St. Nan Nan

I am so lucky. I am so blessed. I am so lucky and blessed that it makes other moms jealous.

My mom loooooooooooves her grandkids. I mean seriously. She is devoted to them. She devotes much of her life to them. You can't believe how supremely helpful and loving she is.

ARG dubbed her "NanNan" when he was a baby, a precious baby mangling of her name + Grandma. She's been NanNan ever since and all her other grandkids call her that too.

Prepare to be jealous.

She retired (award winning 5th grade teacher in her prime, thankyouverymuch) when my 2nd child was born because she couldn't stand being away from her grandkids.

She makes the 1+ hour drive to our house every week (barring holidays, vacations and miscellaneous freak happenings), spends the night, and goes home after lunch the next day. While she is here she:

- washes and folds all my kids' laundry
- brings bags of food to feed my kids lunch, dinner and breakfast (I guess my cupboard was bare one to many times - oops).
- cleans the kitchen
- plays and reads to my kids (the ones who still like that sort of thing)
- helps them clean their room! (that alone deserves a medal)
- drives them to various sporting activities
- helps me teach them (my kids have impeccable grammar)
- bathes the little one and puts her to bed
- generally loves and cares for them completely one day a week.
- leaves my home cleaner than when she arrived.

She won't be in the house but 5 minutes before she is up in the laundry room getting started on that job. I jokingly call her Cinderalla sometimes - she doesn't seem to mind.

NanNan's arrival is my cue to exit stage left. Errands? Check. Doctor appt? Check. Dentist? Shopping? Exercise? Visit w/ friend? Eat out w/ Hubby? Check. Check. Check. NanNan is here and there's no problem she can't handle!

"Don't worry about a thing." she calls as Hubby and I walk out the door for dinner, "Stay out as long as you want!"

Moms, especially new moms, will understand that this is GOLD in mommy currency.

Thankfully, my little one has finally grown out of the stage where she only wants Mama, so she's usually seeing my backside as NanNan makes her way to the laundry room.

Now, you may be wondering if SuperGrandma succombs to the age old temptation to spoil grandchildren. The answer is YES: Eating Out & Ice Cream. My kids are not thinner because of her. But hey, we never take them out to eat (paying for 5 gets pricey!), so this is their only chance. The ice cream factor can be a pain at times, especially if the kids are coming down/getting over an illness. Not the healthiest thing.

But her merits way, Way, WAY overwhelm any other considerations. Plus she is so active and healthy - a great role model for my kids. And her hobby?........ Shopping.

For. My. Kids.

Uh huh. You read that right. Almost every week she walks in with a package from Land's End or Hanna Anderson, "I thought this would look cute on Rosie for summer!"

Yes, she's a gem alright. And I do make time each visit to sit with her and chat. Heck, sometimes her food is so great Hubby and I stick around instead of going out.

Aside from thanking God for such a supreme NanNan, I sincerely look forward to the day when I can pay back a small portion of the care and kindness she has showered on me and my family.

NanNan and Me