Saturday May 14th Frank and I both slept in at the hotel, recuperating a bit from our couple hectic days with a toddler. Vivian was as good as gold but a two-year-old can really wear you out. We enjoyed the hot breakfast complimentary with the room. Dan took Vivian with him up to the hospital to visit her mom. They have a Ronald McDonald toy room there where Vivian played happily with Carrie's oversight while Dan visited with Lillian in the NICU.
Dan brought Vivian back home in the afternoon so she (and Carrie) could nap and so he and Frank could do some yard work, tidying up before Carrie returned home from the hospital the next day. Dan caught his breath a bit by chilling on the couch with Frank, watching part of a Nascar documentary before heading back to the hospital for the evening, leaving Vivian in our care for the remainder of the day.
Dan brought Vivian back home in the afternoon so she (and Carrie) could nap and so he and Frank could do some yard work, tidying up before Carrie returned home from the hospital the next day. Dan caught his breath a bit by chilling on the couch with Frank, watching part of a Nascar documentary before heading back to the hospital for the evening, leaving Vivian in our care for the remainder of the day.
I gave Vivian a post-nap snack, a container of blueberry yogurt. Carrie was surprised when I texted her a photo. "That's good. I can't get Vivian to eat yogurt." But Vivian loved it from Grandma and the banana strawberry flavor as well.
Grandma buys the good stuff with sugar and fruit already blended in and her mom probably buys the healthy Greek variety which is very sour in my opinion. Vivian called it "ice cream" and I did not correct her.
We then took her along to look at some nearby model homes and she had a blast. The entry of one had a water feature wall with a huge screen TV mounted on it playing a film feature of sea turtles. Vivian loved the "Nemo" display as she called it.
I let her lean over and put her hands in the sheet of water falling as a decorative accent in the back yard. OK, she did get some wet sleeves, but who cares?
I reminded Vivian that the yogurt she'd just eaten had blueberries in it so the super big, high gloss, blueberry on the kitchen counter caught her eye.
We headed upstairs to tour the upper floor. The curving staircase with its fancy scroll work banisters was like another play structure and she loved pulling her way up the steps one by one. This whole house was like one extravagant play ground – with a $1.6 minimum price tag. Unlike the trampoline or music activities from the previous days though, it's admission was free.
Vivian enjoyed pointing out all the different dogs on the wallpaper in one of the bathrooms.
Then we entered the Peter Pan themed bedroom, ushered in by signposts at the entrance.
Overhead, suspended from the ceiling, glimmered a galleon chandelier whose riggings of delicate strings of pearls appeared to be subtly glowing. Second star to the right and straight on till morning...
Instead of "on to morning" we proceeded "on to dinner" at the Olive Garden Italian restaurant. Vivian dug into those breadsticks with relish!
She devoured her rather large plate of shell pasta with gusto. We told her they were Nemo-sized shells.
Sunday morning May 15th Frank and I were off duty again. We drove to a nearby town of Costa Mesa to visit a model train store and a combination fabric/antique store. We were back in time to take Vivian to a late afternoon birthday party, also held at a local park. Carrie came home from the hospital on Sunday but she stayed home and rested while Dan went with us to the party. There was a jump house set up, and a big dog visited.
Vivian would have nothing whatsoever to do with that big dog. She is happy enough with her dog Snoopy, thank you very much.
Monday May 16th was a day care day for Vivian so Frank and I were not needed for baby sitting until later. But a grandparent's job is never done.
I woke up at 4:00 am PDT to be in cell phone contact and support for our daughter Robin because our grandson Isaiah, back in Oklahoma was having surgery to have ear tubes inserted due to repeated ear infections. The surgery is considered minor but it does require anesthesia and no surgery is truly minor when it is your child. Since he is so young, nine months, his surgery was early, one of the first of the day. Thankfully all went well and quickly. Robin reports Isaiah is actually responding to sounds much more now. He refused to sleep an entire night when there was a thunderstorm and really freaked when their doorbell rang. Those sounds had never been issues before. The trick now is to find the volume button on his older sister, Autumn, or encourage her to keep a bit more distance between her mouth and his ears.
I am glad all are out of the woods, now. Having three family surgeries in five days is indeed worrisome: Carrie's on Wednesday, Lillian's on Thursday, and Isaiah's on Monday. Later in the day, while Carrie was at the hospital with Lillian, and Isaiah was refusing to nap for Robin after coming out of anesthesia, we spent some time with Dan having lunch together and raiding Home Depot and Hobby Lobby for an eclectic array of items to spruce up the house and yard a bit. The hectic days that had preceded required a bit of catch up in routine home maintenance. We returned to our hotel for the evening letting Carrie, Dan, and Vivian have some private family time together at home.
