HALLOWEEN PAST

I'm a bit tardy with this post,

but I really wanted to share what fun we had this Halloween with our little guy Syd.

Pop Pop decked out his daughter's house with so much scary goodness.

Lights, music and eerie noises delighted the neighbor's little ones,

but it was Pop Pop that was the biggest hit in his chair.

While I was out trick-or-treating with Syd,

Jim was giving out treats.

Syd had the coolest house on the block.

Of course Mommy had a tough time getting Syd's costume on.

There was lots screaming and crying,

but promises of much chocolate to come if he put on his suit.

He finally did but his Daddy and I were only able to get a few shots of him 

in his Paw Patrol costume before he pulled off his hat.

I tried snapping as fast as I could .

And man oh man did he come home with his pail full of treats.

I'm hoping he will remember this.

Us parentals had way too much fun and joy watching our little guy do his thing.

LIL GUY SYD

With his dad on Pop Pop's motorcycle.

It's only a matter of time before this guy has one of his own.

He is fascinated by them.

A FULL HEART

Hanging out with our boy this weekend.

What a joy he is,

and so much personality!

TESTING THE WATERS

Mimi and Sydney's Big Adventure

Hummm...

Do you think Mimi will let me try to climb this palm tree?

Maybe I'll just give it a small try and see what she does...

ooh boy,

she's not stopping me,

hurry, hurry before she changes her mind.

Tah duh!!

I did it.

Now I'm gonna do it lots more,

until I wear her out.

A TIME TO CELEBRATE FAMILY WITH A SYDNEY UPDATE

My beautiful stepdaughter Julie & her husband Mike 

hosted a Christmas get together at their new home.

This was our new grandson Syd's second Xmas,

and man oh man, 

was he excited to be with his cousins and Auntie & Uncle.

He is also currently spellbound with Thomas the Train 

which he wanted to watch and share with his cousins.

Our other two grandkids fought over who was going to hold him.

J. V. won easily as you can see,

much to Kenzie's dismay.

In between,

 is my gorgeous stepdaughter-in-law Carrie,

mother to the two older ones.

We all were surprised with J.V.'s green hair 

(Kenz put a bit of blue & purple in her's but you can't tell from the photo),

but I thought it was a good look on him,

flowed well with his socks.

hee hee

And my silly camera wasn't fast enough to catch this shot of the 3 of them,

so I ended up with Julie in the pix taking her photo as well.

Syd is such a sweet boy,

so patient and attentive as his mom Julie helped him open his presents.

His two favorites of the nite were the police car and fire engine.

Did I mention his daddy Mike is an Orange County Sheriff?

And that Mike brought his squad car to Syd's preschool for show & tell.

Mike also volunteered to play Santa at his pre-school.

Wish I had a pix of that!

My son Zach was also able to join us for the evening,

Danielle had to work.

I am truly grateful that we are able to blend our families. 

A gift really.

And a wonderful way to spend the Holidays.

Thank you Julie and Mike for a lovely evening.

xoxoxox

I am also doubly thankful that I am able to spend Christmas Eve and Day with my children

and my ex,

their father Inars,

 as we have always tried to keep everything as "normal" as possible for our babies. 

Because family comes first.

If Danielle knew I put this pix up of her without her makeup,

I'd be in big trouble.

Good thing she never looks at my blog

HA!

SYD ALERT at 20 months

Syd is in the house for his Pop pop's 70th birthday,

chowing down.

This kid loves to eat,

gee,

I wonder who he takes after.

LOL

Happy 70th Pop pop,

we love you!

ALL TUCKERED OUT

We got to spend this Sunday afternoon with our boy Syd,

and his mommy and daddy.

I guess we wore them out.

LOL

BIG LOVE

Grandparenthood is new and wonderful for my hubby and I.

Even though he has two other grandchildren (from his son),

we weren't able to be around them in their early years,

so this is a whole new ballgame for the both of us.

And man oh man,

are we IN LOVE.

We try to babysit as often as we can now that they have moved closer to us.

At 19 months Syd is absolutely fascinated by cars, trucks, motorcycles & planes.

And he especially loves Pop Pop's Mustang.

