Janet's Blog

Well, baby Tobin is here at last, and the wait is finally over.  He is a beautiful, healthy baby.  I've already been asked when I'm going to write a blog about being a grandma.  I only have one day's experience, so far, so I'm afraid I can't say much about that yet!  So, I'll just write about the baby this time.   It's funny how everyone looks so closely at a newborn baby to see who he looks like.  It must be part of the whole process of welcoming him into the family.  I think he looks like the Bauer and Stobel and Ruppel and Wegner families--if we took him to Germany, he would be welcomed as one of their own.  I can see his round face in more than one great-grandparent.  His nearly colorless, blonde hair could come directly from either parent, since both were equally blonde at birth.  He is destined to have blue or green eyes, for sure, because all of his relatives have blue or green eyes.  Whose nose?  Who knows!  But those ears and feet and dimpled chi

Meagan's baby is due this week.  She's been having contractions for a couple of days, with no real progress yet, so she is still waiting.  We know the baby will come when the time is right, but waiting is hard anyway. We live in a world, or perhaps just a country, of instant gratification.  When we want something, we want it right now, and we often get whatever we want.  After all, WalMart has almost anything money can buy!  Unfortunately, some things just can't be bought, or hurried along.  So, we must wait for the best things life has to offer. Hungry children wait for that delicious-smelling dinner to be pulled from the oven so they can eat. Young teens wait until they are finally old enough (and responsible enough) to drive. Hard-working students wait for years until they can complete their education and start a career. Young adults dream about finding their perfect mates.  (Those who are unwilling to wait sometimes wish they had.) Cancer patients wait for chemo a

It's practically timeless.  It's a gold dress that Erin first wore to a high school dance, maybe a dozen years ago.  For some reason that I can't remember, she went shopping with Bill's sister, JoAnn, in Denver.  JoAnn spied the dress on a rack and coaxed my reluctant daughter into trying it on.  After all, just trying on a dress doesn't commit you to anything, does it? And once Erin donned the dress, it was transformed from a lacy, gold sack on a hanger into a magical gown, worthy of a young teen's dreams. Erin wore it several times during high school and college, garnering compliments every time.  The dress was passed on to Meagan, who also wore it more than once, with similar results.  Since she graduated from college, the dress has been hanging upstairs in a closet, just waiting... Since Thanksgiving, Victoria has been anticipating her first dance, the Freshman Formal.  We've looked at dresses at the mall, but nothing seemed just right.  Then, Erin

We are joyously anticipating the birth of our first grandchild later this month.  Our daughter, Meagan, and her husband, Andy, are expecting a baby boy, who will probably remain nameless until they meet him face to face.  (Until then, he goes by "Fred.")  Since Meagan and Andy are both teachers, they've waited until Christmas vacation to finish getting everything ready for the baby. Meagan surveys the nearly finished nursery. I am so proud of them for their willingness to think outside the box.  You see, they live in a small house with one bedroom, a miniscule office, and two bathrooms.  One of the bathrooms used to be a bedroom, years ago, so after much thought, they decided to turn that second bathroom back into a bedroom.  You can imagine the funny looks they get when they tell people about their plans for a nursery.  They've worked hard, with much help from several family members, and it's nearly done. The old bathtub, toilet, and wall tiles have bee