How I Got to be Dellgirl         

That was then...

                                       

                                                                    This is NOW!                                                                   

How did I get to be “dellgirl”?  More importantly, how can I be a "girl" and a grandmother at the same time? That’s something to think about, isn’t it?

One Happy Grandma!

For starters, I am a “Daddy’s Girl”…always was and will be until the day I die. Daddy’s gone now, may he rest in peace, but I am still his girl. I digress though, let me get back to the point. 

Dell is part of my middle name, and everybody called me Dell except Daddy. Daddy called me DellGirl, sometimes he would shorten it and call me DG. Nobody else ever called me DellGirl or DG. NOBODY! 

Sometime after Daddy died in 1988, I noticed my oldest brother using DellGirl or DG every once in a while. Ummm, interesting, huh? Oooppps...I'm getting off-track...again.

Let’s get back to the story of how I got to be ~dellgirl~. All my life I had proclaimed LOUDLY that I wanted to be a writer. My opportunity came, finally. I stopped "talking about writing" and actually wrote my book, At the Starting Gate, in 2008. My daughter Jordyn, helped me self-publish it.

My daughter Jordyn, the Wind Beneath My Wings!
Click Image for more information

Jordyn and I brainstormed to come up with a Brand for me…a Logo if you will. We decided on DellGirl, ~dellgirl~ is my online Brand, my Logo in Loving Memory of my daddy...Mr. Hermise Mason Wilkins.

My Logo/Brand, designed and illustrated by daughter, Jordyn.

There you have it, my take on "How I Got to be Dellgirl". How did you get to be who you are today?  Tell us about it in the comments section. We'd love to hear it.   

224 Words About…

How I Got to Be MiMi

 I informed my brother I was going to be a grandma, for the first time. He asked me what name the grandbaby would call me. I hadn’t thought much about it at that point. However, I did tell my brother that it didn’t really matter what the baby called me as long as he/she said it lovingly. We had a good little laugh about that.

                                                                                                                     

Later my daughter and I discussed different names for grandmas, trying to decide what I wanted to be called. She and I both had some definite “no-no(s)” concerning names I definitely did NOT want to be called. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about the names. I just did not want to be called those names.

Anyway, we did not reach an agreement on a name for me. It wasn’t until after my grandson was several months old that I realized my daughter had started referring to me as “MiMi”.  When grandson started “talking” himself, he called me MiMi. The name stuck.

There you have it, that’s how I got to be MiMi. By the time Grandson Jace, was 5 years old I was forever and ever…“THE MiMi”.

Now, here we are almost 10 years later (Grandson’s birthday is next month) and we are Forever & Ever . . . “The MiMi & The Jace”!!!

Precious Memories!

Grandparents: Not Just for Women

What Do You Call Your Grandmother?  

    

 

Raise your hand if you know my grandson, Jace. There you go, I knew it. Jace calls me ‘MiMi’.  I called my grandmother,  “Mama Leona”. My children call my mama, “Grandmom”. They call their daddy’s mama, “Mom”.

I have a first cousin who lives around the corner. Her two grand-daughters call her ‘Mee-Moah’ (I probably didn’t spell that correctly). But, that’s okay, I think you get it.

My oldest sister-in-law’s grandchildren call her ‘Momeee’. All of my cousins on my Mama’s side of the family call my Mama, “Nanny”. She is not their grandmother, but they call her Nanny anyway. All of their children and their children’s children call her Nanny too. She is Nanny to many.

With the introductions out of the way, let’s get down to business. What do or did you call your grandmother? Are you a grandmother yourself? What do your grandchildren call you?

                  

This Is Not Just for Women: Are you a grandfather? What do your grandchildren call you?

Click Image #3 to view Source

Happy Birthday Jace!

Another Miracle Milestone: Happy Birthday Jace!

Born: March 2, 2010 

Born against the odds...man's "odds".

God said otherwise...Jace made it...

God is SO GOOD!

Jace is home April 2010

Happiness while living through adversity - May 2010

"Quick, take the picture. I've got places to go and things to do!" 

November 2011

"I don't know why these doctors always doing stuff to me, looking all inside and everything. I'm GOOD - August 2013

GOD's Got This!

Mach 2017 - Stopping to smell the roses!

Thanking God for my many Blessings!  July 2017

January 2019

Celebrating Birthday #9: March 2, 2019 

Happy Birthday Jace! 

MiMi loves you sooo much!!!

Grandparents Day At School

Thursday morning started out okay. I woke up feeling pretty good, nothing to brag about, but okay. I showered and took my time getting dressed. I had an 11:45 appointment to go to Jace’s school for Grandparents Day. Today, Grandparents get to eat lunch with their grands. Yaaaa!

