Sweet Babies

I think I will just let this picture speak for itself.

Blogging by Guilt

Catherine commented on her blog that she would blog more often, but, since no one else was blogging, she felt it would be wrong, or something like that...and I know I follow some blogs that I get disappointed when they go a long time without updates.

I guess I feel uninspired............but, I am going to babble on about some things anyway...........no cute stories, no adorable pictures of my grandgirls, just life stuff.

Catherine:
She is still home, taking a leave from college. We have partial progress in a professional diagnosis of OCD..........how I missed it, I will never know, I told her I just thought she was being a pain in my rear when she would nag at me about "dumb things". Remember, this blog is my opinion! They would be little things, she would just seem to nag me about or come unglued. ie. If I take something out of the microwave before it is finished, she would just get ridiculous about the numbers left on the microwave. I would just think "if it bugs you, hit clear, and don't nag me!".........anyway, I could list other things, small things that might have been a sign, but the fact is, I missed it. And, to add, it was minimal in comparison. If you read about OCD, you find that 19 is the age where the "illness" becomes most prevalent. I have my own theories about why that age, but, again, just my opinion, and I will keep it to myself. [shock]

What has happened is that what was a small manageable, well hidden illness, became full blown this past semester. One of the things Catherine does is count letters. Count them to the point that reading or listening sometimes becomes impossible. She clinches her jaw, and tenses up. It makes her nuts.

We try to laugh about it when we can, she says she is "crazy", but, we both know she is not, and honestly, we both feel better having a name for what was causing her issues. The counselor was right on target when she said "the goal is to get you where you can manage the OCD and get back to the life you had/want/ deserve".

It is very hard to explain to others, what I see and have seen, and she is at a loss as well. How can someone explain something they don't understand. So, for the most part, we both just say "I don't know", because that is an honest answer. It is not us trying to avoid talking about it, or being in denial, it is truly the honest answer. She does not know why, when and how it will happen, but it happens frequently. She does feel the effects, I believe it is so much stress in her head, both brain wise and jaw clenching physically, that he thinks her head will explode. Other than that, if she does not know, I sure don't know. So, its not that we don't want to talk about it, but right now, there is just not much more to say.

One big blessing has been her boyfriend Justin.(funny part about my usage of "big" blessing, I should mention that Justin is 6'7" tall!, and in our short family, its like having the jolly green giant around!) Justin has been in and out of her life since Jr. High. They were drum majors together, and went to prom together, etc....broke up, got back together, you know that on off type of relationship. Catherine posted some entries in her online diary that go WAAYYY back about him and they are seriously funny, and sweet. Anyway, Justin knows she is "nuts" right now, and not only does he not care (you know, in a "I love you anyway" sort of don't care), but he is patient with her beyond belief.

It has been an adjustment for us both, her being back home for this long. She is pushing 20, and the last place she wants to be is home, but, we are both glad she knew this was the place to be right now in her life.

Unicorns, Faries, Okapi's and other Mythical Creatures

Within the last 6 months, Mia's dad and stepmother took Mia and her kissing cousin KJ to the zoo. As it is with little ones, the stories that get told after such trips have 90% truth, 5% misunderstanding and 5% imagination.

Within that 5% of misunderstanding, is included the small child's misunderstanding of what was really happening, and the listener of the small child's stories misunderstanding of the tale.........ie, word pronunciation.

At three, even with all of the talking Mia does, she still has problems with the letter "L".......a lion is a "whyon", I love you, "I wuv you", etc......she is working on it, but it still poses a problem.

So, when Mia was telling her mom about the "Okapi" at the zoo, Jennifer had no idea what she was talking about. And the description of the Okapi was no less confusing. Jennifer had even asked me to try and figure out what she was talking about and I too was clueless. I mean, we assumed she was leaving letters off, or misunderstood what was being told, you know, lots of possibilities for misunderstanding.

Mia was here Thursday and it was a beautiful day, so Catherine and I took Mia to the zoo. When I called and told Jennifer we were going, she said "Make sure you find out what an Okapi is!", and I promised her I would not leave the zoo until we solved the mystery of the "Okapi"


As you can see, the only people who were without a clue were the grown-ups. An Okapi is not a mythical creature, nor a mispronunciation by a three year old, and cutting us some slack, when she tried to describe the animal, well, as you can see, it is one ODD creature! No wonder that animal stuck in her head enough to want to share the story.........ah my little sweet toot Mia! I loved spending the day at the zoo with you and Catherine. I will post some more photos later.

