1!

Our lovely Little Flower's 1st birthday is today! She is officially a toddler. This year has flown by and she is such a unique child. Love and miss this adorable girl!

Finally

After 6 months, I finally saw 2 of my grandchildren. We were all careful to wear our masks. It was so good to see them and especially to hug them. Major Cuteness said he couldn't go to school on the day we were arriving because he had to cuddle with me! Miss Squirmalicious is getting so tall I can barely see over her head! It was a quick couple of days but we'll be back in a month. 

Pictures

Every morning when I wake up one of the first things I do is look at pictures of my grandkids. Right now my favorite is one of Little Flower kissing me on the computer screen! I long for the day when there is a vaccine for the covid virus and I can get these kisses in person.

Kisses

Little Flower was showering her "mum" with kiss after kiss on a video today! Look forward to getting some of those. 💓

Grass

In a video sent by her parents, Little Flower is trying to walk on the grass in the garden. You can see she's struggling with the unevenness. She plops down and has the saddest little face. Up she gets, at her parents encouraging, and off she carefully goes to her mom.

Squealing

A video of Little Flower walking made my day. The best part was her squealing with happiness!

Surprise

We had a surprise Skype call last night with Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness. What a treat! They were taking turns with showers and each had a turn talking with us. Major Cuteness was just being silly while Miss Squirmalicious showed me many new items in the American Girl catalog. Nothing important but priceless and precious!

So great!

So great to be able to see our Little Flower take a few steps and eat some crackers even though she's thousands of miles away!

Swimming

The pool is up for Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness so let the swimming begin!

Stand Up and Clap

Made my day to receive a video of Little Flower standing up and then happily clapping! Too cute! Parents also sent pics of the baby in a bucket. ;) 

Turtle

Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness found a turtle in the backyard! It's name is Disco. 

1st Step

Hard to believe that our Little Flower is 9 months old today and took her first step! I guess she's skipping crawling. :)

Fun Skype Calls

This weekend brought some fun Skype calls. Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness were jumping on the trampoline that now has a "waterfall" that Daddy attached. Grandpa and I couldn't stop laughing. So good to see them having so much fun!

Now our Little Flower just stands up whenever she wants! Just from sitting! Doesn't need to pull herself up on something! Amazing! She's only days away from 9 months. Looks like somebody is going to skip crawling!

Proper Baby

Little Flower has bloomed into a proper baby! She is pulling herself up to standing all the time. On our Skype call today she was so very busy and had a lot to say in her cute voice. Mom and Dad report her saying m,m,m and d,d,d to them! 

Peace Lily

I bought a Peace Lily plant to remind me of our Little Flower...not that I need reminding. She is always in my heart and mind. 

All Over

That Little Flower is just like her cousin Miss Squirmalicious! On our weekly Skype call she was just moving all over the couch! Very busy rolling around, pulling herself over so she could either grab or knock all kinds of stuff off the end table! 

So Jealous

Grandpa needed to take the chance during this pandemic to go home for a few doctor appointments. I stayed here at our beach house for safety reasons. This meant that he got to see Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness since we live in a duplex next to them. I am so very, very jealous. Their mom sent a video of them all hugging when Grandpa arrived. Just thinking about it, how much I want to be hugging them, missing them, makes me cry.

Reader

Looks like we may have another reader in the family! When we got on our weekly Sunday Skype call, there's Little Flower sitting on the couch reading her book! So adorable as she turns the page and then turns back. She was so very focused. Every week brings something new!

Crying

This is still even hard for me to write without crying. This past weekend while chatting with Major Cuteness on Messenger Kids he told me that he was missing me so much that he was crying. My heart. My heart aches that he's sad and misses me.  That he loves me so much fills my heart with love.

Adorable

Little Flower has the most adorable face and I got to see it on Skype today! Got my baby fix!!

Yay!

Yay, some pics of my Little Flower today! So adorable! Made my day. Tomorrow I'll get to see her live!! ;)

Emotional

For some reason I am very emotional today. Every time I see something about grandkids I start tearing up. Then I can't help but look at pictures and videos of my grandbabies which of course makes me cry! We are blessed that everyone is safe and healthy.