I'm thinking we will probably give it to Syd when he gets his driver's license.

He already knows what all the buttons do,

and if we let him,

 could spend hours sitting, 

standing,

clapping & laughing with such joy,

that Jim & I are laughing our heads off.

He is so entertaining,

so easy to love.

Now that I look back,

I rarely got to spend this kind of fun, quality time with my own children 

which makes me so very sad.

No wonder everyone says how great being a grandparent is.

Nighttime is a ritual that Syd looks forward to.

Drinking his milk,

(having graduated to a sippy cup)

getting his bath (although he doesn't like getting his head wet),

then running thru the house naked so we chase him and play hide & seek.

Squeals of joy with lots of teasing & tickling

Oh such fun!

Then the most important part of the ritual,

picking just the right book.

He makes sure he has his "Dog" in tow,

and walks over to his bookshelf,

scans it carefully,

then finally chooses just the perfect book.

He chose his Pop Pop to read to him first.

He is so focused,

so fascinated,

so mature.

I'm sure he will be an early reader.

A reader for life like both his mom & dad.

And then the best part,

he chose a second book for me to read to him.

There is nothing better then the smell of baby,

all fresh & clean from the bath.

He has learned how to kiss,

so he gave both Pop Pop & I a very serious, 

thoughtful good-nite kiss,

with a funny little look of surprise on his face.

This kid has a million expressive looks.

Then up I lifted him to his cozy crib with all his blankie,

poopie (pillow)

& other favorite stuffed toys.

He sighs, 

smiles,

 and snuggles into his favorite blanket that his Aunt Carrie crocheted for him before he was born.

Then I turn out the lights,

tiptoe thru the door pulling it shut a bit behind me

and listen closely as he makes baby talk to his critters,

finally closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Just like that!!

No muss, no fuss.

This is the perfect baby,

and mommy & daddy have done one hell of a job getting him into this bedtime routine.

Bravo you two!

Because I remember many a night crawling out of my son's bedroom on my hands and knees

 so he couldn't see me or hear me.

And then my knee would crack 

and up would pop Zach's head and the soothing would have to begin anew.

LOL,

great memories to last a lifetime and chuckle over.

SYDNEY SIGHTING

Our little guy is 16 months old,

and one of his first words was Pop pop.

He just loves his grandpa to pieces,

and since his mom and dad have moved 20 minutes away from us,

we are able to stop by and babysit anytime we want.

Bedtime is quite the ritual.

He loves books,

his mom and dad have read to him every night since he's been born

(even before he was born).

He listens to music from many different cultures,

his parents put on instrumental soothing CDs from lots of different countries after reading time

while he drinks his milk.

And then he clutches his favorite stuffed doggy

and lays down and goes right to sleep.

Neither of my children were ever that easy.

Ever.

Makes babysitting at night a piece of cake!

A PERFECT DAY

FATHER'S DAY 2016

My boys,

three generations celebrating together on this special day.

                                                               With lots of pool time...

but not sure if Syd likes the water or not.

In the end, 

he loved it

and fell asleep on his mother's shoulder floating around in the coolness.

SYDNEY UPDATE

Our little guy just turned one and has started to walk.

He is also learning how to feed himself.

But mostly it ends up in his lap

(this is what we found when we pulled his high chair tray off)

LOL

So into the tub he goes,

for a little rub-a-dub-dub.

What a doll!!

BABY SYDNEY UPDATE

He is 6 months old and sitting up by himself.

And the doctor gave his approval for real food this week.

And what better food then a California Avocado.

He's a happy boy!!!

A SYDNEY UPDATE

5 MONTHS

Our little man is growing up way too fast.

He's such a good baby,

with tons of personality.

I'm so happy for Julie and Mike,

and we are very proud of the parents they've become.

BABY SYD UPDATE

Our First Babysitting Job

with 2 month old Sydney

Excited...let's see if I remember how to do this.

Take a pix fast before he goes ballistic on me.

Hungry, 

fussing a tinnie, tiny bit while I warm his bottle.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Wait a minute,

you're not my mom,

but that's ok as long as you don't pull this thing out of my mouth.

The big burp...

Play time with Pop Pop...

Fast asleep.

Mission accomplished!