I grew up in the Episcopal church and, as a kid, we always had to give up sweets for Lent. The only time we got to eat sweets during the entire 40 days was on my mom’s birthday when we got to have a piece of birthday cake.

I adore sweet things and this wasn’t a favorite time for me.

When I was seven, a girl in my Sunday school class got to give up wearing slips for Lent. Hmmm…slips….chocolate cake. Unfair!

I’d have given up wearing slips in an instant.

Back in the 1990′s we attended church in Dowagiac, MI. Father Robert gave his Lenten sermon and it wasn’t about giving up anything. Instead, it was about giving of.  The giving of yourself.

He suggested that instead of giving up something we find some area in the community where we could give of ourselves. Our time, our talents. An “almsgiving” as it were, that would make so much more of a difference than the giving up of chocolate cake.

I LOVED this idea. And it made so much more sense to me than to give up wearing my slip.

I do believe that whether you give up or give of, Lent should be a time of introspection. If you give something up, that’s great. But I wanted to share the idea of giving of, just in case you thought it was as great an idea as I did.

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But really, I do have a sad tale to tell.

My new little glambaby, Aniston, is the tiniest human being I have ever held. She weighed in yesterday at 5 lbs and 12 oz. Almost back up to her birth weight. She is long and skinny and TINY.

But people comment, when they see her photos, that she has big hands and big feet. And she does. And they look like Geoff’s.

Can you see how her little toe curls under? When I arrived on Sunday, the first thing Geoff said was, “Look at her feet. Her little toes curl under like mine.” And so they do. Nikki’s sister thought there was something wrong with her toes and it was the first time they noticed this.

It’s been kind of hard for Nikki to find something for Aniston to wear since she’s so long but so skinny. The premie clothes are too short but the newborn clothes are too big. Except for the footies.

And they are just too small.

Her socks have been too small since the day she was born and first wore them.

Of all the traits she could have taken from the Rottmayer side, I wouldn’t have chosen the feet. Geoff wears a 15, Brandon wears a 14, David a 12 (which is probably more normal than the rest of us) and I wear a 10 square.

Yes, my feet are square. LOL! They have always been wide and I remember when my mom bought me my first pair of wide shoes when I was six. They were navy blue and ugly and I could wiggle my toes for the first time!  Wide shoes have improved vastly in the last five years or so but it’s still a struggle to find just what I want.

Yes, we want her to have her own Rottmop. The four of us have more hair than 10 normal people and, while Brandon and I have coarser thick hair, Geoff and David have the most gorgeous wavy thick hair. Any girl would be blessed to have hair like that.

And we would love her to have Geoff’s long eyelashes and pretty teeth.

But feet?

Hopefully, she’ll grow into a more normal sized foot as she gets older and take after Nikki.

Because I just don’t think I could keep from crying if history repeats itself when she’s in eighth grade.

When Geoff was in eighth grade, his class had an end of the year skating party. Sadly, Geoff wasn’t able to skate because the skating rink didn’t have size 14 skates. He said he played video games all day and had fun but it just broke my heart that he couldn’t skate with the rest of his class.

I’m sure that Geoff wasn’t scarred by the skating experience but it’s something that stays with me for some reason.

And that is my sad, sad tale of large feet.

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As The Rock says, “Know your role”.

So I particularly enjoyed the Bathroom Communique‘ David and I had going last week.

I didn’t think there would be time for him to answer before I left for Oklahoma but I was wrong.

I found this:

To which I replied:

And left for Oklahoma.

I got back to Little Rock, Tuesday evening. And, as of yesterday, my reply still hung on the towel rack. I was going to get rid of it but, after spending my whole life at the DMV yesterday, I was barely in the bathroom at the house.

This morning, when I went into the bathroom I saw this:

Bahahahahaha! OMG I am laughing SO hard. I don’t even have a come back for this one. But I’m heading to Oklahoma again in a little bit so I’ll have a few days to come up with one.

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She is long and skinny like her daddy was when he was born.

The first photo I saw was so completely precious to me and I couldn’t quit looking at it.

And there I was: falling in love with a photo of my child falling in love with his child.

Amazing. I really have no words.

People have told me that being a grandparent is one of the most awesome things you get a chance to do. And I have so looked forward to this part of my life. But I never, ever knew about the incredible range of emotions you feel when you’re on the brink of becoming Glammie and then when you finally hold that sweet baby in your arms for the first time.

It’s nothing short of incredible.

Watching Nikki with her is awesome. It’s like she was born to be Aniston’s mommy. I knew she’d be a good mom and I wasn’t wrong.