I arrived at the school about 11:30, wanting to be early for our lunch. Jace was happily excited as he spotted me walking into the cafeteria. He ran up and gave me a great big hug, laughing and grinning from ear-to-ear. I was grinning from ear-to-ear myself! We were as happy as a couple of monkeys in a banana factory!

Image Source

We made our way to his table and took our seats. He was more than half way through with his lunch already. Boy, seems like somebody gave me the wrong time fro Jace’s lunch. Oh well…

MY Photo ~ © dellgirl

Anyway, he munched on the rest of his lunch and chatted with his friends sitting on the opposite side of the table. He and I chatted intermittently between his and his friends’ goofy shenanigans.

I was happy and excited to be there enjoying this special moment with him. He was happy I was able to come. I enjoyed watching him interact with his classmates. They were a comedic little bunch of characters!

Not my photo. 

Just a likeness of what it looked like across the table.

Image Source

What a wonderful treat that was, lunch with “My Boy…My Sunshine”!

A Special Thank You!

A Thank You from Grandson, Jace!

How do you thank someone who has happily surprised the dickens out of you? What can you say that doesn’t come off as trite or cliché? Sometimes you can’t. So with that in mind, I’ll try to get to the point, pronto. 

Grandson, Jace, made a video a while back and instructed me to spread the word and make it go viral. Like the good MiMi that I am, I posted the video. I included Jace’s request for Likes, comments, Subscribers to his Youtube channel, AND Shares. I’m Laughing Out LOUD…again… at that from a 7 year old.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to, AnthonyGodinho, RhapsodyPhoenix, Erica wagner, and MarianShankle for your support. Your surprise visits to Jace’s video were awesome!

Jace and I were grinning from ear-to-ear when we saw your Likes and Comments. We were like kids under the tree on Christmas morning. I don’t know which one of us was more excited. Thank you guys!  

I want you to know how grateful I am that you took the time to visit Jace’s video. We really appreciate your participation on it.  Your visit and your support made Jace a happy little camper! Jace says, "Thank You All!"

Thank you all for helping him with his “Let’s Go to Sky Zone” video. You Guys Rock!

How the Fight Started

I’m fighting with my daughter over a man. Yes, you heard me right. My daughter and I fight over a man. Here is how the fight started.

Sometime during the middle of October, my 4 year old grandson and I sat playing a game on his Kindle Fire Tablet. He leaned into me, snuggled closely and asked, “MiMi, am I Mommy’s baby?”

With my most serious face and a long passionate tone, I answered him, “Nooooo, you’re not Mommy’s baby. You’re MiMi’s baby.” He snuggled even closer, wrapped his little arms around my neck and squeezed. “I wuv you, MiMi.”

“I love you too, baby boy.” I answered him. He repeated this action and conversation several times. Each time I was rewarded with a great big hug and deliciously sweet kiss. This went on for weeks, off and on.

One day his mommy passed near where he and I sat while this exchange was going on. He asked his mommy, “Mommy, am I MiMi’s baby?”

His mommy did as I had done initially as she had witnessed this scene many times. She replied, “Noooooo, you’re not MiMi’s baby. You’re mine.” His face broke out in the most priceless grin you ever saw.  He looked at me and asked me again.

There we were his mommy and me. He had us going back and forth as to whose baby he was and was not. That’s our lil’ man.

 He loved every minute of it. He was as happy as a, “hog-in- slop” at the back and forth between my daughter and me about whose baby he was.

After a few weeks, she and I determined that he is already getting a joyful kick out of two women fighting over him even at this young age.

Go figure!

Crazy

Things continue to be crazy around here for me. Mama came Friday for her week to stay with me. She was with my brother the week before. It has been so cold I don’t get a chance to go outside for breaks like I do when the weather is nice. So we are (and have been much of that time) stuck in the house looking at each other looking lost and forlorn.

As usual, it has been a steady round of bringing, fetching, carrying, and doing. It’s up early in the morning to give her breakfast and medications at nine am. Next is her eleven am snack, no meds. One o’clock, and it’s time for lunch. There’s another snack time and a fluid pill at 3 pm.

It’s dinner/supper time at 6 pm and time for her night time meds. She used to go to bed at five o’clock in the evening, but she seems to be staying up later and later these days. A couple of times since she’s been here, she has been up past seven pm.  Ummmm, interesting, huh?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a whole lot more busy-ness going on, but I had better stop so I can post this. If I try to tell it all, that won’t happen.