New Name, New Baby

I guess I am not giving out a prize for helping me give my blog a new name.........so, for now anyway, "Pretty in Pink" seems to work. Catherine set up the blog a while back for me with the pink designs and since I have two GRAND DAUGHTERS and 3 Daughters, and since I think every little girl should wear Pink.........it seems to work.........because I think it works for ALL of my girls!

Family

Jessica wanted to have a nice family picture taken. We were suppose to dress up at Christmas (when I say dress up, I mean, no Dauphin University T-shirts and such), but things didn't work out to do that (we will do it soon I promise Jessica!). In the mean time, at Thanksgiving, we were all together, and took this "casual" shot. I really like it, and my extended family, the "San Marcos Schmid's" now as I call them, are in it, which makes it extra special. The only person missing is little E..........who was not yet born.

Here is our little family.
What you don't see in the picture is the surprise on our faces when Catherine's camera started taking the pictures. She set it on top of the water well, time delayed and when it started clicking, it was like one click every 1/2 second...........and it caught all of our surprised looks. I am going to include one, and you need to look at Rex's face, because his shows our shock and amazement more than anyone else!


Speaking of the San Marcos Schimids', I went to San Marcos for New Years and spent the eve with Rob and Cindy, their daughter Sara, her husband J.W. and their two little boys Brady and Elliot. I have been taking Mia over to play with Brady since basically she was born. They are just now getting old enough to really play together and man oh man, do they have a good time. Brady is 7 months older, and a sweet gentle little boy, with wonderful manners. Sara and JW have done a terrific job as parents. Mia and Brady play and play and play and not once have they ever had any sort of disagreement. They are loud (mostly this is Mia), and they do run in circles (again, Mia), but, they sure have lots of giggles. Sara, Cindy and I went to the outlet mall in San Marcos and bought matching cuddle jammies for my two grand daughters and their two boys. Cute is not a descriptive enough word to describe these four little people in their PJ's!


The look on Brady's face when we told them to sit down and we were going to have them hold their siblings............Brady looked at Mia and said "we are both going to hold our babies"......oh, it was awesome!

Towards the end of the evening, JW was making every effort to read a book to Mia and Brady. Sitting in the living room, Mia perched on his lap and Brady beside him, he proceeded to try and read "One Fish, Two Fish". Mia, who once exclaimed to my mom "I can talk. I talk a wot". was inclined to live up to her reputation, and kept having something to say about everything in the book. Finally, with good humor, JW said "would ya'll like me to read this book, or not", where in Brady replied, "I want to hear the book, but Mia keeps talking". This was all very true, but Mia was having such a good time!

Sara has a very nice camera and takes great pictures. Apparently, she is like Catherine, and a wee bit of a perfectionist when it comes to her pictures. They neither one like to share them before they have been "perfected". But, since it was New Years and since we said pretty please, Sara went ahead and shared some of the photos with us. The one of Brady and Mia and their siblings, and then at Jennifer's request, some photos of baby E.



Can you see the dimple? My heavens, I love dimples!





Oh, by the way, I know I have referred to her as baby E now twice. This past weekend, in my opinion, I have decided she looks like Rex. I was calling her Miss K after than, and I do refer to her as Eleanor also.........so, see I still have not picked a name for her (yes, yes, I know, her parents picked a perfectly fine name, Eleanor Grace), I just mean maybe a nickname, a "love" name, you know....

Skooter and Meg

As promised.

Skooter Bunny moved in my home. He came as a packaged deal with Catherine. Skooter has some very unusual markings. He is sort of like getting two bunnies for the price of one (I will not go into the price of flying a bunny home on an airplane and buying a hutch for him to live in).

This is a shot of his back half. If you look close you can see the separation of colors, stripped on one side, sort of blotchy on the other. Skooter is a dwarf lop-eared rabbit.



Now I know nothing about rabbits. I suppose I had a bunch of preconceived notions about bunnies. I thought he would be skittish, shy, reserved, you know, basically scared of everything. This is not true of Skooter anyway. He jumps up on my couch and on the tables and stands on his hind legs to see what is what. Oh, and I suppose you could say is the house broken. When not in his hutch, he goes to the bathroom in the back utility room that Meg uses. Meg is "paper trained" (mostly), and so there are puppy pads in the utility room. Skooter hops back there and does his business on the puppy pads.....interesting. He is curious and nosy and has absolutely no fear of my dog Meg at all! They actually sort of play together as much as a bunny can play I suppose.


