I was in awe

For those of you who've been following the story of my daughter and I, you will find this very, very, very cool.

I was talking to Missi on the phone and I heard Cooper fussing a bit and getting a little louder and louder as the minutes went by. I said, put the phone up to her ear, and started talking to her. Just like I did when I took care of her. And she settled down and stopped crying -- just like that.

Missi got back on the phone and said, do you believe that? I said, no, I'm shocked. I believe she misses her grandma. AND remembers my voice quite well.

Three Little Kittens

I've been talking about being in Ohio and the drama unfolding with my daughter, Missi's, heart condition. Well, these little guys were born while I was there. I remember looking at mama Ramona and watching her belly swell. Nobody believed me initially, well, except for Victoria who'd been suspecting the same thing I was. Ramona was preggers.

And Ramona wouldn't leave my side while in labor, which she was having unbeknownst to me. I go to the bathroom and she'd follow me to the bathroom. She slept by my feet on the couch that night. Then the next morning after feeding CoopD and then Q and Sis I was cleaning up the kitchen and I heard Sis say, "A black kitty!" And I tuned it out. Then Meew, meew, meew and Missi, who was in the livingroom said, "Mom? What is that?" Ramona was in labor and indeed, there was a small black kitty on the kitchen floor underneath the table. I hurried and got a laundry basket with a towel in the bottom of it and that ended up being their home. I fed Ramona what was left of CoopD's bottles while I was there as she was now a nursing mama kitty.

Aren't the little guys cute?

Sunny Girl and Matilda

There they are! Hanging right next to me every night. This picture on my blog doesn't do the picture, nor the frame, any justice. What a gift from my daughter, which came from her heart as this picture came right from her very own hands. Thank you Missi! I love those dogs!

This Picture is Better

I know I published a picture of Missi with her favorite man further down my blog, but when I got a good look at this picture I thought it better and worth putting it up here. See the adoration in her eyes? And grandpa looks happy and content also.

Happy Birthday My Darling!!!

Today my daughter is 29 years old! OMG!!! Next year she's going to be +choke+ THIRTY +gasp+!!!

Still full of hot air!

That cake was GREAT!!!

The Magnum

Harold and I have had a hard time lately. Me, with my daughter and her illness, and Harold with the death of his sister, Brenda. And we were apart and not able to support each other. Not an easy time for either of us.

Harold's sister was given a 4-6 week prognosis and put on hospice. Harold couldn't get the first weekend off as boss man said no, so I bought him airline tickets for the 2nd weekend after we were informed. And Harold's sister didn't make it a week. She died 5 days after being given her prognosis. More like a 4-6 DAY prognosis.

Rather than dealing with the airlines and paying the huge change fees, we decided he'd take that time off anyway. And we both had a nice long, healing weekend together and was able to forget about things -- for a while.

One of those days we went to Cedar Point. I'm ALWAYS bragging about Cedar Point. Unbeknownst to me, I grew up close to the best amusement park in the WORLD. Living in Florida, well, everyone believes Orlando is all that -- but it's not all that. And finally I had a chance to prove it.

Knowing that my dear husband is not a big fan of roller coasters we walked the park and passed over most of them. BUT! I was able to talk him into going on The Magnum, my favorite roller coaster ever. As we stood in line I told him how I've always ridden this ride, laughed my ass off, ran back into line and did it all over again. He was able to become quite comfortable seeing that the ride was built in 1989 and was pretty much a relic compared to roller coasters of today -- until the ride started moving.

Me? I started laughing like an ol' wet hen. Howling my butt off. As usual. That is what I've always done. And Harold was furious. He couldn't stand the ride and started growling, "It's not funny. It's NOT FUNNY! I'm NOT getting back on this ride. I said, it's not funny! I hate this !@#$%^& ride. It's not funny!

Hence the picture. Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing. He agreed that Cedar Point has it all over Orlando *IF* he liked those kinds of rides.

It was just announced on yesterday's news that the price of Disney's tickets are going up to $67. The 2nd increase this year. It cost Harold and me $65 for the both of us at Cedar Point and there is no question, no doubt, where the best park is.

