R's Grandmother Passed this Week

Early Monday, R's grandmother, Helen, passed away. Helen had a stroke recently and her health has been steadily deteriorating ever since. After staying in the hospital for several days, she returned home only to return to the hospital. Last week, Helen was moved to assisted living.

I know not everyone knew her very well. I think that the only place any of you would have met her was at our wedding. The picture below is one of my favorite from that day. It showed how much she loved her grandchildren (especially when raising R's cousins).

Tomorrow, we're heading to Detroit for the funeral that will be held sometime this weekend.

Hats off to you!

Just thought I'd share a picture of some of the hats I've been working on in the past week hoping that there will be some people in Worthington interested at the market this Saturday. Zac and Rebecca, the baby will have a hat for every occasion! I'll even take special requests!

Back to Florida

I promised pix of the trip - I selected a few to entertain you.

• First is in Tarpon Springs at the "Sponge Docks". It is extrememly touristy where the Greeks are peddling sponges of all shapes and sizes, olive oil products (which I did buy), lots of junk, cigars, and the best part of all, delicious food (the baklava was heavenly).
• Next is one of the native birds we saw along the gulf coast - I think it is an ibis.
• This is a pic of Karen and Joe in their temporary home in front of the palm with the stuffed monkeys, their landlord's attempt at decorating?
• We went to the Olde Schoolhouse Restaurant in Palm Harbor, which is owned by my high school friend Patti Smith. The food was really good and the prices were even better!
• Apparently Effingham is not the only place with a giant cross - here is one of the 2 we saw driving on 75 through Tennessee - frightening!
• And ending with another pic of the Sponge Docks because I have no idea how to edit this part of the blog! At least I did get the pix posted!

I'm going to be a grandma!!

I am so excited about being a grandmother!! I may have to move to Missouri... just kidding, Zac, - didn't mean to scare you:) I'm starting to knit now - but nothing in pink or blue, I promise!

Heartbeats

I think we're official. R and I went to see the doctor today for her first prenatal appointment. Not knowing what to expect, we entered a little uneasy but prepared to ask plenty of questions.

Nothing too enlightening was exposed while "interviewing" the doctor. We like her a lot. I think she will allow us to make this birth as natural as possible. This is a good thing.

What we really didn't expect was to gain any concrete evidence that we really are pregnant. The doctor rubbed this monitor that made a bunch of static-y noise over R's abdomen. Then, we heard it: a heartbeat.

That's when it became real for me. (Of course, it's been real for R for the last 10.57 weeks.)

We got our flu shots and returned to work, but I won't soon forget those heartbeats.