I'm A Grandma!!

I always told my girls I do not want to be a grandmother before I'm 40. For some reason 40 just felt safe..a good age to be a grandmother. When my daughter told me she was pregnant...and I was only 37...I wasn't thrilled.

It took some time, I can't lie. I thought this automatically made me "old". Little did my small minded, selfish, naïve self know... but being a young grandma only means I get more time with my little baby boy and I have the energy that is REQUIRED to keep up with him!

We had a very small shower/lunch for CC at Zio's. 

CC loves all things panda, so we had a Tres Leches panda cake special made for her.

I have to say...it was one of THE BEST cakes I've ever had!

This girl hardly gained any weight... got no stretch marks..and exercised and hiked like nothing!

From behind you'd never know she was pregnant! I had to tell her more than once...she is NOT normal!!

The night before the big day we did some last minute shopping. I remember when I was pregnant with CC, a local crafts store, Michael's, was having a six a.m. sale and Mom and I went and I purchased a night light.

I had to get one pic of us before our roles as mother and daughter forever changed...

I packed my little bag and headed over to the hospital.

CC had a nice, big room. Dan was asleep on the couch and CC was being so strong and working her way through contractions.

Let me tell you, as mothers, we kiss boo boos away, hold their head and hands as they cry over their first break up, feel like poop when the grease splashes on her legs while yall are making donuts....

but nothing is as painful as watching contractions sweep through your baby's tiny body, see her face wince in pain...and know you can do nothing about it.

It was awful.

But she had her daddy, Dan, me and her little sister to support her through it!

And it was then he was here!!!

My first grandson, my baby's first baby was born Sept 13 at 2:33 p.m.

and I was in love

I mean, everything about him was just absolutely perfect.

As soon as he was laid down on the scale he opened his eyes and started looking around.

He was so quiet and observant.

I was so afraid I wouldn't remember how to change diapers and support the baby's head and calm a crying baby. It had been 15 years since I had a baby!

I just resolved in myself that I would be calm and act confident and never let the little boy know how scared I was.

And what developed between him and I is something so special...

so sweet and precious.

And his grandpa has declared Daniel his hands down my favorite person that has ALL of his love. He tells us all the time, "Sorry guys, you're not my favorite anymore."

I never knew you could love like this.

Of course you love your children more than anything in the world....

But there is absolutely NOTHING like the love you have for your grandchild.

It's so overwhelming. So intoxicating. It just takes over all of your senses and your emotions.

You heart, your mind, your time, your worries, your laughter, your tears...

everything...

Now belongs to this little person who needs you and depends on you for his every need.

This pretty much sums up Daniel and I for the first two years of his life... in his Ah-ma's arms, being spoiled and being told how perfect he is...

And how beautiful he is...and special...and how in grandma's eyes he can do no wrong.

Ever.

And yes, we have our own little song that I sing to him to get him to sleep.

It started when I would rock him to sleep and we still sing it now as we lay in bed and I rub his head and eyes and back to help him fall asleep.

There have been times where I have even had to make a video of myself singing it and had to text it to my daughter so he'd calm down and go to sleep.

I am so in love with my little baby boy.

I tell my daughter he's the best gift she could have ever given me.

When he's here, he tires me out so fast...but when he's gone I'm missing his sweet face and sweet little hands pulling me to the living room to play soccer

or

dragging me to the front door so we can water our plants.

He makes life so fun.

and

I'm so completely in love.

Home Office

In September I was able to move into a work at home position for my company. I had been wanting that for so long. Since we had an extra spare room I decided to get to work on it immediately.

I knew I wanted a cool color scheme...greys with black accents.

First we had the task of tackling this pink and purple room. 

Next came the color. I was so happy with this grey. I actually really enjoy painting. Papa Bear and I painted our bedroom and I was more than ready to help paint my office. 

Almost finished. I didn't want just a white ceiling, so we continued the grey all the way up. 

And I absolutely love how it turned out. I want to change the lighting, but I do love the ceiling fan. This room is small and it gets hot really easily. Many morning I open the window and have the ceiling fan going. 

I also decided to redo Mom's desk/dresser that was always in her bedroom. It was so old and just collecting "things" in the living room. I wanted to put it to use. I want to sit at it and imagine her sitting there as well. She did a lot of drawing on this desk. I turned it into my make up desk. It's on the opposite side of the room from my work desk. 

I chose a color from the same palette as my wall color. The wall color was the third color on the swatch and the desk was the second to the darkest.

I knew I wanted blues incorporated in the room in very minor touches and I wanted glass knobs. A quick trip to World Market and I found exactly what I was looking for. 

I have my make up in the first two drawers on each side. The top holds my mirror, perfumes, a clock, all my make up brushes and a birdcage-candle holder. 

I absolutely love it.

I love that I have my own little corner that is really just mine. 

And here's my work set up on the other side. In the office I had an L-shaped desk and I knew for the layout of my books I needed an L-shaped at home. 

We looked online, in stores...I wasn't able to find anything that would work. I needed something that was deep enough and I just wasn't finding it.

Until we were referred to Desks Galore. I found exactly what I was looking for.

And they discounted it..And they delivered...

It was a double bonus for me!! 

And I'm never alone in my office. My boys stay with me constantly. 

Who really needs to use a mouse? I'm so sorry I was inconveniencing him. 

And that's me most of my day... 

