I have BIG news about an adorable little person who joined my family last month. It’s a fitting time to share this news since Sunday, September 8th, is National Grandparents Day.* This year I get to participate. Yep, four weeks ago I became a grandmother to Grand baby Z (GbZ).
You’ll likely be hearing more about GbZ in the coming months and years as I settle into being a grandmother. Or should I say Grammi Judi, which is what I said I want to be called. Mind you once GbZ can talk she may decide to call me by another name.
There’s More Love and Joy in My Heart Now That I’m a Grandmother
Ready or not here I come
“I think S’s water may have broken,” said my son D. “I suggest you call the doctor and go to the hospital,” I told him. “But we’re not ready yet,” said D. “Well your daughter may be ready,” I replied. Indeed she was!
“They’ve admitted S,” said D. And just like that – less than 24 hours later, GbZ was born. It felt like yesterday I was rocking my baby boy D in his swaddle. How is it that 30+ years have passed and now D is a dad and I am a sixty-something Grammi Judi? It’s the circle of life I thought to myself.
My Grand baby Z was born last month
Like one of my favorite author’s Anna Quindlen says in her book Nanaville: “We were the children, then the parents, and now the grandparents.” I looked forward to Anna’s “Life in My 30’s” weekly column about parenting in The New York Times when I was raising my kids. These days I am admiring her wise words on grandparenting.
(Being the Type A person I am I researched books on grandparenting. I’ve quoted from my two favorites in this blog post. I finished Nanaville in one sitting and am halfway through Becoming Grandma by journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. LOL — based on their guidance I have lots to learn!)
A new family member to love
I held GbZ for the first time a few days after her birth. She weighed a mere six pounds when she arrived home, having lost a few ounces from her original birth weight. I forgot how tiny newborns are — her hands and feet about the size of my thumb. My heart overflowed with love for this beautiful bundle of joy.
My new title is Grammi Judi
Lesley described the deep feelings I was experiencing in her book. “Becoming a grandmother turns the page. Line by line you are rewritten. You are tilted off your old center, spun onto a new turf. There’s a faint scent of déjà vu from when you raised your own children, but this place feels freer. Here you resdiscover fun and laughing, and a depth of pure loving you have never felt before,” she says.
Anna describes it equally well in Nanaville: “It turns out your heart is a balloon: it expands effortlessly.”
Wow-o-wow what a feeling! You hit it on the bulls-eye Lesley and Anna.
It’s different raising kids today
I was excited yet a bit nervous to help care for GbZ during her first week. Things have changed since my kids were young. Dr. Spock and Dr. Brazelton, my two go-to docs in the ’80s and ’90s, are no longer the pedatricians of choice. For example, now babies sleep on their backs and have ‘tummy-time’ on their stomachs.
Plus there is so much advanced baby gear including portable electric breast pumps; bottle warmers; boppy pillows for comfort while nursing or bottle feeding; plus parenting apps, blogs, YouTube videos and podcasts galore.
I was hesitant to make suggestions dare I lead D (or my DIL S) down the wrong path. I could relate to Anna’s comments about helping my child raise his own. “Where I once commanded, now I need to ask permission. Where I once led, I have to learn to follow,” says Anna.
GbZ will likely look different when I see her next week
Looks like I will be heading West more
I was a changed person when I boarded the plane for home the Saturday I left California. All my friends who are grandmas from a distance say that I will want to see GbZ about every six weeks. “And there’s always FaceTime too,” said my friend K. “They change so quickly.”
For sure I’ll be traveling to the West Coast more often in the coming months and years. I want GbZ to get to know her Grammi Judi and create a close bond like I had with my Nana M. It’s those memories that are everlasting — the hard brownies Nana M baked and stored in the empty Maxwell House cans, the tea leaves she read from my teacup after tea time, the family stories she told of when she came to this country, and the positive words of encouragement she always gave me when times were tough or I was scared.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, Anna says: “Conventional wisdom has it that indulgence is the privilege of grandparents, and I suppose there’s some truth to that in terms of serving dessert even if there wasn’t much eaten at dinner.”
Will I spoil GbZ? OMG of course I will. In fact when the Carter’s shop attendant asked me if I wanted to join the Carter’s Club I quickly replied, “Absolutely, I’m a Grammi.” I bought three outfits for GbZ, each one cuter than the next.
It’s time to get off my Grammi pedestal for the present moment. I have to go lift my five pound weights and grow stronger so I can lift GbZ as she increases in size. Meantime, all grandmother tips are welcomed. Leave comments please, please, please.
Happy Grandparents Day to those who are grandmas and grandpas and to those who hope to become a grandparent in the future.
xoxo
Grammi Judi
P.S. There’s actually a Grandparents Week hosted by GrandparentsAcademy.com, Grandparents Week is the largest virtual educational conference and celebration for grandparents of its kind. Supposedly there are also mini-classes and prizes lined up for this incredible event scheduled for Sept. 8 – 14, 2024. General Admission is free and there are giveaways going on for those who register in advance. Click here to claim your ticket.
