Same Old except Not

Not a whole lot going on right now. I have been trying to spend as much time as I can with my grandson. Today he is five weeks old already! 

Shauna and Brad had professional newborn pictures taken. This one is my favorite.

But I love this one also!

Last Wednesday I took the day off so I could spend it with Shauna and Maxwell. It was so nice! I even got to babysit for a hour or so while Shauna ran some errands!

Rich and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary on March 18th. We're going to be taking a trip to Las Vegas and Laughlin Nevada for a few days. I am looking forward to it but I hate flying and haven't been on a airplane since 2009!

Then I will be heading to Florida in August to celebrate my friend Celia's 60th birthday. I'm looking forward to that because I am going with my oldest friend in the world, Karen. We have been friends since we were 7 years old!

We have been skating by this winter so far with very little snow and cold.  We're almost halfway through February so even if we do start to get winter weather it won't be for long.  I did hear a rumor earlier this year that we will be getting most of our winter weather at the end but I'm going to pretend I did not hear that!

Well, this post seems to be falling flat so I'm just going to sign off until I have more exciting things to say!

Until then......

More Maxwell and Stuff

Well, as of tomorrow my sweet grandson is 3 weeks old!

He's been gaining weight like crazy, too! He was 4.9 when he was born, 4.8 when he left the hospital and then at his pediatrician appointment yesterday he weighed 5.14 and in one inch longer!

When they first brought him home from the hospital they had to wake him up every 3 hours to eat and then he was sleepy and didn't want to eat much. But in the last week he seems to have woken up and now cries to be fed after about 2 1/2 hours and eats like a champ!

You all were right, like I knew you would be! He has completely stolen my heart and when I don't see him for a day or two I really miss him!  I try not to be a pest and only see him 2-3 times a week instead of every day or every other day! Anyway, on to the pictures!

My daughter's caption on her SnapChat photo!

See those chunky cheeks? I can't stop kissing them!

In other news, Rich and I spent a few hours the last two weekends tearing up the old, crappy carpeting in the living room. As soon as we get the walls painted, we are going to install a laminate floor. Trying to slowly get this house ready to sell in the Spring of 2018.

Rich will probably retire next January and  we are more than ready to downsize! The amount of stuff I have to get rid of is ridiculous, though! That's why I have to start now!

That's all for now!

Maxwell Grayson Ryken

Well, I didn't think I would be doing this post quite so early but my grandchild has been born!

Shauna had a issue with high blood pressure before she even got pregnant. She went on special medication after she got pregnant and was pretty stable until her doctors appointment last Thursday, one week ago. Her blood pressure was elevated and they sent her over to labor and delivery at the hospital to be observed for a while. After a few hours and some blood work, it was determined that she had preeclampsia, a condition in pregnancy where your blood pressure goes dangerously high.

That night they began the process of inducing labor because it was too risky for her and baby to continue the pregnancy much longer.

They started with two days of steroids to strenghten the babys lungs, and early Sunday morning they finally started giving her the drug to induce labor.

To make a long story short after laboring all day she gave birth, with no complications, to my first grandchild.

Meet Maxwell Grayson Ryken

Here he is on the scale a few minutes after he was born. He weighed 4.9 pounds! Such a little guy!

Here he is with his mama!

They told us the three criteria for him being able to go home was he had to eat good, breath good and maintain his body temperature.

He was crying like crazy as soon as he was born so, he could breath pretty good!

The next day he was eating pretty good. Shauna is trying to breast feed but he seems reluctant to latch on and he needs to eat every 3 hours so they supplement with formula. See how huge the bottle looks by his tiny head!

He did spend about 24 hours in the special care nursery so they could make sure he regulates his body temperature.

Nonnie was there every day!

On Wednesday they were able to take him home!

He seems so alert during his short wake times. He just lays there and calmly looks around.

My niece Lauren stopped by to bring them the bassinet that she took from my dad's house when he moved. It sat in the attic for many years. She redid it and gave it to them. It's the same bassinet that me and my brothers slept in!

I waited a long time for this precious little gift! I'm sure you will be hearing lots more about him in the future!

Until then.....

Christmas, Work Stress and Bye Bye 2016

Boy that Christmas came and went pretty fast.

On Christmas Eve we went to my brother Don's house where the food was excellent and the company even better! It was a slight sadness in the air, though, being the first Christmas without my dad.

On Christmas Day we went first to Shauna and Brad's as they were hosting Brad's family Christmas. We stayed for a hour or so and then headed over to Chris and Marissa's for dinner and visiting with Marissa's dad and family! Marissa's dad has 6 brothers and sisters so there was lots of people there!

Then on the Monday after Christmas we had all the kids over for brunch and to exchange gifts. It was fun and also wonderful to see them 3 days in a row!

Work has been particularly stressful this past few weeks. Without going into a whole lot of boring details I had to sacrifice my desk so they could renovate my area to accommodate a group of people who can't seem to get along and have to be closer to the manager so she can keep an eye on them!

So my desk went from this:

To this:

A lot less space!  That is the managers office right across from me and the lovely ladies that can't get along are at five workstations to my left.

I did move that drawer cabinet you see on the right of my chair over to the left and left it sticking out so I have a little more counter space!

All because grown women can't act like grown women!!

It's hard enough to go into work everyday and this just  makes it that much harder. Oh well. Supposedly it's only for a year and a half and then the whole department is moving off site to a facility a few miles away from the hospital. Well see! We will be moving but the way they do things there it probably won't be until after I retire!