You can see his color good from this video. Black ear on the right side and black nose on the left...........very unusual, and you can also see that Meg is SOOO not concerned with Skooter nor he with her.



According to information online, you can tell a bunny is relaxed when he lays on his side with his hing legs out behind him. Skooter lays this way quite a bit.....it looks like Santa left a little bunny under our tree.


In all fairness to my little dog Meg, I have a video of her I wanted to add but it seems to have problems loading........oh well.

New Baby

I am afraid that I have been lagging in my posts. Life just gets that way I suppose.

Yes, we have a new baby in the family. Eleanor Grace Klentzman came into the world December 17, 2008. She and her mom did great. Jennifer had a C-section with Mia, and natural childbirth experience with Eleanor...........you will have to ask her which she would prefer with child # 3. I think they must both have their ups and downs. I was amazed at how good Jennifer looked after natural childbirth. I never saw a picture of me looking that good after labor and delivery! I think she looks wonderful!


Mia was the most precious thing when she first saw her new baby sister. The look on her face, and the soft touch of her little hands on that tiny new face and the love in her eyes just made me swell up with tears. Oh how I hope she always feels that way! I did not get that Kodak moment caught on camera, however, we did get Mia later, running around in her usual crazy Mia way playing with her mom's labor ball!

Mom and baby came home from the hospital the next afternoon. Catherine had made a "Welcome Home Eleanor" sign that we put on the front of their house (sorry, no photo), and she and Mia and I cooked and cleaned and played all day, preparing for their arrival.
Right now, we still have a little "alien" look about us, but, if I have my way, she will look like her mom and be a beautiful little girl. (not saying here that Rex is a bad looking guy, just have my prejudices on wanting Jennifer to have a baby who favors her this time!) Besides, this is my blog and I can say what I want to! :-)

Oh, and one final thought about the blog. I suppose I need to rename it.........I know have two granddaughters, and I won't keep separate blogs about them........I like the "perfectly Mia" part, because, well, she is no one but herself and she is a perfect Mia (she is not perfect, just perfect at being herself....oh, sometimes I confuse even myself)............any how, if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to submit them. Maybe I should offer some "prize" for the winner?!?

Coming soon.............Skooter bunny moves in

Tee Tee Man

I know I have blogged about Cindy, the incredible shelves and her making me clean my room and other stories. I know I have mentioned Rob in connection with Cindy. He is her husband. I used to be his "second wife", but he up and left me for "the perfect job" in San Marcos, so, since there is common law marriage, I am saying we have had a common law divorce.

Anyway............

Rob, does some amazing carvings. He has been at it for quite a few years now, and I am probably his biggest fan (well, after wife # 1, Cindy). He has blessed me with several of his works, including a key chain and some walking sticks and a man-face that I have on my front porch.



The walking sticks usually have a man, or several men's faces carved somewhere on them. Rob uses the natural knots and such to make the nose, etc. He says each one has a personality that he brings out. My photos do not do the carving justice and for that I apologize to Rob!





The latest gift is more than amazing. He took an old tree trunk, and using a chain saw he carved a "Tiki" man. (Cindy had a similar one at her house here in Waller, and I always coveted it, threatening to steal it). Not only did he carve it, he also brought it all the way from San Marcus and delivered it to my house!

Mia was here visiting when Rob and Cindy came, and she saw us unload it and set it on my drive, and heard us talk about the Tiki man.

Now every time Mia sees this carving sitting on my drive way she asks "Why did Rob give you a tee tee man?"

Mia Turns 3

Catherine and I drove to Austin to see Mia on her third birthday. The original party was to be here, but since Jennifer is so close to delivering baby # 2, she and Rex decided it would be better to put off the planned party and stay in Austin, near their Dr. and hospital.

So, considering it was a quick change and not so planned, I thought it was a great birthday. A visit to Chucky Cheese then friends and family went to Jennifer and Rex's for Princess cupcakes.

Here are some photos of the Pretty Pink Princess Mia. Thanks Grammie Juda for sharing your photos with me!



I wish I could say this was her "surprise, it's my party" face, but, that is not true, I am not sure why she had her mouth so wide open!






She is not wearing make up. I think just the dress and the day made her natural "blush" come out! Ain't it cute!





She looks so grown up here. I think I see some of her mom popping out!




Jennifer helped Mia open her presents, but I don't think they all got opened. Mia liked everything so much, she just kept wanting to play with things.



Grammie Juda gave her a new baby doll and stroller. She loved the tiny baby. It looks like a premie cabbage patch doll. Jennifer took a scrap of material and made a "pouch" for Mia to put her baby in, and these are the "Kodak moments".









