Gut punched

I will save you another dramatic and depressing blog post.  I lost my grandmother this week.  She lived with Alzheimer’s, reducing her quality of life, for the past 10 years.  Much like any family funeral, it is also a forced family reunion.  I have a fair-sized extended family that I know very little about.  Not knowing these people did not stop them from acting like family to me and the kids during this tough time.  More than once did T ask “Who is holding the baby?” my answer “I am not sure”.

The kids played a vital role of both distraction and entertainment during a stressful and trying time. Jack’s best performance was while sitting on the front row at the funeral, loosing his mind before the opening prayer was half way complete.  As T tried to quickly walk through the funeral home with a yelling 19 mo-old boy, Jack noticed me sitting with the other pallbearers and shouted “Hi Dada”.  Naturally, the crowd smiled during the prayer that no one could hear.

While there is very little that’s calming about either one of these kids, it was amazing what an impact they can have.  See below:

There have been funny things along the way:

For the past few weeks I have been working to convert my mother in law’s name of Nay Nay to Sha Nay Nay and i am getting really close.  We look at pictures of Sha Nay Nay on my phone daily and call her Sha Nay Nay over and over.  I hope it sticks.

T might or might not have a habit of not turning in her expense report in a timely manner.  Well, after a few long trips in the car, it had worn Jack out.  This morning the kid just kept sleeping and sleeping and I finally had to go to work, so the burden shifted to T.  While she was getting ready, he came running in to the room yelling momma, holding her expense receipts that had been on the table for a few (days, weeks, quarters).  Made his dad proud.

Lou Lou and Grandy’s vacuum sleeps more than any other vacuum we have ever seen. (after hearing him say bacuum close to 3,000 times, we have been forced to tell him we can not get the vacuum out because its sleeping).

Brisket has added another nickname, Big Fat Baby.

When Jack sleeps in the car he is really funny when he wakes up.  He tries act like he wasn’t asleep and just starts talking right away and moving his arms around.