Forty Two Years of Mothering Come and Gone

This post is to Jessica Ann.  Happy Birthday to the young woman who made me a mother 42 years ago!  My, oh, my!  How time flies when you are having fun!  I know you've seen these pictures before, but I love seeing them again and again!

January 4, 1980 at 2 days old.  We stayed in the hospital a lot longer in those days!  I was glad to be there as it was kind of a vacation for me, LOL!  (Especially the more children the Lord gave us!) I had NO problem with the hospital food!  Your dad made the comment, "She has her eyes open already?" I guess you had been asleep the other times he came.  I remember laughing and saying, "she's not a puppy!"

January 5, 1980 at 3 days old.  Your face was still swollen from the birthing process.  You initiated me into motherhood in so many different ways!  I took the LaMaze classes with mom at my side because your dad was having no part in being in the room at your birth!  I am to this day so thankful the Lord gave me easy pregnancies and easy deliveries!  Especially since you weighed in at 10 lbs. 7 1/2 ozs.!  I did have to be stitched back together, however!  But, you were worth it!  This is your hospital picture.

January 6, 1980 at 4 days old.  Time to go home.  You were a bit jaundiced, but it was not to the degree of concern like it was with your brothers and sister.  I don't know how much you remember about your first home.  We lived on Grandpa Day's property on River Road in Hebron, KY.  Route 8 runs along the Ohio River.  It had snowed and then sleeted on top of the snow, so the driveway up the hill to the house was an icy mess!  We couldn't drive up so we parked the yellow Volkswagen at the bottom of the hill, Grandpa Day came down the hill to help me walk up the hill as your dad carried you up the hill.  Fun times!  NOT!  This picture was taken that night with the security light shining on the ice.  A cool picture, for sure!

Your dad is dressed the way he is in this picture because he was a co-manager at Kroger.  (He looked good in a 3-piece suite, let me tell you!)  He worked the second shift.  That gave him the opportunity to attend Bible classes in the mornings.  We always had a name for a boy picked out even before we were married.  Just before you were born we decided we should have a plan B in the event we had a girl, LOL!  We came up with your name on the way home from church one night.  We didn't have the luxury of sex-revealing ultrasounds in those days and the doctor had "guessed" that you were a boy because of your size and heart rate.  HA!

Your due date was December 27th.  I was working in downtown Cincinnati at Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis (stock brokers).  However, my last day was Friday, December 26th, 1979, I believe!  I may have worked through Wednesday, December 31st, since you were late, but it seems like I remember being home more than a week before you decided to present your beautiful self to the world!

We were expecting Michael Timothy to make his appearance into the world, but we were just as happy and thankful to welcome you into the world!  This picture shows how proud your dad was!

Your Gram had just given me this cozy housecoat as a Christmas present.  This was "my" chair for nursing and rocking you!  You were such a good baby.  Any time we covered your face to take you out of the house you immediately went to sleep!  You began sleeping through the night pretty quickly.  You have ALWAYS loved your sleep!  I never had a problem with you and naptime (unlike your sister!).

Your Grandpa Brandenburg was so taken with you!  I can still remember him crying when he first saw you at the hospital!  He stopped by after work to see you the day we brought you home!  He made many stops after work since he worked at the Greater Cincinnati Airport as a truck driver for Rocket Transportation.  The airport was not too far from us.

March 23, 1980 at 2 1/2 months.  Someone else who was very proud of you was your Grandma Brandenburg.  She loved you dearly!  She hated having her picture taken, however, so this is the earliest picture I can find taken with you.  

I remember her calling just to talk to you on the phone when you were finally talking!  She used to carry you to the car when we would go somewhere until she tripped and fell with you one day.  It scared her so much, even though she protected you and took the brunt of the fall.  The driveway was pretty rocky and uneven so she didn't trust herself to carry you to the car after that.

 

I have more pictures somewhere of you with grandpa Day, Gram and grandpa Ken, but I don't have them scanned.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures of you that have been scanned.

1980

1981

1982

1984

1985

1986

1989

2001

Twenty years passed quickly and you began to do your own mothering and I became a grandma.  

2021

Twenty years later, my mothering has stopped, basically, and your mothering continues!  And what a wonderful job you have done!  Your mothering will continue for many years.  Continue following and leaning on the Lord for guidance.  That's the only mothering advice I can give you confidently!

I love you, baby girl!