Hello there

Hello all. I know I have been away for a long time, 

and the Christmas season is fast approaching 

so things will not slow down just yet. I do hope to be a bit 
more regular in posting from now on though.

Life has been really busy over the past few months 

so I will try to catch you up a little bit on what 

has been happening since last I was here. 

In September I flew up to Palmerston North to spend some time with my granddaughter and her new baby. It was a lovely time with the new mum and baby and her partner, who was meant to be on deployment with the army (hence the reason for me going up) but at the last moment his deployment was cancelled. Still it let me get to know him a bit better and see how the family unit worked :) They are doing well, granddaughter is a natural mother and just cruising through, asking questions when she needs to. She came back with me for a few days to visit her family.

mothers and babies with a grandmother

On the other hand granddaughter down here is struggling with depression after the birth of her baby. It's very sad as she was so looking forward to being a mother. So on a Thursday I pick her up and we go to "Mainly Music", a group for toddlers and their carers. We have babies from 5 months (our Arlo) up to four year olds, and carers encompassing mums, dads and grandparents. Music, games and food for all. Both Mum and baby are enjoying it. Of course she has other support from other members of the family but I am the one who doesn't work so can be on call, so to speak :)

two proud great grandparents with the babies

Babies seem to be in the air at the moment. We had a baby shower (no pun intended) a few weeks ago for a young lady in the study group I go to. Middle daughter gave me a couple of dozen disposable nappies and said, 'you can make them into a nappy cake Mum!' So I did, once I'd had a look on the internet and found out what she was talking about :) Here's a picture, I hope. (I'm writing on one device and hoping to upload pics from another :(  haha.)

nappy cake

Daughter in law has also had family visiting from Hong Kong and from London so we have been visiting with them as well. That was an enjoyable time and we have invitations to visit. Whether that ever happens remains to be seen, but I never rule out the possibility :)

I've also typed up a dozen of my little mother's children's stories. They are just short ones and were written for her grandchildren as bedtime stories. I hope to get them printed up and give them to those same grandchildren for Christmas. Most of them now have children of their own and I think they'll love them.

Other stuff has happened as well but I think I'll finish off here.

Have a wonderful week and I hope to be back again soon :)

Diana