Today

Today I made some puzzles in return for my Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness. I took a picture of the Woody Woodpecker I made, printed, and cut up like a puzzle for Major Cuteness. Same thing with a picture of the three matching ponchos Miss Squirmalicious asked me to make for her, her cousin Little Flower, and her American Girl Dolls. Missing them so much.

Puzzles

We asked our son to send us any mail that hadn't been forwarded to us since we've been sheltering in Delaware. Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness added in some pictures and puzzles that they made! Only problem is that Major Cuteness' puzzle is too hard for both Grandma and Grandpa! Now we're going to make them some puzzles.

Amazing

Today Little Flowers parents sent us a video of her in her new walker. I was amazed at how quickly she took to it and figured out how to get around! She got to her Daddy pretty quickly even though somewhat of a Roomba maneuver of going along the walls! She is growing up so very fast. 

When

When will I see our Little Flower? The way things are looking maybe 2021 after an immunization is discovered? In all the places my daughter has lived, I've always seen her at least once or twice a year. Now that's probably not happening. 

March 19

I have not seen Major Cuteness or Miss Squirmalicious since March 19. That's by far the longest time I haven't seen them since they were born. Doesn't look like I'll be seeing them any time soon either. :(

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Grandpa did a wonderful job with all the cooking and cleaning! I am so blessed to have the family I do. 

7 Months!

Our Little Flower is 7 months old today! It's hard to believe she is growing up so fast. Also hard to believe it's been 6 1/2 months since I've held her. :( 

Messenger Kids

The Messenger Kids app is helping me to keep in touch with Miss Squirmalicious and Major Cuteness. We chat a little but then play some silly games together. Together, that's the key word. Miss them.

Skype

Every Sunday morning we Skype with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandbaby in Nairobi. I like to play Peek-a-boo, make silly noises, and faces with our Little Flower. This sweet baby is trying to grab me on the computer! She gets all excited and talks. I can't believe that we can interact like this! My heart bursts with joy! I hope that because of this she will know who we are when we are able to see them again. 

Warm

It's a little chilly today so I'm reminiscing about my time with our Little Flower. In particular I miss sitting on the balcony with her in the afternoons while my daughter napped. We'd sit among her Daddy's plants and I would read aloud and she was so calm. The weather was usually nice but at least warm. Wish I could be holding her now.

Miss Squirmalicious Birthday

Miss Squirmalicious celebrated her 9th birthday the end of April. Poor girl couldn't have a party due to the coronavirus. It's so hard to be away when we've seen each other almost every day of her whole life. 

People are so clever and are doing birthday parades for kids! Lots of her friends drove over, dropped off a present, and sang Happy Birthday from their cars while she stood outside her front door and blushed but smiled from ear to ear! 

Light

Today I'm thinking about one of the cutest things my Little Flower did whilst I visited back in October/November. There was a wrought iron light hanging over the living area. Whenever you might lay the baby on the couch, mostly changing her diaper, she would see the light and get crazy excited looking at it! She loved looking at it! She would get so excited with her arms and legs going...so adorable. She would sometimes just want to lay there and look at it! If you picked her up she would get upset and if you laid her back down she would be happy again!

Zoom

We are in the midst of the Coronavirus shut down which means I have not seen any of my grandbabies since March 19. My new Little Flower should have been here in April to visit. My heart aches for them. Today we had a crazy Cotter Family Zoom meeting and I got to see them together on screen at least. Who knows how long it will be until I can hug and kiss them? :(

Eyes

My Little Flower has the biggest dark eyes. When I held her, all the time, I would look into those beautiful eyes. She is such a good baby. Sleeps well. Is content most of the time. Just such a joy!

Most Important

The most exciting thing that's happened in the past months is the birth of a new grandbaby! She is the most adorable Little Flower. 

Shortly after her birth I traveled to my daughter's home and spent the next month bonding with this fun little baby! I am so very blessed. 

AAAHHHH!!!....

What?? It seems impossible that it's been so long. So much to catch up on!