All My Children #21

Hello everyone !

Our beautiful Vivianna has arrived, and she is perfect indeed. I know you have all seen the pictures, but I will tell you, she is even more beautiful in person ! When I try to decide who I think she looks more like, it is a toss up. I see CJ in her, I see Bill in her, but you know I think she has her own look too. I cannot wait until you have all met her ! I just love holding her in my arms. She has the sweetest little face, and when she opens her eyes, she just looks all around. Her little lips are perfectly shaped. Well, I could just look at her for hours on end. It was very hard to leave. Then, getting the call from Bill during our travels back home, about Viv having a blockage in her intestine, well, my heart was breaking at the news that she had to endure surgery. I am however, very grateful that the doctor discovered she had a problem, and was able to get it taken care of so quickly and safely. Those doctors and nurses, they are very good at their jobs. That hospital is amazing. CJ is indeed fortunate to have such wonderful care. I hate it knowing Vivianna is in the hospital, hooked up to all those tubes, but ... I know she will heal fast and be home where she belongs healthy and happy soon. CJ did such a good job thru the C-section surgery. It was good to see her feeling better and stronger each day we were there. We are so proud of her. Bill did such an awesome job for CJ and his baby daughter each step of the way. Dad and I felt so very proud seeing him take such wonderful and loving care of both of them. Seeing Bill,CJ and Vivianna together just warmed my heart. They are a wonderful family unit. Just as it should be, strong and full of love.

It was great to get to go and be there with them. It made it more special to be able to have Angela, Grandma and Aunt Patty also be there with us. It was nice to have some time together. Aunt Patty and I sang to Viv, " You Are My Sunshine ", so fun and a precious memory for sure. Ang and I stole away some alone time together. We went for a walk in the afternoon,Thursday, in Jacksonville, down by the river and had a Margarita ... ummm good. Dad,Angela,Grandma,Aunt Patty and I went swimming two nights in a row at the hotel too. ( with some drinks) Dad even got in a conference call while there. It was a good couple of days. Now, we are back home here in Hammondsport. Aunt Patty stayed with Grandma for the month of July. It will do her good(and me too). Dad and I went to church this morning and then out to breakfast. We had wanted to take the boat out for a ride, although ... it clouded up and rained all afternoon ! Geez !! I seem to never get to enjoy the lake ! So, we really just loafed around the rest of the day. Hmmm ? I guess that is OK huh ? After all our travels, we needed a day of rest. Aunt Margaret said Erica and Marc are coming tomorrow and staying a week. I guess they are staying at the cottage. She still doesn't know if they will get married while they are here or not. But ... please do not mention anything about it to them, Aunt Margaret didn't want anyone to know about it. So we will see if they do or not ? Personally, I hope they do. I sure would if it were me !

I hope you all have a good week. It is hard to believe it is almost July. Anyone having a 4th of July picnic ? Dad said we should drive to Tommy & Jens place ! ( it would be nice ! ) Bill ... send us pictures when ever you can and while Viv is in the hospital, we do appreciate a phone call up-date each day too. If ever you decide you need help there, just ask. It is never an imposition, only a joy. I can imagine you will just be happy to get into your own routines as soon as possible ! That will feel so good.

Our family is growing, and it feels wonderful. I always have you each in my heart, in my thoughts and prayers, and in my treasured memories.

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."
- Kevin Arnold

Take care, have a good week, take good care of each other. God bless each of you, I love you, Momma G

All My Children #20

Hello my children,

Well, today was fathers day, and it was nice to get to talk several of you. I think dad had a nice day. Eddie came here to visit with us this weekend, it was good to have him here with us. We needed that. Dad,Ed,Aunt Patty and I went to see that movie called " The Proposal ". I definitely recommend it. We laughed all the way thru it. We all enjoyed it very much. Eddie took us out to dinner also. Thanks Ed, that was great ! It was nice for Oscar and Tucker to play together. They always have fun together. They both are sure tired out. Today, Ed cleaned out the van for us and dad mowed the lawn, and Aunt Patty and I made an early lasagna dinner. ( it turned out good). Ed left around 2:30, and dad and I took a Sunday drive and got a coffee. It had rained all day yesterday and this afternoon, so it felt nice to go for a drive with some sunshine !

