testing other gmail account

ignore!

...OK, scratch that!

...as those old posts weren't that great anyway.

So here I am in Kansas. The sun is shining (typical for this part of the country) but it's chilly...but it has been a relatively chilly winter in Florida so I'm not really that cold.

Devon arrived last Wednesday, and I arrived here Friday. This has been an exciting time as I've gotten a foretaste of what being a Grandma will be like. I'm trying to be as helpful as possible and at the same time trying not to hover and to give the new parents some space...at least as much space as they can have while we are in the same house. On the other hand I just LOVE the little guy and would be happy to hold him all day long. I'm sure that I will get choked up when it's time to leave. I am sad that we live so far away and that we won't be here for all the milestones to follow.

I'm sure we will be back in KS some time this summer so that K can visit birth family. But we have to keep it to small doses - it's a difficult transition for her to leave them behind.

Of course K thinks that she is old enough and responsible enough to hang out here with family, but I disagree for two reasons.

First, her siblings are all college-age and have their own lives - they can't be responsible for a 13-going-on-14-year-old girl when they are just learning to be entirely responsible for themselves. It's too great a burden, and I'm not sure any one of her siblings are up for it. I won't leave her with cousins or aunts/uncles as it is not fair to burden them, either...plus they already have things going on in their own lives. And the last time we were here, K wanted to dress and act way older than she is.

The other reason is that K is not mature enough to trust with little supervision. Each child matures differently, and I would say that while K is mature about some things, she isn't ready to be without supervision. We have had to take her phone and block her picture mail due to poor judgement on her part. K is high-maintenance.

So while I understand her desire to hang out in KS without us, she isn't mature enough.

OMG...how long has it been??

...I can't believe it has been so long since my last post . The other thing I noticed - I created some posts and saved them as drafts..so maybe I'll post them now.

I read somewhere that blogging is somewhat on the decline as Facebook use increases. That makes sense, as it is much easier to post a change in status than is is to think of some actual verbiage to populate an online posting.

For those of you who have Facebook, you can ask to friend me if you have not. My security level is relatively high so please drop me an email with your FB-associated email and I will friend you.

As far as FB goes, in general I try to stay away from friending work associates. There's nothing embarassing about my posts, but with only one or two important exceptions I like to separate work and home life.

OK, so what have we been up to since our last post? A New Years cruise to the Bahamas, lots of soccer...and of course the arrival of baby Devon. I'm posting this now from Kansas as I have come here to cook, clean, do laundry, and generally enjoy being a new grandma (kinda-sorta) to Monica and Gary's little angel.

I'll post a link to some pictures on Picasa:

Devon