can wake up Nathan, who takes most of the night shift with Christopher and sleeps in the mornings. Nathan has the fortunate skill of being able to sleep through anything, so even when the boys are in the room, he can still snooze away.

I so love my grandsons. I am so grateful that I have a bond with them and can see them every day. To hear Tyler's and Nicholas's excited cries of "Nanna! Nanna!" as they climb up the stairs to the main floor fills my heart with joy. Nicholas and I especially have a strong bond because I spend a lot of time following him around to keep him from harming himself (he's into everything!), but Nicholas absolutely adores his Grampy, whom he calls "Granky." Granky is the topic of conversation at all times: where he is, what he's doing, and when he will show up to play with Nicholas. Nicholas's other favorite topic of conversation is the Beep. "Beep" refers to any electronic appliance, as most of them make some sort of beeping sound or other. Nicholas's favorite Beep to discuss is Granky's huge massage chair, which is both fascinating and frightening. He is also partial to the air fryer, which has a very satisfying beep. 

 Right after school ended, Husband and I and the boys (my sons, Joseph and Gary) drove out to Indiana to see Husband's mother and father, my MIL and FIL. Gabrielle, Sophia and her husband Matt, and Elannah flew out and joined us the evening we arrived in Indy, and we all stayed together in an AirBNB for a few days. We were able to visit with the two of Husband's brothers who live there as well as MIL and FIL. My kids had never met Husband's youngest brother and his wife and their two adorable little girls, and we had a very good time with both of their uncles' families. 

MIL, unfortunately, is sinking fast. We were able to visit her and FIL several times during our stay, and they gave us a packet of photos they had sorted out of Husband as a child and photos they had of our family. MIL spent a great deal of time going through her jewelry with my daughters. They were each encouraged to take what they liked (none of it is precious except for the memories the pieces will invoke, and that helped my girls feel better about taking Nanna's jewelry), and it was a sweet hour, though tears were shed. 

This last Sunday, the day I took Siân to the ER, MIL said in their weekly family Zoom call that she didn't think she would last out this week. She is ticking all the boxes for end-of-life events. I haven't heard any news since then, but I'm sure she is suffering even more now than she was on Sunday. I am grateful we had the chance for Husband and I and all but one of our children (who had just had a baby) to see her so recently. I'm honestly not worried about what will happen to her after death, as I know she will go to a glorious and beautiful place to be reunited with her beloved parents and her Savior. I am much more worried about FIL. His heart is going to break into a thousand pieces, and his very manly British upbringing doesn't allow him to show or express much emotion. It's going to be very, very rough for him.

In happier news, Husband has been cultivating some new hobbies. He's been working with resin and wood and is currently doing some experiments making keychains in order to get more familiar with the properties of the resin. I spend a lot of time with my grandsons, and when they are downstairs, I'm doing my own experiments with Jacobian crewel work

I got myself back onto a low-carb diet, and I've lost ten pounds in about twelve days without being hungry, so that is going well. I'm not congratulating myself yet, as I keep losing the same ten pounds over and over over when I fall off the low-carb wagon and eat delicious carby things. I'll be more impressed when I've lost enough weight for it to be noticeable. Meanwhile, the good people of YouTube who devote themselves to creating keto recipes have been a huge help in keeping me motivated. I mainly just take regular recipes and convert them into low-carb or keto recipes, but some of these people are brilliant and have invented recipes for amazing breads and pastas. 

Last night, I made sushi bake at Husband's request. I did not, however, want all the carbs from the rice, so I made cauliflower rice and seasoned it as I would the sushi rice. After putting the crab topping on the cauliflower sushi "rice," I couldn't tell the difference. It was delicious! And because it was so filling, I couldn't eat more than one serving. I also eat a ton of sardines, mostly the kind in mustard sauce. Sardines are awesome.

Wedding plans for Elannah are chugging along. We found a beautiful, perfectly fitted dress at a thrift store for $80. Elannah didn't like the sleeves, so Sophia, who has been taking sewing/tailoring classes, is replacing the fitted sleeves with the butterfly sleeves Elannah wanted. A neighbor who used to be a large events planner has offered to let Elannah use any of the huge collection of classy party decor she has, so decorating the venue will be pretty easy. I'm booking a photographer, and we will start sorting out the food in a couple weeks. Invitations have been ordered and will go out to family and friends as soon as they arrive. I have GOT to remember to post about this on Facebook. I don't think about FB, I don't go on FB, I don't have it on my phone, so I never think about it, but Elannah asked me to share it so that I can start gathering addresses from friends who want an invitation.

I've got to go. My choir has been asked to sing the national anthem at this year's Miss [Our City] Pageant, and call is at 6pm. My voice has been having a really rough time for the last few months (a story I have not told you yet), so I'm not sure how much I will contribute, but I will do my best not to squawk.