Our yard sale went well last weekend. Between Aunt Margaret and Dad & I, we made about $1ooo. So, hey ... some extra money for her and extra money for us and we got rid of stuff we didn't need ! Dad took all the rest of the stuff to goodwill and the church. So we will try to De-clutter more items in the future. Our back porch is finally cleaned off. ( first time since we bought the house ! ) We are going to try to power-wash it and then stain it. Dad will put up the wood slats for the ceiling too. Can't wait. So ... maybe by the end of summer, it will look nice out there. I planted some daffodil bulbs this past week. I also have the crib sanded and primed. I will get it painted soon. Hey ... I will be ready for when my grand child gets to come for her first visit !! The crib was bought by your grandma Gaio. She bought it for Dad and I when we were pregnant with Ed. I have a new mattress for it. I am hoping in the future years it will get used a lot by ALL of my future grand kids from each of you out there. ( heeheeheee ! )

Speaking of that ... the count down is on. As you all know, Wednesday is the day !! Bill and CJ will become parents. Dad and I will become grand-parents, and each of you will have a niece !! Uncle Ed, Uncle Tommy & Aunt Jennifer & Auntie Ang !! You will become uncle's and aunts !! Cool huh !!? Dad and I will leave tomorrow as soon as he gets in from work, head to Erie, where Ed will meet us and pick up Tucker, ( thank you Ed for taking such good care of Tucker for us while we are gone ! )then we will head to grandma's and spend the night there. We will get up in the morning and grandma will join us and we will begin out trek to Florida. We will see you soon Bill & CJ !! Angela will be joining us on Tuesday night, fairly late I suppose ? Or you could leave early Wednesday morning Ang ... we'll talk, just be safe ! I am looking forward to celebrating this wonderful occasion with you. Vivianna will certainly come into this world surrounded by the extended love of this family. She will know and feel the power of love from family. We all our so fortunate to have one another in our lives. God is Good !

I am going to close and get myself bed, I have lots to do tomorrow before we leave.

Tommy & Jen, I sure do miss you both. I hope you get thru this very busy week your having with good results for each party involved ! I know you will have some great photos for all these folks ! Enjoy your trip to Italy, as quick a trip as it is, try to grab some special moments for yourselves if you can ! Be safe in your travels. Eddie, I hope you are able to lock in a low interest rate this week. I know you will have a busy week at your work this week too, I hope you do OK with two dogs ! That will keep you busy in the evenings too !

"The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible."
-- Richard M. DeVos

Love and Blessings to each of you, I love you dearly, Momma G

All My Children # 19

Hi all !

Hope everyone is doing well. Our week went fairly well. We spent the bulk of this past week getting ready for our impending yard sale. Each day sorting thru more things and having to carry some things down two flights of stairs. ( from the attic, uhhhgggg ! ) You know ... we have had several yard sales over the years, it is funny, how you sort of forget how much trouble they are !! But I guess in the end, you just figure you want to dE-clutter your house and perhaps make a little cash too. We did alright. Aunt Margaret made about $350, and Dad & I made about $600. So ... hey, we made some cash, and dE-cluttered the house from a lot of stuff ! Goal reached. The rest of the stuff is collected into boxes and bags to be taken to the church and the salvation army. Waiting outside , under tarps, not to ever come back into the house, (that would have defeated the purpose) and will be taken away soon.

Thankfully, Dad is certainly feeling better this weekend. Geez !! He was battling this sickness for about two weeks ! The bad news ?? Well ... I think I may finally have succumbed to it my self ! Uhhgggg !! I have the same symptoms, cough, sore throat, yucky feeling. Oh well ... maybe I can kick it quickly ! I keep taking some airborne and coldeeze in hopes of a lesser duration if anything ! My main concern will be that Aunt Patty avoids it ! Hey CJ, can you tell Vivianna ( for me )... to please wait until grandma is all better to come into this world ! OK !! That is my main concern. Oh !! Please let me get better first !!

It feels good to have the temperature's remaining warmer now. I love to sit out on the porch and just relax with a hot cup of tea. It is nice for a lot of reasons, one of them being, that so many different people will stop while walking down the sidewalk, and chat with me. Love that. Such a friendly little village. Right now the rain is falling softly and it is a grey cloudy day, but you know what ? I am loving this day anyway. While I am not particularly feeling great, it seems sort of comforting in some way. After all the hard work of the last week and weekend, I am just loafing today, sitting on the porch and laying on the couch, and it seems sort of nice to have the sound of the soft rain showers and the cooler weather. I had my tea on the porch, and was quite relaxed and enjoyed it. We really needed some rain. It hadn't rained in over a week, so the plants,trees and grass are celebrating. The smell of the fresh rain is just wonderful !

