The kids are ok

We spent the past week in St. Louis visiting the kids. Our second granddaughter, Catie Jane, was born March 15 and we had not seen her yet. Eva, age three, is now the big sister and is handling the job beautifully. Ivan and Joanna are handling parenting two kids well too. Joanna continues to work from home on an assortment of editing jobs and Ivan is busy as a research scientist at the Danforth Institute. He took time last week to donate bone marrow to a man in New Jersey who has lymphoma. It was not an easy process. He also invited us to his lab and he did his best to explain to us what he is doing (more on this topic from my editor soon!).

Harry and I took Eva to the park in the 90degree heat, and we had a night babysitting both girls that was really fun. We ate take-out Chinese food and watched So You Think You Can Dance with Eva, who danced her way through most of the show, taking time out for a few bites of food. Eva eats like a little bird and Catie loves nothing more than to eat. Catie is a very tranquil happy baby, every mother's dream. She is just beginning to make those adorable baby sounds. At one point, while Harry was singing to her, we both distinctly heard her tell him to "shurrup!"

It would be so nice to live closer but we found the day's drive to St. Louis very do-able. If Ivan and Joanna would just buy us a new bed in the guest room we would probably drive down every month! Old people do not do well on a futon. We listened to a great book on tape as Phyllis, our GPS system, guided us along: turn right, exit left, you drive like an idiot.... recalculating." We drove along some pretty back roads and never consulted a map, having learned to trust Phyllis completely! It is certainly better than having me as the navigator.

We came home feeling very relaxed and of course missing the girls. Grandparenting is one of those things in life that is definitely not over-rated!