And Cedar Point is in the process of making the next biggest, highest, fastest roller coaster in the world. It was pretty cool to see the signs over by the construction saying, Here we go again. Ha ha ha

Her Favorite Man

I don't believe there is any man in the world Missi loves more than her grandpa, my dad. He took special care of her when she was small and needed him.

Meet Victoria

She was my partner for a good part of my stay in Ohio while I was taking care of Cooper and whatever else fell my way. She is Missi's husband's aunt and I thank God for her huge part in my daughter's life. What would I, and Missi and John, have done without her? The best part of all is what she does for stress relief. Are you ready? She cleans and organizes!!! Ha ha ha!!!

The Three Little Kittens

Ramona's labor was a trip! I had NO IDEA! But the night before she decides to sleep at my feet. When I got up to go to the bathroom, she followed me, and then back to my feet when I laid down again. In the morning I got the kids breakfast together and I heard Clara say, a black kitty! But I tuned it out. Then I heard mew, mew, mew, mew and Missi says, mom? What is that? I turned and looked and Ramona had a black kitten under the kitchen table!!! I ran to the basement to look for something for her to have her kittens in and the only thing I could come up with was a laundry basket. But that was PERFECT! I laid a towel in the bottom of it and within a couple of hours we had a total of three kittens.

Awwwwww ...

Ramona

While all this is going on with my daughter I start suspecting that her cat, the sweetest cat I've met, Ramona, is pregnant. No! She can't be pregnant! She's never been in heat. Humfpt! Oh yeah?

Always a Ham

Grandma! Take a picture of me! Then I take the picture and she comes running over and says, let me see! Let me see! Then I hear, grandma, take another picture of me. Let me see! Let me see! This goes on for quite a few pictures and she's never bored of it. I'm the one that says that this is enough.

Heat Wave? What Heat Wave?

This is fun! I could get used to this. Grandma, will you bring us back here?

And I did!

Indian Lake

Looking good grandma!

Indian Lake

This was a difficult day for me. Just the day before my daughter, who'd just been discharged from the hospital two days previously, passed a blood clot to her R lung. She was back in the hospital and going through horror upon horrors. But it was decided by her that since I'd promised the Q and Clara to take them to the beach and that we were still going to the beach.

And so we did.

Missi said she had such fond memories of 'the beach' when she was a kid and wanted me to make the memories for them too. And so I did. They had a great day and just loved it and asked me to bring them back.

And I did.

We had fun grandma!

Cooling Off

Do they look like there's an oppresive heat wave going on? Nope! They're having too much fun!

After Six Weeks in the Hospital

And after almost 75 pounds of water taken off her with lasix here she is now. For some funny reason the remaining water is in her belly area and she has a small pooch.

Aren't we lucky though? Cooper, the baby, is perfect. Missi fell apart during her pregnancy and struggled with an undiagnosed heart condition that almost did her in, but the baby was PERFECT! And what a good baby she is!

Now if we could just get over having to feed the poor thing formula. Having breast fed all my babies and Missi doing the same with hers, using formula is new to us. I never saw so much gas. Poor thing would be sleeping soundly and start writhing and crying and then pass gas or a burp. Yucky stuff! But then look at her. She looks like she's thriving well.

Happy birthday Cooper! You're two months old today!

Her Obese Self

And she does look obese here doesn't she? Funny when one of the doctors spoke about her 'obesity problem' when she was in the hospital. This woman is a tall drink of water. 5'10" tall and 135 pounds dripping wet normally. Her skin was so shiny from all the water I thought it would split wide open. What you can't see here are her thin arms. They didn't get filled with water. They stayed thin. And that's what one of the other doctors pointed out to the doctor speaking about obesity. He said, did you see her wrists? She's not an obese person.

Fat EDEMATOUS foot!

This is Missi's foot after the baby was born. She wouldn't start losing the water. Why, she kept telling me it felt as though she was gaining MORE fluid. Yet she wouldn't go to the emergency room. After a couple of days I finally convinced her to call her doctor, giving her a list of what to say when she spoke to someone there. She was immediately given an appt. for a couple of hours later. And from there we were directed to the emergency room. And within a couple of hours a couple of E.R. docs had my daughter properly diagnosed with a heart condition. HEART CONDITIONS??? Weeks later we found out that two of her four heart chambers weren't even moving while in the E.R. Cardiac tamponade comes to my mind at this. Unbelieveable.