What does this week hold for each of you ? I know Angela is counting down to the end of this week!! It marks the end of this school year ! Yeah !! A little time to relax for the summer ! Ang, Dad & I are hoping we can get you to Hammondsport for some R& R !! Hows your schedule for the summer ? Be thinking about it !

Ed, well, he is taking care of business. Getting all things done for the facilitation of buying his home. He has a a ruff time with his pup Oscar too. Just some health issues. Hey Ed, believe it or not, you are getting a little taste of how it is to be a parent ! Haa haaa ! The love and care of a pet has some similar responsibilities. I sure hope things will settle back down for him and he gets to feeling good again soon ! I can't wait to help you move in and get setteled Ed ! How exciting !

Tom went to California last week to the Connan O'Brian show ( sp ? ). He said he had a good time. Say's he loves it out there, but, I for one ... am hoping he never chooses to live there. It is just to far away ! Please !! If you have to move anywhere, stick with Chicago ! ( as if my vote counts anyway huh ? ) I would guess this is the start of Jennifer and Tommy becoming very busy with some weddings huh ? Do you think you will fot NY in this summer or not until fall ?

I know Bill & CJ are looking forward to Wednesday to see what the doctors will have to say. Call us Wednesday night to let us know how the visit goes ! Gosh, each week is so important now ! Your lives will soon be changed forever. You will very soon become "parents" . That is a gift of a life time. A wonderful blessing. I will let you in on a little secret (that you will ultimately learn one day yourselves), here you are, all grown up, living your own lives, and although you may not need us ( your parents ) as much in your daily lives now, as parents, we STILL need you in our lives, as much as possible. You are the most important part of our lives. You are the most valued and treasured blessings that have been given to us. " Parenthood ", it is the most wonderful experience to have in your lives. It helps you to grow leaps and bounds personally. It helps to set firm beliefs within yourself, into action. It brings out the qualities you hold value in and helps you to instill them not only within your children but to grow them stronger within yourself. It will transform your lives. It will bring you the most deepest joy you will ever know, and some of the most difficult heart ache too. It is worth every minute you are blessed with. The good, the bad, the funny, the mad, the glory, the frustration, the happiest of times and the saddest too. Parenthood, IS, as far as I am concerned, the most blessed gift in your life. You will learn this as soon as you hold your beautiful daughter in your arms. You will come to know the incredible depth of love. Vivianna will be one of the most important parts of your life.

Well, I guess I will close for this week. Remember Grandpa John tomorrow. He is having a heart catherization, and most likely they will be putting some more stints in to open some veins again. He has been having lots of angina in recent weeks. I know he feels frustrated and well, fearful. So, say a prayer for him. Aunt Patty ( Harvey/Neely) is in the hospital again too. She has had heart trouble lot. Her heart is dying. Nothing they can do about it. It is a hereditary condition. She seems OK with that, living the best she can with it. But the reason she is in the hospital now is she has a blood clot in her pancreas. So keep her in your prayer's too.

Give us a call us when you can. Look at your schedules and see if Hammondsport fits in sometime this summer maybe ? The lake is gorgeous and " the price is right " is calling your names ! Hahaahaa !

A HARMONIOUS BALANCE
"I have been through a lot and I have suffered a great deal. But I have had lots of happy moments, as well. Every moment one lives is different from the other. The good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love and happiness are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called LIFE. You cannot separate the good from the bad. And perhaps there is no need to do so, either."
-Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

My love is with you, Momma G

All My Children # 18

Hello my kids,

I hope you are having a good week. Ours is going good so far. Dad and I worked in the yard here in Hammondsport this past weekend. It felt really good. Number one ... just to be here and stay put from all the traveling back and forth ! Number two ... just because I really do love this old house, this village and this lake, and it just felt good to make some changes in the yard. I had dug up some of my Hosta plants and Day-Lilly plants from the Chardon house on memorial day weekend. So ... now we have a little of Arbor Glen here with us. We put in a small bed of plants between the drive-way and the Arbor Glenn room. ( back room on the house) It looks nice. Then we put plants all along the fence out front. ( on the inside, our yard part ) It looks real good. We also planted some by the side porch too, and by the one tree in the yard where there were already a couple Hosta's there, we continued placing them around the tree in a circle. So ... although we have a lot of work that needs done outside, hey ... we started doing something ! It felt great. Unfortunately, Dad has been sick for a week, so he really didn't have his full energy level. But he is on the mend.