Anyway, I am just checking in to update you on where I have been and what’s happening with me. How are you? I hope you had a good weekend, did you? What did you do? I didn’t do anything print worthy, but the weekend was okay. 

Have a great week everyone! 

Image source 

Happiness is ...

My heart was wrapped up in clover the night I looked at Jace!

~   ~   ~

Happiness is like a butterfly.

The more you chase it, the more it eludes you.

But if you turn your attention to other things,

It comes and sits softly on your shoulder.

~Henry David Thoreau~

Time Flies

It’s hard to believe there are only 6 more days until Christmas. Where did the time go?! Not that I had a whole lot of plans for anything in particular, never-the-less, time seems to have gotten away from me this year. Why am I surprised? Time has gotten away from me for the last several years. So, what’s new?

Grandson was sick over the Thanksgiving holidays. He developed a large lump on his neck under his ear the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. His doctor said it was most likely swollen lymph nodes, not to worry too much if there were no other symptoms or fever. There wasn’t.

Then he started losing his appetite on Thursday and Friday (before Thanksgiving), wouldn’t eat much of anything. He did drink liquids though, and we were thankful for that. This went on the whole weekend and Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, Jordyn took him in to see the doctor about the lump and about his loss of appetite. Everything checked out fine, didn’t find anything wrong. Good!

Wrong!

Late Wednesday afternoon, around 4:30 or 5:00 pm he started coughing and coughing, coughed until he gagged and spit up, a lot. This lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Alarming, but he returned to his normal busy self after the vomiting was over. It happened again a couple of hours later and, we really began to worry. By 9:00 pm he had developed a fever of 100.2 degrees. When the fever reached 100.5 degrees, Jordyn called the doctor. We followed the doctor’s orders, got the fever down, and thanked God we didn’t have to go to the emergency room.  

Thanksgiving morning Jace was his usual busy busy busy self playing as if nothing had happened the night before. However, Jordyn and I were two nervous Nellies watching his every move. Thanksgiving Day went rather smoothly, considering our anxieties. 4:30 or 5:00 pm rolled around and we found ourselves in the same predicament as the day before.

“Oh boy, it’s going to be a long night! If we can just make it through the  night without having to go to the emergency room, we’ll be at the doctor’s office as soon as the doors open Friday”, I thought to myself.

We made it through the night, Thank God!

Friday we’re at the doctor’s office! After a good going over the doctor told us Jace had a severe case of bronchitis. She prescribed antibiotics and we were on our way, thanking God for his goodness all the way home. Thankful for the blessing that it was not something more serious, we settled in for the night. We kept watchful eye on the little busy one who never once acted sick in any way other than throwing up and having a fever.

And, the days since then have all been just as busy and mostly chaotic but, it’s all good. Everyone is healthy and well. Thank You Lord!

Tip For a Successful Doctor's Visit

We took grandson for his 2 year old check-up the last week of April. I went along in case they had to do blood work, Jace absolutely hates that. It takes all the hands we can get to hold him for that procedure.

Grandson is not your average “go-sit-down-play-a-game-read-a-book” kid. He’s a constantly moving busy busy busy non-stop blurrr of motion. He preferred to walk down the corridor instead of sitting quietly, so I volunteered to walk with him while Jordyn got them all signed in. Maybe I should say, I volunteered to walk behind him (he’s just that fast) as he trotted along at his usual fast-paced speed.

By the time we reached the exit doors at the other end of the corridor, yes…waaaaaaaaay down there, I (MiMi) needed a rest. It took some doing but, I finally coaxed him back to our seats. There sat Jordyn, smiling knowingly at the sight of me huffing and puffing along behind an energetic unfrazzled, grandson.

He didn’t want to sit with her or with me, nor did he want to sit still in the toddler chair. Jordyn offered him a toy from his carry-bag but, that didn’t accomplish what she had in mind. She reached in their bag again and asked, “grandson, do you want to eat corn?”

Without further adieu, grandson marched over to the toddler chair and sat down as cool as a cucumber. He started to munch on his corn-on-the-cob with a “died-and-went-to-heaven look on his face.  

“Well, I’ll be John Brown! Who knew corn-on-the-cob would be a welcomed sight in the waiting room at the doctor’s office!?” Very productive!

Summer’s Over?!

I captured Jace in a rare moment of quiet… stillness…reading for a brief “HOT” second.

It’s hard to believe summer’s just past and another school year has started. With no little ones, or big little ones in school I have no “school-is-back-in-session” gauge. Jordyn worked both summer school sessions so there was no definitive break to speak of. Jace and I continue to bond and wonder at each other while she slaves away at her day-job to finance his ever growing needs.

