We welcomed our fourth grandbaby into the family on May 25th.  My son and daughter-in-love will be very busy with raising two little boys born only seventeen months apart.  I think about how hectic their life will be and I am immediately tired thinking about it!  There is good reason why children are born to us at an early stage of life.  I just don’t have that kind of energy as I did in my twenties, but I’m okay with that!  I love the Grandma Life just fine!

My kids complained when my first grandbaby was born that all the framed family photos of them as children had suddenly disappeared and been replaced with pictures of my grandson.  I’ve already started to amass a pictorial shrine to my latest grandson, and he’s not even a week old yet!  As I look about me today, I will admit that there may be an inordinate amount of photographs of my grandchildren around the house…I even have a framed picture of my grandpup, Mila…

Okay, they may have a valid argument.

There is no sweeter music to my ears than the melodic sound of “Grandma!” yelled in my general direction when my grandbabies come to visit.  They know that I will meet them with a big hug and a kiss placed strategically somewhere on their upturned faces.  Try as he might, my oldest grandson can’t duck and weave fast enough, but if he does manage to scoot past me, I don’t have to wait long before he comes back willingly to be caught up in my arms.  He may think he’s too big for Grandma’s hugs, but he keeps coming back for more!

I am blessed that all of my children and grandchildren, live within ten minutes of me.  I know that is not something to be taken for granted.  My grandparents lived in Denmark and I only saw them a handful of times before they passed away.  There was no internet to stay in touch with them through social media or Facetime, so I never grew up to interact with or get to know them at all.  It is something I missed out on as a child.  Studies show that there are numerous advantages in fostering close emotional relationships between grandparents and grandchildren that ultimately benefit both the children and the adults.  I have the benefit of having all my babies close by to love on and spoil.  It does my heart good to have them visit regularly.  My kids benefit from having us close by so we can babysit fairly regularly.  It allows my children to have some alone time, or to go to the movies, or on a dinner date with their spouses.  That’s a good thing.  The grandbabies get some major spoiling at Grandma and Grandpa’s so they enjoy that, and we benefit from the one on one time with each grandchild.  It is exhausting, exhilarating, and keeps us active!  It is a win-win-win situation all around!

My sweet granddaughter, Kharis is outnumbered by the boys 3:1 now.  She doesn’t seem to mind.  At four years old, she bosses the boys around like a mother hen.  It’s fun to watch.  She has, of course, completely stolen her grandpa’s heart.  Granddaughters tend to do that I guess.  Although she can hold her own with the boy’s rough-housing, Grandpa treats her like the princess she is with all the respect and privileges that title deserves.  Time stands still.  Nothing matters except being in the moment with her and watching her reign over her little kingdom with self-assured authority and diva-ness,

Paxton at seventeen months old likes to sit on the steps and have long “conversations” with his Grandma.  When he wants to sit on the steps with me, I stay with him for as long as his attention span allows.  Time stands still.  Nothing matters except sitting with Paxton and being in the moment with him.  Don’t ask me why he prefers sitting on the steps with me, it must be something inherited, because his Dad did the exact same thing with HIS grandmother when he was that age!

Jaxon, at seven years old, is all about his action figures and building Lego sets.  As a result, I have built countless Lego castles with him.  When we interact, time stands still and it’s all about being in that moment with him.  I know every Super Hero name, their super power, and I have watched every Marvel movie with the boy.  No doubt when he starts playing some team sports soon, I’ll be right there on the sidelines cheering him on.  In my mind’s eye he’ll be the kid wearing a super-hero cape and leaping all the tall Lego buildings in a single bound.  He’s my “super” kid!

With his larger than life name, Atticus is his big brother, Paxton’s mirror-image.  I forget how quickly my grandbabies have grown up until I am holding a newborn.  Every coo, every squirm sets my heart to fluttering.  Time stands still.  Nothing matters except cuddling and being in the moment with him.  I can’t grasp how it is that my heart seems to expand wider with each new grandbaby.  I thought it was all full up after one, and then it grew with two, and then seemed full to the brim with three.  That’s the amazing thing about Grandma Life, love multiplies exponentially with each new grandchild added to the family.

Proverbs 17:6  “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

Grandma Life.  Time stands still.  Nothing matters except loving my kids and my grandbabies and being in the moment with them.