Telling the Great-Grands

I am so fortunate to have my own grandparents still living, and close by. My grandmother had a stroke in the fall, and now lives at a senior's facility, but is still able to join us for family events. Last weekend was father's day, and I decided to host a lunch to celebrate and to share the news with them of the new great-grandbaby on the way.

They were both very happy of course to hear the news. My grandfather said "was this a surprise?". I had to chuckle when everyone in the room (my parents, my sister, my husband and I) all replied "NO!" at the same time. My grandmother was more quiet, but was beaming in her own way. She had experienced miscarriages back in her childbearing times, and I think on some level she had a sense that conceiving wasn't coming easily for me. We pulled up the latest grainy ultrasound pics on the computer screen and she sprung out of the chair and trucked over with her walker to have a peak. They were both in awe that with today's technology, you can see the baby before it is born.

Before my grandmother had her stroke she was an avid knitter. We used to call her the knitting machine because it seemed she was always churning out something or another -often baby sweaters, hats, or blankets. She has decided to try to get back to doing her knitting again. Maybe now that she has a great-grandchild on the way this will be the motivation she needs. My sister went over this week to help her get started on a simple blanket. During her visit, my sister had all the nurses and care aids asking her if she was the granddaughter who was expecting (my sister is only 17), so she giggled about that and corrected them.

I hope she is able to do some simple knitting again, it would give her a nice focus. Apparently she has a whole box of her nicest works of knitted baby items at her apartment that she'd set aside years ago for her great-grandbabies. What a treat it will be to open that up!