My first Grandbaby has arrived!

Top Left: Lindsey 2-14-1983 Top Right: Lillian 6-8-2010

Lillian Marie Spraggins

It has been some time since I entered a story on my blog, but I have been busy! It is amazing how time flies by. The above photos show my daughter Lindsey at 11 days old, and the other is of her daughter, Lillian at 2 weeks. My daughter, Lindsey Marie, had her baby daughter, Lillian Marie Spraggins on June 8, 2010, at 3:15 am, and she was 19 inches long. She has lots of auburn hair and dark blue/gray eyes. It was a hot summer night and all the nurses at the hospital in Rockwall, Tx. told me it was going to be a long night and to just go home, they would call if anything changed! Well, 3 hours later I was back up to the hospital, in her room watching the birth of my grand daughter! It is a wonder and amazement at how GOD made such a thing possible, birth. We all new the baby was a girl from the sonograms she had months earlier, but it is another thing to see and hold a new born baby, one that is going to be in my life forever. She was beautiful and looked so much like my daughter when she was born. Gary, her husband, got to cut the cord and after the nursed cleaned her and wrapped her in a nice warm blanket, she was given to her mother and father, I was there to witness this powerful event and what a sweet memory it is for me. A joy beyond imagination. Lillian was born peacefully and without a fuss. She was content and as we all passed her from arm to arm she never even flinched. Her skin was so soft and clear, the softest shade of pink you will ever see, long eyelashes and lots of brown/auburn hair. As she took her first breath and opened her eyes, we all gasped at her small size. She laid on her mothers tummy and stared in to the faces of her mother and father for the first time, faces she will grow to love to see at any time! She was so calm, just looking at the darkness of her mothers eyes and hair, the smile on mommy's face said it all. I got to hold her next, and what a beautiful baby. Memories of my experiences when I gave birth to my daughter came rushing back to me as I stared at this small newborn who looked so much like her mother. We were all thankful the labor had been so short and the delivery so fast! It was a quite early morning in the halls of the hospital, Lindsey was the first of 5 other women who had been admitted for delivery that night or the next day. Gary's parents, Gary and Deanna Spraggins, SR., came into the room 10 minutes later, they had been called and were anxious to see the new addition to their grandchildren. The nurses left the room and we were all together to bond and take photos, send text messages, make phone calls, and share our thoughts of the excitement of her birth. Lindsey and Gary have now entered into the next phase of their lives, the beginning of Parenthood. I am so happy for them and everyone who is going to be part of Lillian's life in the future. As a new Grand Ma Ma, I have joy in my heart again. The joy only a child can give. The unconditional love, hugs and kisses, the thrill they have when they see their grandparents arrive, the look in their eyes that say one thing, I'm happy, are all the things I look forward to in the years to come. The next year is going to be full of trips to visit her when I can and lots of photos of every change she completes. I don't want to miss one single thing, because I know time goes by so fast! But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the diaper changes and bottle feedings as much as I can!!!

This Old House...problems?

Today I had the experience of replacing a hot water heater. This is not something I would get up and decide to go shopping for, since it stands in the garage in a small closet next to the washing machine. I went out to do a load of clothes when I discovered water standing on the floor, I thought it was from the washing machine. I mopped it up and moved the washer and decided to wait on the washing. Later I came back to the washer and found more water. Well, I thought that was odd, so I opened the door to the hot water heater and there was MORE water, I then realized the water was coming from the heater, and with farther investigation, discovered it was dripping from the bottom of the container and from the connection at the top, a small drip, but still two constant drips. This was at 11:00pm on a Saturday night. What to do???? So, I came back to the bedroom and said to Danny " Well, I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?" I always like the good news first, but he wanted the bad news. After he saw the mess, he totally forgot about the good news, which was the washing machine wasn't leaking. He couldn't sleep and thought and thought about what to do, and I told him it had been leaking for days, one more night wasn't going to make much difference. We used the shop vac over and over, finally after several calls to plumbing companies, we got to talk to an actual plummer. He advised us to shut off the water at the wall, which leaked too, and then to turn off the gas connection to the heater. You know what this all means don't you? NO HOT WATER... really. So we did what he said, then I decided I should take a shower because it might be longer than we think before we get a plummer out to fix this mess. Let me tell you, do this before you turn off the water to the heater, because there is no pressure in the shower afterwards. I didn't know about the connection between the water connection and the flow to the shower. It was a quick but ok shower. The next day we called and set up an appointment for Home Depot to come and install the new heater, the soonest time available was TUESDAY...somewhere between 10 and 2. OK, I can wait another day. Well, Tuesday arrives and the plummers call and it is Osham, out of DALLAS???? Really? You would have thought someone in Tyler could have been on the list of Home Depots worker consignments. I didn't know Oshams did plumbing, I thought they did foundations. Oh well..They wanted to know if we lived in the city or outside the city limits.. we told the lady who set this up it was in the city, then they said they would have to call for permits and codes, I thought they would know how to install a heater, anyway they would call us back, time passes and they call back and report that it is going to have to be brought up to city codes and would take longer, it is already noon, and of course MORE MONEY! We had a quote of $700.00 dollars for a 30 gallon heater installed. Now, it was going to be $1600.00...WHAT??>>@#$@#&(*&$*@^@. We just told them to cancel the order and we would do something else. After many calls, and hours later, and the shock of the cost, we found a plumbing company who would replace it today for only....$1100.00 total dollars for a 50 gallon water heater. They got to our house at 4:00pm and by
6:45pm I was looking at a tall new source of hot water....something I really need, I just didn't want to spend my entire income tax return on this year. So, if there is a shiny lining to this dark cloud, it would be that I HAD a tax return to pay for it. By the way, the date etched on the old water heater was 1-31-90, RIP old heater, you went through alot of HOT WATER!!! We'll see if the new one can break that record...what do you think??? Yea, probably not, but I am going to etech the date on it too, for the next owners. Think about all this the next time you turn on the HOT water.

