Losing Nana

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Cady

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a week since I’ve posted. It’s been a whirlwind in our house and, since last Wednesday, I think I spent a total of 5 minutes on the computer.

Last Tuesday, just before 7 a.m., we got the call that Joe’s grandma, Nana, wasn’t able to get much oxygen and that this likely was it. We rushed to the hospital in Atlanta – rush being a figure of speech here since it was morning rush hour – and hoped to make it on time. She was hanging on when we got there, and Joe’s entire family spent the day with her at the hospital. She couldn’t talk to us, but I think she enjoyed just having us there and hearing us talking.

I left around lunch time to take Lucy to a friend’s house because we honestly had no idea how long we’d be there. When I got back to the hospital, Nana had just passed away. I felt awful that I hadn’t been there but, in retrospect, I think it was nice for just the four people in Joe’s family to be there (our brother-in-law had left to pick up their kids, too).

And, when did Nana die? You guessed it – right before evening rush hour. She timed the whole day perfectly, and she would have thought that was hilarious. Seriously. She had the best sense of humor. Wednesday was spent packing and getting everything ready to go here, and we headed out of town Thursday morning for South Carolina, where we laid Nana to rest on Friday. It was a busy trip that ran the gamut in terms of emotion. We were incredibly sad for the reason we were there, but we also had fun seeing the rest of Joe’s family and doing things like going to the zoo.

It’s still hard to remember she’s gone – I keep catching myself asking Joe if his mom had visited Nana and how she was doing. Nana was just like my own grandmother. I loved her and will miss her very much.

Goodbye, Grandma.

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Cady

My grandma died this week.

It came as a bit of a surprise because we didn’t realize how badly she had declined. My brothers and I, after being told by our aunt that we shouldn’t wait until morning, conference called my grandma Monday night. She was in a come and couldn’t communicate, but we’re hoping she heard us as hearing is the last sense to go.

I’m glad we did call then because my aunt was right. At 4:15 a.m. PST on Thursday, my grandma died. Even though we’ve lived apart for many years, it still is hitting me hard because she was such a HUGE part of my life for my first 14 years. We lived very close to her, and I spent a lot of time with her. Today, I want to share just a few memories.

Riding my bike to her house
Watching movies and eating popcorn in her basement
“Fishing” in the pond behind her house
Trips to the mall
Drinking Lactaid (ick!) after spending the night
What a wonderful pianist/organist she was
How much she hated it when teenage boys wore their pants hanging down really low – she would always tell me how much wanted to just pull them down
Our phone conversations. Every talk we had ended with both of us saying, “Stay out of trouble!” She was more likely to get into it than I!
Her love for her family. She loved her kids, her grandkids and her great-grandkids. I wish Lucy had been able to meet her.
Going to work with her

Those are just some of the many memories I will cherish. My grandma had a spunky personality, and she was one of the most awesome women I’ve ever known. I am so lucky to be her granddaughter, and I will miss her until the day we see her again. I love you, Grandma!

Show Us Your Life ~ Favorite Picture Ideas

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Cady

I LOVE having pictures taken of our family and, as my husband is a photographer on the side, we take a lot of our own (yay for self-timers!). Here are a few of my favorites that we’ve had taken.

I’m linking up with Kelly at Kelly’s Korner.

A Low-Key New Year’s

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Cady

We had yet another laid back New Year’s Eve this year. After Joe got off work, we headed to his parents’ cabin in the mountains for the night. My parents came, too, so it was a lot of fun. Lucy had a blast and LOVED being the center of attention. Shocking, I know.

I had a tough time staying up until midnight. Lucy ended up waking up, so she was up when we rang in the new year. We watched the ball drop in Times Square, and she tried sparking cider (she didn’t like the fizziness).

Next year, we may host a party for our friends at our house. We haven’t done that in a while!

Christmas 2012

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Cady

Warning: This will be a long post. But, it’s full of pictures of an adorable little girl, so it’s well worth the read!

Our Christmases are always “messed up.” We spend Christmas Eve at my parents’ house, which is when my family has traditionally opened presents, so, rather than dragging all of our presents for Lucy to Tennessee, we modified our celebration and open our gifts here on Christmas Eve morning.

This year, we opened stockings on Dec. 23. I picked up a bunch of little stocking stuffers at Party City for no more than $1 each and a couple of little princess toys, and they were a HUGE hit! We also got Lucy a Hello Kitty digital clock off Amazon for her stocking but, after a couple of minutes, it stopped working. We’ll be calling them to get a refund.

Lucy was SUPER excited to open her presents the next morning. She did really well this year by not disrupting them as they sat under the tree. She really didn’t go near them as well. I was one of those kids who sat by the tree, shaking presents and trying to guess what was inside the wrapping, so I was pretty impressed with my girl. She got some awesome things – an Ariel doll, a train set, a shopping cart, some Strawberry Shortcake DVDs, play food, a Barbie karaoke machine and a personalized Minnie Mouse blanket. Her “big” gift was a train table, which she loves. Yep. That’s my girl – princesses and trains.

A few hours later, we headed to my parents’ house. Although it fell on a Monday, we chose not to go up on Friday because we didn’t want to ask someone to come check on our cats.

When we arrived, we hung out and Lucy made cookies with my mom for Santa. It was quiet since my brother and his family weren’t there, but Lucy loved getting all the attention. After our traditional dinner of Chow Mein, we headed to the living room to open presents. Lucy was SO excited to give everyone our gifts (she had been trying to ever since we walked through the door). And, of course, she was excited to open her own gifts!

After all the presents were opened, Joe, my brother and I headed out to see a movie (The Guilt Trip. It was pretty funny.) When we returned, my dad read Lucy her 24th book, “The Night Before Christmas.” I feel like I should have had Joe take the picture. He says he’s their adopted son.

And, Lucy put out her cookies for Santa and went to bed.

On Christmas morning, Lucy was SUPER excited to see what Santa had left for her. She waited fairly patiently for almost an hour until we knew my parents were awake and could go over to their house. She was not disappointed! Santa brought her a princess mp3 player that play music and the princess stories, a Cinderella doll, and a box with a bunch of princess dress up clothes and accessories!

She and Daddy also read her note from Santa (thanks, Uncle Randy, since Mommy and Daddy forgot to write one!)

And, Snow White joined us for the rest of the day.

Joe’s parents came up for lunch, as they do every year, and we had a great time. I love that our families get along so well and spend the respective holidays together.

I cannot wait until next Christmas. Seeing the magic through my daughter’s eyes makes it so much more fun.

Family Pictures

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Cady

We had family pictures taken today. My hubby does photography on the side, and I always pick out poses that I like, so we hit up a park today and has some fun. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our DSLR camera because we need to order a new piece for it, but I think they turned out pretty well considering we just had my point-and-shoot.

The Bloggy Mommy

Category Archives: family