On Saturday morning, Dad drove me out to the Rochester area to get my blood panel taken. Geez ... they took 6 tubes of blood. Then today ( Monday ) I had to do a saliva test 4 times thru-out the day. ( 4 different tubes ) I still have the 4th one yet to do, at 12:30. Then I have to put the tubes in a box and mail them tomorrow morning to the lab. I will go back on July 1st to find out where my hormone levels stand and what Bio-Identical Hormone's they will recommend for me. So ... maybe by the fall I will be regulated and balanced !!! Yeah !!! I am so excited about this !!! This is a good thing. I am setting the pace for you younger women here !! Someday you will know exactly how to help yourself so much better than in my day ! Never ... Ever ... take synthetic hormones !!

Aunt Margaret and I went out to the " Windmill " market Saturday afternoon and we bought some hanging baskets of flowers. They are so pretty. She hangs hers by the pool and I put mine on the side porch and some by the back door area too. They are so pretty. Then yesterday, she called Dad and I frantic to come to the cottage quick !!! It had been strong winds all day and our boat broke loose from the front of the boat and the dock and was banging against her dock hard, it would have broke loose all the way had she not went there to check it ! It took the 3 of us quite a bit of time ... but we managed to get it pulled back to the dock and tied up again. Whew !! That could have been a disaster ! Aunt Patty and I went over there today to check on it, everything was good. The water is calm today. We need to get a boat lift. Then we will never have to worry when the weather is bad.

Ed had his house inspection today. One step closer to owning his home. It went well. Ed, the realtor and the inspector met there. Only a couple of minor things to fix. Probably the current owners will do the fixes. His pup Oscar has been sick. Poor little guy. He has allergies, so Ed is in the process of giving him shots. He has to build up slowly to the correct dosage. Then he should start to feel better. He has lost most of his hair. He is itching all the time too. He should start to see some improvement soon. Ed took good care of our Chardon house and got it ready for the open house Sunday. Marybeth said he did a great job. Thanks Ed ... Dad and I are so proud of you for all the help you give us. Only 3 couples showed up for the open house. Uhggggg ! Oh well ... nothing we can do. It was even featured on TV Saturday too ! I guess there is at least one of them that have a little interest in it. Hey ... as Dad said, we only need one buyer ! Say prayers for us !

So ... as most of you know, Vivianna is trying to make her entrance early !! Bless her little heart ! She has her own agenda. I think she is going to be a strong little girl. She is already thinking she is big enough to be born. CJ has been on bed rest and taking some medication around the clock to stop the labor. The doctors have decided to have her stop taking it on June 10th, so when ever she goes into labor after that, it will be fine to have her come and she will be OK. So ... we will most likely have our newest member of our family join us sometime in June ! They are also thinking ( 90% ) that CJ may have to have a C-section, due to Viv is still in breech position, and there may not be enough time for her to turn. So , we shall see ! I know we are all in agreement of being so very excited to meet her. I can't wait to see what she looks like. Hair or no hair ? Round little face? Chubby little cheeks ? Will she have green eyes or brown ? ( of course we wont be able to tell that right away ! ) Will she have curly hair or straight ? Dark or light in color ? Well ... let me tell you, she can be any of those things or none at all. What ever she has or doesn't have, who she looks like , what ever, it will be just the way she is meant to be ! I know she will be perfect as she is ! God Bless her !

OK, I guess I will get off here. Below I attached the final baby guess contest. Hmmm ? after this latest news, she will most likely not go full term, so most of us or all of us, will be off in the weight. Hey closest one wins !

Names	Weight (pounds.ounces)	Length (inches)
Bill	8.8	21.50
CJ	7.2	20.00
Claire	6.5	17.50
Momma G.	7.8	18.00
Poppa G.	8.3	18.50
Grandma	6.0	19.00
Grandpa John	7.7	17.25
Ed	8.7	21.25
Tommy John	8.10	21.75
Jennifer	6.12	19.00
Angela	7.4	19.50
Laurel	7.0	19.50
Aunt Margaret	8.0	18.25
Erica	7.3	19.75
Kathy Scotchel	7.60	21.00

Here's to looking forward to getting together to celebrate our newest arrival !

"Love consists in looking together in the same direction."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love you all ! Momma G