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November 23, 2003
28w1d
Wow, what a busy couple of weeks we've had! The kids and I took a trip to visit my Grandma D. in Pittsburgh. This may be boring for some of you, but I wanted to chronicle my trip so that I would have a written memory of it when Grandma is gone... We left on Wednesday the 12th and spent the night in a nice hotel in Beckley, WV. They had an indoor pool and a hot tub, and Liah and Dylan had a blast swimming while I spent a short amount of time floating around in the hot tub. The water was just hot bath temperature, and it was wonderful to feel semi-weightless for a while. We ordered a pizza and watched cartoons before going to sleep. The next morning we drove on through the mountains to Grandma's house. The wind was terrible! I have never had such white knuckles from driving! We ran into a couple of snow squalls in Morgantown, WV, but all in all, the trip went well. We bought a 9" TV/VCR combo just before the trip, and what a lifesaver that was! I packed a cooler and some snacks and hardly heard a peep out of the kids the entire trip! We stayed for four days and Grandma's house, where we got to visit all my cousins and all of Liah and Dylan's cousins also. The kids all had a grand time together, and it was nice to see my family. I sure did miss my hubby, though. And being 7 months pregnant, I was ready for the trip to be over and to be back home with him. Tommy is a huge help to me, and I was really missing the assistance with the kids, not to mention the personal pampering he gives me. The trip back home was the same as the one up there, in reverse. Instead of pizza, we got to the hotel early enough to go to a nearby mall in Tamarack, WV. The entire place is filled with treasures made by natives of the state, and they had a food court there that was catered by some five-star restaurant chain. Liah and Dylan had hot dogs (pitiful, huh?) but I had a sandwich made of fried green tomatoes, bacon, and swiss cheese that was absolutely to die for!
My grandma is 84 years old and her health is fair. I anticipate that she may live for a good bit longer. However, she has worn hearing aids for as long as I can remember, yet she still can't hear you even when you are shouting at her. To make matters worse, however, she now has a degenerative eye disease. It is sad because she doesn't understand why the doctors can't just give her better glasses, and her vision is simply worsening. She stands 2 inches from the gas burner on her stove to fry steaks, she can't see silverware in the drawer, and she can barely see her crossword puzzles anymore. She also had back surgery a couple of months ago, and although she came out of it very well, I think she expected to feel like a spring chicken, and she does not. I fear that she won't be able to live alone much longer. She has lived in the same house since my Grandpap and his family built it in the 1950's, and she is going to fight tooth and nail to stay. However, I don't think that there will be much choice before long, as her safety is becoming an issue. I really wanted to visit again before Jay came, as I knew that making the trip with three children could certainly not be easier than making it with two! She cried when we left, which of course caused the tears in my eyes to well up. She is a good woman and I have loved her for a long time and will miss her when she is gone.
We got back in town Tuesday afternoon - I was so glad to see my husband! Wednesday morning we both had Dr. appointments, so Liah and Dylan both went to "school" at T's house, and Tommy and I saw our doctors. I gained six more pounds this month, and was able to scratch the weight gain question off my list when the midwife came in to see me. I was a little concerned last month when I had only gained a total of nine pounds, but all of the food between my mother-in-law's and grandma's in the last month must have done the trick! My bp was normal and all is good in pregnancy land. I need to get the flu shot next week. I will be seeing the midwives every 2 weeks now until I am 36 weeks, then of course it will be weekly. I also have to go back next Wednesday for my GTT. It's scheduled bright and early for 8:15, though, so at least I don't have to fast all night and then wait half the morning for the test. I am a breakfast lover! And afterwards, I am going for a one hour pregnancy massage (courtesy of my wonderful husband) while Tommy stays home with Dylan. We left after our Dr. appts, ate lunch (alone!), picked up the kids, and headed out of town - again - to head to my parent's house. Thursday evening we saw the show "Fame" which was what you might call here in the south "fair-to-middlin'". They did have some performers with extraordinary singing voices, but it wasn't one of our favorite shows we've seen there. We got up early Friday morning to head back home, as Tommy had to work. Liah stayed at my mom's house and will stay with them and with her "Harley-daddy" (my ex's name is Harley, and this is what she calls him) until my parents come up next Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with us. I miss her but I have accomplished an extraordinary amount here at the house. It is amazing how much easier it is having only one child to care for! (Whatever am I going to do???) I scrubbed and cleaned and organized and threw out trash and cleaned out the fridge and got stuff to send to Goodwill and... well, you get the idea. I also told Tommy when he got home how I want to rearrange the bedroom to better accomodate the cradle. Tommy got a grin on his face and goes "Nesting, are we?" Smartass. But I'm getting excited. I love this time of year - I love the holidays and the family time, and it is going to make the next couple of months go all that more quickly for this pregnancy.
I posted a couple more pictures at www.babiesonline.com/babies/h/hewittfamily/ of the kids at Halloween and of Liah making this year's gingerbread house at Nana's. Feel free to stop by.
Hope everyone is well!
Cara and family
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