Well, Shauna is 34 weeks along and I am getting so excited! We ordered her rocker as a gift from me and Rich and they are busy getting the nursery set up, clothes washed and everything ready!

Won't be long now!

I got the privileged of buying them their first package of diapers!

Until the next time......

A Blog Milestone and A Baby Shower

Well, I certainly have been neglecting this blog this year! I always have good intentions and then when it comes down to actually sitting down and posting, well...I have no excuse really!

Even so I managed to hit 700 posts! I can hardly believe it's that many!

So anyway, the exciting news is we had Shauna and Brad's baby shower last Sunday.

The not so exciting news is we had the first big snow storm of the season on that very day!

(Michigan..girl...you did me wrong that day and if  I didn't love you so much.....)

I was actually very please with how many people still ventured out to celebrate with us! Some came from quite a distance, too!

So let me just share some pictures with you all.

They got a lot of wonderful stuff! Suprisingly a lot of the big ticket stuff but very little clothes and no sleepers at all!

Guess Nonnie better get shopping!

Yep, that's me! I've decided I would like to be Nonnie,  which is what I called my grandmother growing up so it sounds right to me!

Two more months to go!

Until the next time!

Ransom Stuff to Share

So Thanksgiving this year will be at my nephew Mike and Sarah's house. This was just decided a few days ago, one week before to be exact! Last year no one stepped up to volunteer to host so I did for the second year in a row. This year I absolutely did not want to so thank goodness! However, talk about waiting until the last minute! Sheesh!

 Loving the beautiful sunrises on my way to work in the morning!

My constant companion wherever I am!

Rich filled the bird bath after it was empty for a few days. Apparently the birds were waiting because they flocked to it like crazy! The picture is blurry but there is a least 6 birds in there! Shortly after this picture was taken our resident hawk made an appearance and they all scattered!

I love DSW as you can see! I don't have that many shoes but I do have a hoarding problem and haven't gotten rid of the bags in a few years!

This is the best picture I could get of the super moon last week! This was with my phone because my camera batteries were dead, but it like the way it just lit up everything!

Last but not least, were planning Shauna's baby shower in a few weeks! February will be here before we know it! I'm beyond excited!!

That's all that's going on right now....hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving filled with family and love!

Biltmore House

When we originally planned our vacation to the South I checked into visiting the  Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and decided against going. First it was kind of out of our way to go to Asheville and also, it's kind of expensive and I am kind of cheap when it comes to that kind of stuff.

However, quite a few people highly recommended it, and when we were in Mauldin, my SIL and her family also highly recommended it. They bought a yearly pass last year and loved going there.  So I bit the bullet and planned a route to hit Asheville on our way back home. It ended up working out good because we were able to meet with our friends like I said in my previous post.

Here's a very brief history: Built between 1889 and 1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt, it's the largest, privately owned house at 178,926 square feet. It took over six years to build. To this day it is still owned by George's great-grandson William A.V. Cecil, Jr.

 Anyway, when you first get to the entrance into the Estate , and after you buy your tickets, you drive a 4 mile long driveway to one of the parking lots.

We opted to park and walk the 8 minutes to the house along a path.

This is the view from when you first get to the house off of the path.

You are kind of up on a hill and there is a paved driveway going down on either side. 

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I took this picture from the bottom.

We thought it was interesting how the driveway was smooth on both sides and stepped in the middle. One of the workers told us after we got down that it was built for horse-drawn carriages. The steps in the middle to make it easier for the horses to walk the incline and the smooth part for the carriage wheels.

I didn't take that many pictures so I'll just show you the best of the ones I did take. It was pretty crowded and hard to get a good look at some of the rooms.

As a side note, our friend Mike told us that whenever they start to get complaints about the crowds there they jack the price of admission up and that thins out the crowd! I'm glad that we went when we did because from the size of the crowd (and this was on a Thursday) the price is going up any time!

Anyway. here's what pictures I did take.

The conservatory when you first enter the house. There was scaffolding all over the place because they were decorating for Christmas.

One of the many, many Christmas trees they were putting up! This one was right inside the entrance.

The chandelier over the main staircase.

The main dining room has a triple fireplace!

This was a smaller dining room. I believe it was for the ladies, with a table that was beautifully set!

This is Edith Vanderbuilt's bedroom. It was beautiful!  She was only 25 when she married George Vanderbilt and came to live in this house. Can you imagine?

This cute little tree under glass was on her nightstand. I loved it! I wanted to steal it but alas, I'm not a thief so I left it!

This is the upper part of the staircase. There is over a hundred steps leading to the guest rooms! Those poor servants!

This is one of the guest room fireplaces! So gorgeous!

Down in the basement there is a bowling alley!

And a pool! Because they did not have any kind of filtration system or chemicals to keep the water clean, they would only fill it when they wanted to use it for a few days. The steam from the boilers was used to keep the water warm. The ropes you see hanging on the left were for people to rest on while swimming. After about three days the water was "a biology experiment" and they would drain it! Yuck!

This was the main kitchen also in the basement! Loved all the copper pots and pans hanging there!

Back outside again. This is the only close up picture I took.

I would have liked to have lingered in the house a little longer but the crowds get to me after a while. I think someday we may go back.

I put a link at the top of this post to their website. Check it out and read all about it! There is lots of interesting information. And if you get a chance, definitely go visit it! You'll love it!

Until the next time......