The First Year

Although it's come to be a cliched phrase, "time flies" is so very true, especially when you're talking about how quickly children grow and change. Already looking back at Naia's first year, it seems like a blur and the milestones she accomplished were numerous.

Since our daughter had to return to work after only 6 or 7 weeks maternity leave, Naia was barely two months old when she came to stay (on a daily basis) at grandma and grandpa's house. Each morning at 6:15 or 6:30am, we were up to greet our daughter and grand daughter at the door. We soon settled into a routine that included feeding, changing diapers, nap time and playtime with grandpa, grandma and Naia's protector, Max.

I think I first noticed Naia's reaction to her mother's voice at about age 4 months. Her face lit up when she heard her mother's voice when she came to pick her up. She also began to exhibit to smile and even laugh at 4 or 5 months. I didn't recall hearing babies laugh. What do they have to laugh about any way? But the human capacity to exhibit a sense of humor starts early as do so many other emotions - love, anger, anxiety, fear and of course the capacity to learn and to develop competence and a sense of self confidence and identity. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, already.

As I said there were many milestones that first year, beginning with the development of attachment, especially to her mother and father. But, she also began to recognize us and her "protector", our scottish terrier, Max. Holding her own bottle, amusing herself on her exercise mat or walker/jumper were the simpler tasks. Rolling over, sitting up and crawling were a bit more complicated but all accomplished in due time. The crawling was perhaps the most difficult and occurred first as a rolling over movement to get where she wanted, then a king of sideways, backward slide before she was able to do the forward crawl. This last accomplishment took sometime and almost didn't happen as we thought she'd walk before she really got the crawl down pat.

Although she was born about a month prematurely, Naia was fairly healthy that first year. She did have a couple bouts with a bacterial infection that required her to drink only pediolite and was jaundiced shortly after birth. In spite of that, she grew steadily putting on weight and beginning to catch up to her age group.

We, grandma and grandpa, have been blessed to experience this miracle of child development. Our time with our grand daughter is very special to us, as so many grandparents work or live in an area of the country away from their grandchildren. We are doing what our parents did for us; helping to raise our grandchildren. It's quite special and seemingly becoming rarer in this modern age.

The Miracle of Birth

I certainly remember all the details of the births of my two children, even though these occured 39 and 35 years ago. But I could not have imaged the excitement and shear joy of being a part of the birthing of my grand daughter two and a half years ago. The labor process was quick, just three or four hours. I would suspect that Alanna did not see it as quick, but my labor with her was seven hours, so I speak from the perspective of one who has been there, done that!

While I took photos (unlike the birth of my children when grandparents were not allowed to experience these events. And we never thought of taking a camera into the operating room with us!), I would not dream of violating my daughter and son-in-law's privacy on this blog, but I'm glad that we have these photos for Naia to enjoy when she's older and perhaps becomes a mother herself.

I remember how we rooted for and coached Alanna through the last hard labor pains she experienced as we saw the miracle of Naia's birth. And then -- one month before her due date ---- right before our eyes, new life! Plus after her birth, she was not wisked away to some other place to be cleaned, weighed and measured. Instead the neo-natal team came to us, set up in the delivery room and kept our precious little one close while they performed these necessary tasks. Once they completed these, Naia wrapped in her new receiving blanket, cap on head was handed back to her mother to be cuddled as we all oooed, aahed and exclaimed how beautiful she was - all 5lbs 6oz.

Naia's News

This is a new blog dedicated to my grand daughter, Naia Ellison Reese. Naia is 2 and one-half years old and has already turned into a toddler, who has her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it!

As a grandparent who has had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with her grandchild, I am very gratified to participate in parenting this beautiful new addition to our family. I am also in awe of the way in which a child develops into an individual person. While I know that I experienced this growth and development with my own two children, the years have deemed my memory of the wonder of it all. So now I am blessed with another opportunity to witness, fret about, be overjoyed over and generally delight in my "baby's" acquisition of new skills, new experiences, new triumps and failures as she follows the developmental stages of life.