Micah is usually the one who joins me. He waits for me to wake up and then follows me in the office and makes himself comfortable on my voice mail log. This is a daily fight with him when I try to write down my messages. He's biting and attacking the pen here. 

And sometimes I have all three... 

I saw this cute quote on Pinterest. It is soooo very true!

I need this on a t-shirt! 

I have become obsessed with Illy's Espresso.

I use it in my French Press. 

It is some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. 

I've even made affogato for the girls with it! 

And I tried to make my own Con Panna. 

I think I'll just let Starbucks handle that from now on! 

August 2015 - Beginning to Mid

It is unbelievably hard to think not only is August here...it's MID August. When did this happen? This year has gone by so fast and has brought about so many changes it is absolutely crazy.

After the meeting the first Sunday in August, Papa Bear and I went with the Meyers to Denman Estate Park to walk and talk. It was pretty darn hot, around 100, but all the trees provided shade and made the walk really pleasant. 

I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the park was.  

The Korean pavillion is set behind a beautiful pond and surrounded by huge towering canopy of trees.  

The pond is a half mile around and there you find the cutest,fluffy ducks, which are no doubt used to people by now.  

I was surprised how close they will let you get to them. I wished I had known, I would have brought some bread with me. 

Some of my favorite memories are going to Victoria to the duck pond to feed the ducks. Mom and I would stop at the little bread store and load up. She usually had a picnic packed and we would feed the ducks and then feed ourselves. 

There were also many turtles. I love turtles. 

I had to snap a quick picture of the baby turtle taking a ride on it's mommy's back. 

And as mentioned in my last post, Sierra has me hooked on the Doppio Con Panna. 

Lena and I went to the mall to purchase some makeup and we had to take a break to look at our goodies....

We took our break at Starbucks, of course. 

I am a sucker for matte eye shadows. Don't get me wrong, I love to have some shimmer and shine but NOTHING beats a good matte!!

Too Faced cosmetics came out with a Natural Matte palette and I HAD to have it! 

Lena chose Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette.

Oh my goodness... I am so in love. I have never felt eyeshadow so buttery and soft. There is literally NO fall out and when combined with Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer, these shadows stay on all day!!

My work days starts at 7:30 a.m. I apply my make up around 6 am. I usually do the gym around 8 pm and get home around 11 pm. 

When I apply the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer, my shadow stays put ALL. DAY. 

I realize that a decluttering and reorganization of my make up drawer is in order. I'm embarrassed to post this photo even! My monthly make up subscriptions like Birchbox and Ipsy have really created a monster in that I am full of samples, luxury size samples and full sized items that it will take me a while to get to.  

And as if I didn't have enough eye shadows, Papa Bear bought me another new palette...because I lost the bet. HA! That man must really love me!!!

I had a really hard time deciding earlier in the week if I wanted the Too Faced Natural Matte Palette or the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar. I selected the Natural Matte then but when I lost the bet and he offered to still buy me something from Sephora... I chose the Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar palette!! 

~~OH~~MY~~WORD~~

The BEST palette ever.  

Every single color in here is amazing.

And the smell.... oh my goodness, the smell...

Chocolate is actually infused in each of these shadows and when you open the palette you smell what I imagine Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory would smell like. 

It's heavenly, I tell you!!!

One evening Papa Bear and I decided to stop by a restaurant I used to frequent with my friend Lisa. They have delicious, authentic Mexican food.

The weather was nice, there was a slight breeze, the music was playing softly, the food being cooked outside smelled amazing... 

and the food itself did not disappoint!! It was just as good as I remembered it being. 

I have no idea why we stopped visiting Marioli's but I know without a doubt we will be stopping by regularly! 

Last weekend while cleaning Papa Bear opened Mom's doctors case of 45's and we listened to her favorites. 

She drew stars on some of her favorites. 

I loved that she had this one. It was one of my dad's favorite songs. He could definitely relate to it. So playing her 45's made me feel like she was here again, here with us.

There may have been a minor break down or two but I am so very, very happy I have her records.

Again, they bring back sooo many, many memories.

Last Saturday Papa Bear and I met Gloria for dinner at Smoke, The Restaurant.

This has got to be one of the very best restaurants in San Antonio. The flavors of the food are just unbelievable. If you want to eat inside, you will need a reservation. We enjoy eating outside and listening to the live music. The waiters are so nice and keep your glasses full.

The trees provide a soft, easy breeze and you are just in good company. 

I absolutely love this place!

This was my Urban Cowboy plate. It's brisket made into a ground patty, topped with crispy onions and served with french fries.

It is mouth...watering...good!!!! 

CC came over and brought Bella and Papa Bear made beignets for us when he got home.

Beignets were one of our favorite parts of NOLA, so imagine my surprise when I found you can find the mix at Wal-Mart. 

Too bad they don't sell the Cafe Du Monde coffee too! 

Papa sent me a text asking me what we were doing and this is the picture I sent him.... 

I don't let the cats on the table but this was a special day because.....

Bella was back in the house. 

When CC called that she was on her way and bringing Bella with her, I had her on speaker phone and my boys heard Bella meowing in the background. They got so nervous and started pacing and looking around. 

When Bella got here the got away from her as fast as they could. I guess they thought she couldn't get them up there. So I made the exception, then I cleaned the table like a mad woman!!!!

I got accepted for the work from home position. The start date has been pushed back a week. I am so excited to get started on fixing my home office. This will be one room in the house that will be all me!!!