As usual there is so much to do and seemingly not enough time to accomplish it all. Since Jace arrived I haven’t blogged consistently. Many times I thought of forgetting about blogging altogether, but dang, blogging is just too much fun to let it go without a TRY anyway.

Another thing I struggle with is the purpose and content of this blog. I started it to share writing and publishing tips I learned. Well that hasn’t happened since forever, has it? I thought about changing the name to Grandma’s Blog or something similar. That didn’t happen. So I go back and forth between those things and then – nothing.

Life keeps me busy doing other things.

Enough about that, I’d better get to visiting and reading your latest happenings and happinesses (made up word). See you all soon.

Oh! Should I change the name of the blog to Grandma Something? Leave it alone? Should I forget writing tips? What do you think?

Fridays

Don’t you just love Fridays! I LOVE Fridays! What’s not to love? The work week is over, it's the end of the hustle and bustle for a day or two, love ones have time off and we get to do fun and interesting things on the weekend.

Sometimes we just relax. Other times we work on the garden or go shopping for plants and things for the yard. That’s a barrel of fun and it gets me out of the house moving these old bones in a different kind of way.

Depending on the availability of already prepared food in the kitchen, I might cook up something delicious. That takes more than a notion but, when I do it I get to eat without having to dig out and sort through leftovers.

We might simply listen to favorite music and chat or watch a good movie – and chat. It's all great fun! But weekends are way too short. If they (weekends) were longer would I be satisfied, probably not.

Better yet, we might just spend the time teaching Baby Jace how to play with his toys. Or maybe we’ll watch as he shows us how he thinks they should be used. We’ll see!

Do you love Fridays? What do you love about Fridays? What fun things are you planning for the weekend?

Happy weekend to you!

Happy!

Hi Grandma...

SMILE!

It's contagious so pass it on!

Wheew, what a month!!!!!

Here baby Jace is "rootin' around" for a weird position to get himself into, he won't be satisfied until he's twisted turned and looking like a little pretzel.

---

What a week - last week!

No, what a month!!

June is over and I feel like I've been drug behind an 18-wheeler along 25 miles of bad country roads. Wheee-eeew!!! This has got to let up soon - - working on that.

We took the baby to East Texas to visit the great-grandmothers June 6th, first time he's been on a day trip. We left that Sunday morning and came back Monday afternoon late. He has never been strapped in his carseat in the car for that long, 2 1/2 hours one way. Both great-grannies were soooo happy we finally were able to bring him to see them. He did really well... considering. We left with everybody happy grinning and satisfied we weren't lying to them that he was all-right and everything was going well.

THEN!

The day after we got back he started a new growth spurt. Really! That meant excessive fussing, spitting up more than usual, gassy and passing gas, colicky, eating less than he normally does, acid-reflux (yea, you heard/read correctly, acid-reflux. I never heard of such a thing in babies...till now) spitting up, hungry, not eating much, fretful, restless, and on and on. Needless to say nobody got any rest, not anybody.

But, little trooper that he is, he's laughing, playing, cooing, talking to us, responding to our silliness with great-big belly laughs and squeals of delight - - in between all the awful growing pains. He's a tough little fellow.

It's not quite over yet, but we're working it out. We found a couple of techniques and solutions that help so, we're glad for that. The worse part of THIS growth spurt seems to be behind us and most of the stuff mentioned above is less intense and more manageable. Now we have July to look forward to and see what new baby things it brings with it.

And so goes another month in the life of Grandma DellGirl and baby Jace. Ahhhhhh, the joys of Grandmahood.

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My Little Preemie, my how he's growing

Just about the time a woman thinks her work is done, she becomes a grandmother.

~~ Edward H. Dreschnack ~~

Edward said that well.

Remember the post I published when baby son moved into his own apartment? The one about how I stood in the middle of the floor crying my eyes out because my baby had left home? Remember how I snivelled on and on about what I would do with myself?

Well, those days were rather short-lived. I don't have to wonder what I will do next anymore. My days are happily filled: (not every day, just some of them)

• 9:00 a.m. - Jace makes his entrance for the morning. We spend a good portion of the time cooing and conversing about different and odd subjects, laughing and playing and enjoying each other's company.
• 10:00 - He's about ready to eat - - again. Then I rock him and burp him.
• 10:15 - He's asleep.
• 10:20 - Down for his nap.
• 11:00 - He's stretching and grunting. I never imagined someone so small could stretch soooo...( I told him he gives me "charley-horses" just looking at him stretch like that.)
• 11:02 - He's up and out of bed, ready to start the cycle all over again.

And so goes...

another day in the life of dellgirl, the brand new Grandma.