I woke up at 4:00 am PDT to be in cell phone contact and support for our daughter Robin because our grandson Isaiah, back in Oklahoma was having surgery to have ear tubes inserted due to repeated ear infections. The surgery is considered minor but it does require anesthesia and no surgery is truly minor when it is your child. Since he is so young, nine months, his surgery was early, one of the first of the day. Thankfully all went well and quickly. Robin reports Isaiah is actually responding to sounds much more now. He refused to sleep an entire night when there was a thunderstorm and really freaked when their doorbell rang. Those sounds had never been issues before. The trick now is to find the volume button on his older sister, Autumn, or encourage her to keep a bit more distance between her mouth and his ears.
I am glad all are out of the woods, now. Having three family surgeries in five days is indeed worrisome: Carrie's on Wednesday, Lillian's on Thursday, and Isaiah's on Monday. Later in the day, while Carrie was at the hospital with Lillian, and Isaiah was refusing to nap for Robin after coming out of anesthesia, we spent some time with Dan having lunch together and raiding Home Depot and Hobby Lobby for an eclectic array of items to spruce up the house and yard a bit. The hectic days that had preceded required a bit of catch up in routine home maintenance. We returned to our hotel for the evening letting Carrie, Dan, and Vivian have some private family time together at home.
Tuesday May 17th was our final full day before our departure home. Vivian had no day care and we took her to Pretend City Children's Museum while Dan and Carrie returned to the hospital. It was to be the first day of feeding by mouth for Lillian and they were excited.
You can take a virtual tour of Pretend City at http://www.pretendcity.org/exhibits/. We had gotten there first thing upon opening and Vivian was enthralled and seemed undecided where to go first. We let her meander at her own pace.Vivian loved riding the Little Tikes vehicles about Main Street.
She took a real liking to this push toy that had a pair of galloping zebras.
As the morning progressed, the museum became more populated and a rowdier group of older boys intimidated her a bit. She would play with something we showed her, but her courage and initiative to explore on her own diminished as the crowds grew. Vivian was thoughtfully floating some ducks down a sluice in the water play section when she murmured quietly, "I want to go home". We had not really explored the sand section at the beach nor gone shopping at the grocery store, but that was OK. We honored her wishes and left in time to drive Vivian over to the library, about 7 minutes away per Siri, for the quieter activity of toddler story time. I guess she must have been pretending harder than we appreciated because, during the brief ride she fell sound sleep. We followed plan B, taking her home and letting her nap there. I did not fall asleep, though I was tempted.
After her nap we drove up to the hospital to meet up with Dan and Carrie who were already there. They had filled out the appropriate paperwork so that Vivian was finally allowed to visit her baby sister in the NICU. We waited for Vivian's return outside in the Ronald McDonald play room. After Carrie brought Vivian back out, Frank and I were pleased to learn that we too could go in and see Lillian in person. We'd seen a video camera feed and photos but this is the first opportunity we'd be permitted to see her for real! Dan held her while we looked on and I planted a kiss with my fingertips on her forehead. What a doll! What a relief!
After her nap we drove up to the hospital to meet up with Dan and Carrie who were already there. They had filled out the appropriate paperwork so that Vivian was finally allowed to visit her baby sister in the NICU. We waited for Vivian's return outside in the Ronald McDonald play room. After Carrie brought Vivian back out, Frank and I were pleased to learn that we too could go in and see Lillian in person. We'd seen a video camera feed and photos but this is the first opportunity we'd be permitted to see her for real! Dan held her while we looked on and I planted a kiss with my fingertips on her forehead. What a doll! What a relief!
After the hospital visit, we met up with Dan, Carrie, and Vivian at her Tuesday evening swim class and went out to a final dinner afterward. Here we are outside BJ's restaurant. I tried to bribe Vivian when she was antsy and did not want to behave and smile for the photo, handing her a Hershey kiss I fished out of my handbag. Carrie intervened asserting her mommy authority, well practiced with Vivian during the first two years of her life. She snatched the chocolate from Vivian's chubby little fist with the admonishment. "No, you did not earn this! You have to be good first." Vivian complied immediately.
Wednesday, May 19th we headed straight for the airport from our hotel. Lillian had not not yet been released from the hospital, but it had been a very rewarding visit for us, even if stressful and a bit tiring. Frank and I are so thrilled we got to spend time with Vivian and got to know her so much better. We can't wait for our next get-together when we'll begin to hold and learn about her little sister, Lillian, also.
Vivian had so much fun with you guys - and I'm so glad that you had fun with her, too! And, I'm glad that you got to (briefly) meet Lillian. We, too, look forward to you getting to know her as well as you've gotten to know her big sister.
ReplyDeleteModel homes - A family tradition! Glad you are starting her young (and I love that pirate ship chandelier). The pretend Children's museum looks awesome (I wish we had more stuff like that in OK!), and I continue to marvel at the wide variety of healthy things Vivian will eat. I'm also so glad you guys got to spend time with Lillian! She is truly precious, and Seeing Dan hold her is incredibly sweet!
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