A special love affair like no other-becoming a granny

 

I never thought I would be a besotted granny! I like babies (well, I had two of my own) but I was not the type that stops stranger mums with prams and gushes about the baby. I have a friend who does that and who ruins many a good power walk with her antics. Mind you she does the same with puppies!

Unprepared

So I was totally unprepared for the outpouring of emotion FROM ME when little Logan Keegan entered this world on September 4^th. When my daughter Kirstin and fiancée Mark told us the happy news back in January, my main concern was that she would have a healthy pregnancy and baby. I never thought of how much this little bundle would change my life. Readers, I have turned to MUSH.

 

I cried when I held him in my arms. I look a right mess in the photos, blubbering over this almost nine pound little being, who looked back at me with his big blue eyes, wondering what lunatic world he had entered.

Other GRANNY friends had warned me that I would feel like this, but I thought they were exaggerating, or maybe I felt my heart wasn’t big enough. Well, I have grown another heart for the little man.

That crazy thing called Love

I am delighted when my daughter asks if I am free to babysit for an hour or two and I drop everything to do so. In fact, GG (aka Gorgeous Graham, now also known as Gorgeous Grandad) is just as eager and we race in the door to see who can get to him first. Yes, I realise we are pathetic!

Now that I am a member of the Granny Brigade, I have deep meaningful conversations about babysitting, as in helping out with daycare and granny rivalry and the differences between being granny to your daughter’s or your son’s baby. I now listen carefully when my friends share stories about their grandchildren, understanding their love and pride.

 

 

Babysitting

I always said I would babysit when I could, be available for emergencies, but that I would not be involved with daycare.  I have reared two, worked as well and now feel it is time for me and GG to travel and play golf and enjoy ourselves. So it came as a shock to me to hear Grandad offer to help out two days a week for the first few months when our daughter returns to work.  Of course, I can’t leave him on his own (Logan might say papa before nana). Now, I realise I might be in for something totally different with a boy and wonder if I will be able to cope with all that energy? Luckily Grandad will do all the chasing.

Granny Rivalry

I remember reading an article about this and laughing, but that was before I was one! No seriously …is there really such a thing? I haven’t found it. We grannies rock…and I have found nothing but support from all my friends.

Son or Daughter?

Having discussed this with a few friends, I believe that there is a difference. Some of my friends, the mothers of sons, tell me that a daughter is naturally going to ask her own mother for more help. (Note, I didn’t say advice.) We live nearby and can therefore do more.  Maybe some of you have different experiences you might like to share.

 

Blessed

So here I am feeling very blessed. I have no video footage of my two as babies; we didn’t have a video recorder until much later and with Logan I get to see so much via mobile phone or in person.  They live a few minutes away and we can watch him grow and develop and enjoy all the milestones.

Already, he has changed so much and now at three months chats and gurgles as if he knows who I am.(Yes I know, he is very advanced!) Those smiles are heart-melting and as the first grandchild on our side, we marvel at each one.  He has two sets of doting grandparents, extended families and cousins and as for the stylist daughter, well when she is about, nobody else gets a look-in. Why she even brings him when she is getting her hair done.

 

Granny Smith

Of course my friends get great mileage from calling me Granny Smith. It is ok, I love apples and I look forward to whatever my young grandson decides to call me in the next few years. I realise it is a whole new world; I now stop new mums with babies and peer into prams admiring their offspring and marvelling at this miracle of procreation. What one of my friends calls the greatest love affair of all continues.