My Mandolin hobbie update!

I thought I needed to update my progress on my mandolin lessons. I bought a book and a DVD of the same teacher, and so far I have mastered 1 scale- G, 4 chords,G,C,D,A, and 3 songs, all in the key of G, Yankee Doodle, Worried Man Blues, and Wildwood flower. My Dad is so proud, he likes me to come by and "pick" with him. He wanted to play my mandolin so bad, I ended up ordering one for him. He loves to pick on it and it is fun to have someone else play along with me. I know Mom is probably tired of hearing the same song, along with all the mistakes I make. Dad plays his Martin Guitar while I play the melody and try to keep up. He just gets faster and faster, while I am struggling to hit the right string. I am surprise I have gotten this far. It is fun and a real challenge to do so many things at one time. Read the music, find the string, and do the fingering on the left hand, along with keep the tempo, and think about the words to the song. I love all kinds of music and this is just a way to enjoy the sound. Dad wants to have a picking at his house and let me play my one or two songs. I don't know if I am ready to jump into the middle of all these experienced men and women, I don't want them to think I am replacing any of them. This is my Dad's whole life. He looks forward to every opportunity to play with a bunch of people. I think I can take it or leave it. But for now, I am gonna give it a try.

The first image of Baby Spraggins

This is the first image of Baby Girl Spraggins, Grand Mama (ME) and Lindsey (mommy)!

My Surprise!

Lindsey and Gary have had a big year. They decided to look for a bigger home and sell their first home. This didn’t take too long, once Lindsey started looking. She finally found one that was just perfect and located between interstate 20 and Interstate 30. It is so nice to have them on this side of Dallas, it is only 90 minutes from my door to hers! This is a good thing because in October, she and Gary surprised me with the big news…. SHE IS WITH CHILD!! It was a Friday, when Lindsey called and said she and Gary wanted to come by, they were in Tyler for some sales meeting, and were bringing lunch. This sounded unusual for her, she always plans ahead, but I didn’t hesitate on a visit. We all ate and sat around for a while, when she let me know she had made me copies of our old home movies on CD’s and brought them to me. As we went over the CD’s and the neat way she had designed the covers, we got to the back last CD case, and on it was a hand written title of “It’s time to start a new Edition of Home Movies! Baby Spraggins due in June!” I was so happy I looked at her and told her “ oh my goodness, really, WOW, wonderful…GREAT!” I can’t tell you the joy I felt! Yes, she is having a baby around June 4, 2010. I was so thrilled to become a Grand MaMa! I can’t wait to start spoiling and kissing the new little bundle of joy! On January 14, 2014, I was invited to share in the joy of the viewing of the sonogram of the baby, where the doctors measure and check how the baby is developing, they also tell you the sex of the baby! We found out she is having a GIRL and that everything was on schedule for birth the first of June. We were all so excited to now know the little one is a girl, now a name and preparations for her arrival has began! PINK, PINK, PINK everywhere! We left the office and went to eat at The Cotton Patch, where we called everyone and informed them of the news. After digesting the news and food, we went shopping for pink stuff! It was a rainy and cool day, but I was on cloud 9! What a wonderful day with my daughter and her husband, by four o clock, Lindsey was really tired and we went home. I had to come back to Tyler to work on Friday, so I called Camy, my cousin and we talked all the way home about babies and the future! I praise God for this wonderful blessing we are receiving!