You can just see the love as her eyes are closed and she kisses her new baby. She will make an awesome big sister.

Thanks again Cindy !

Most of you know how much I hate having my picture made. Quite possibly it is reality hitting me smack dab in the face............but, I have never liked having my picture taken (could be the same issue I guess).

Anyway, this photo shows my sweet Mia, I just happen to be in it as well. I guess it was taken about a year ago, at the Waller City park.

Thanks Cindy for emailing it to me!

Thanksgiving

I have a wonderful Thanksgiving surprise coming! I love it so very much.

No photos yet, but, after Thanksgiving.

Movie Date

I went to Austin and San Marcos this weekend. I had a wonderful visit with Rob and Cindy and their family. Thanks a bunch for having me and my bunch!

Sunday, Jennifer, Rex, and I took Mia to the movies to see "Bolt". The movie was cute, but the little Princess was even cuter!

Catherine, I took my camera and took these for you!

Mia picked out her own outfit, and I am so proud of Jennifer for not only letting her do that, but loving that Mia has such fashion choices! Please note, not only is she wearing Princess shoes, but, as has always been a Mia preference, they are two Different shoes!

Baby Klentzman Shower

I call this entry "baby Klentzman" shower, because I am still not 100% sure it will be a girl....I know the baby was only 14 days conceived that I bought Pink clothes.....but that is not the point. It is not that I don't want a baby girl........it's just, I think it might still be a boy.........and the old saying, "I just want a healthy baby and healthy mom" is sure true!

Anywho.........a few photos I took. I always forget to get my camera out, so I don't have many. The one of Jennifer's baby "bump", I held the camera at her chest and took the picture, so, that is the view she sees when she looks down!

And, she has blossomed since these photos were taken! I think she looks GREAT as a mom to be!






Rex'a family gave them a wonderful shower! Thank you Klentzman's.

Mia my darling Mia

I took these photos last week, but felt I had to finish my trip blog first, and now, Mia!






Shaking the Piggy's


Giggling Bath Time

The final Chapter of Our East Coast Trip

We drove all day Sunday. It will shock those who know me and how much I hate riding in the car to know that I did not hate this ride. We stopped every time we needed a bathroom (no guilt to do so), we stopped to look at anything and everything we wanted, and Becky drove. Somewhere along the road trip we found this cute little New England church.


Becky laid in the grass/leaves in the front yard of the church to get this shot!

Washington DC
We stayed in Baltimore and took the train to Union Station in Washington.


I need to make a correction in post # 4 of the trip. I said we left from Grand Central Station/Terminal.........that was wrong. Those are pictures of Grand Central, and everything I said about it was true, BUT, we left from Penn Station. Another big beautiful building.



We arrived at Union Station, bought tickets for on of the tour buses and off went went. Our time in DC was limited, and we knew from the beginning that it would be, so, we were content to see most of it from inside the trolley. Besides, it was cold and raining...........BUT, on the list of MUSTS was the Lincoln Memorial.








I do not know why this particular memorial was such a necessity for me to see, but it along with Arlington National Cemetery were the two places that I felt I "needed" to see. They were on my "bucket list".

Audie Murphy is buried at Arlington

We were told over 320,000 soldiers are buried here.

For me, like the Grand Canyon, pictures just can not convey the real sight of this place.


I was moved by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the story of the guards who stand over it, 24/7. I know I have a whole lot of links on these posts, but if you follow none of them, please follow the one about the guards. It is AMAZING what these young men give up and have to sacrifice to have the honor of guarding this tomb.

The tomb

Standing guard

Changing of the guard


We drove past and I took pictures of the Jefferson Memorial, the Capital the White House and other national buildings. I won't bore the reader with more photos that you have seen before except this last one............

Can't you just hear Jenny hollering "Forest, Forest!", and see Tom Hanks running through this reflecting pool shouting "Jenny, Jenny".




Oh, and another fun fact we learned. There is only ONE Monument in all of DC, but lots of Memorials, and the difference being, a Monument (Washington Monument) was commissioned while good ole' George was still living............all of the other Memorials were commissioned after the passing of the one "memorialized".

Well, I am calling this "The End".........as I have been posting, I remember more and believe it or not, wish I had added some more info here or there, for my own sake so someday, I can look back and remember. Remember how much I loved this whole journey, how much I loved sharing it with my dear friend, how blessed I am to have had the opportunity to see sights I have always dreamed of seeing, and if I ever forget, how proud I am to be an American.