Geoff is just so tender with her. Delighted is the only word I can use to describe the look on his face at times.

It turns my heart inside out to watch him be her daddy.

I love this new kind of love we are all experiencing. Even if I did cry for another four hours on the drive back to Little Rock.

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I wasn’t a big Whitney Houston fan. And yet I cry for her loss.

I wasn’t a Michael Jackson fan, either, really. But I cried when he passed, too.

I think it’s because they are our age. And those two were so incredibly talented.

I cried all the way home from Arkansas yesterday.

Why?

Because I just know that my mom and dad would love the heck out of knowing Geoff’s little daughter, Aniston.

I think about Nikki suffering to give birth. And I cry.

I think about Geoff feeling bad because Nikki is in pain. And I cry.

I miss Leo. And I cry.

<sigh>

I’ll be okay. I learned to wear waterproof mascara from Miss America.

And today? If my eyes are green? It’s because Mom and Dad are there for Aniston’s birth like they were there for Brandon and Vanessa’s wedding.

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So I left this note for David.

I just found this return note:

To which I have replied:

I’m headed to Oklahoma today before he’ll get a chance to see this one. I’ll be interested to see the reply.

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I haven’t run with any regularity since the late 1980′s when we lived in Chicago. I was a member of the Chicago Area Runners and I ran all the time. I loved it, especially the 10K distance.

I’ve never run a marathon (my longest was a half-marathon) but it’s on my bucket list.

I ordered the book that Jason is using called 4 Months to a 4 Hour Marathon and it was waiting for me when I got back to Arkansas.

I remembered when I had been running before, I used Jeff Galloway’s program and I ordered his book, too.

I am way too heavy to run a marathon any time soon. The Little Rock Marathon runs right past our house here and it’s the first weekend in March so that’s the target. For next year.

This morning, I joined the Little Rock Roadrunners Club. They have a meeting right around the corner next week which I plan to attend.

One more important thing I need is a great pair of shoes. A pair of shoes for an old, fat woman. LOL! Once I get my club membership packet (which includes a discount card) I’ll be going to a local running store and having them fit me with shoes.

Just like when I wanted to do kettlebell swings and got professional training, I’m smart enough to know that shoes make ALL the difference in the world.

I’ll never be fast but, with a great pair of shoes, I can run forever.

So, getting ready to run. I’m excited. It’s quite the challenge.

And now that I’ve put it out there for everyone to see, I have to do it.

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As we sat there, I looked around and saw a cute wall hanging that said, “If the crown fits”. It was in the wrong colors to hang in Aniston’s room and was probably terribly expensive but I thought, “I can make one of those myself!”

I created the artwork.

Then I looked for a place to put it on canvas so it would look like it had been painted. I found canvasdiscount.com. The prices were super reasonable and I hoped that the finished product would look great. It did!

I was a little freaked out when it came unassembled from the frame which I also had to put together. But I freaked myself out over nothing. I waited for David to come home and put the frame together and watched him. I’ve since ordered another canvas and I did the frame myself. It wasn’t that hard!

I then used a staple gun to staple the canvas to the frame.

I ordered a 1.5″ frame so I could put ribbon around the edges.

Then I wandered around Hobby Lobby to see what I could use to hang the picture. It is 19″ x 19″. I found a drapery tie that measured 22″ and it was perfect!

Over the course of time, Nikki threw in some more colors other than the leopard, brown and cream so in my wandering, I noticed some tie backs that matched the trim for the bedding and I got that, too, to tie it all together.

And here is the finished product on Aniston’s wall.

I was so happy with the way it turned out and the best part is that Nikki loves it!

It looks great and it was only a fraction of the cost of the one in the baby boutique. I love that I could make this for Aniston.

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Our first assignment was White Loaves. I’m pretty good at baking bread and I love to do it so I figured I’d swoop in at the last minute, bake my bread and make my post.

So, bringing up the rear…

The dough is a lot. I had to keep pushing it down while it mixed to make sure the flour was all incorporated. The butter went into the dough really easily, leaving me with a beautifully smooth lump of dough.

I am a little limited here in Arkansas in the mixing/baking/utensil department so I raised the dough in my soup pot. LOL!

It got huge!

Then I patted it out and rolled it according to the instructions for the second rising.

Then I baked it for 35 minutes and got two of the most beautiful loaves of bread!

Like my makeshift “rack”? hee hee

Now I need to go out and buy a serrated knife to cut the bread with!

If you’d like to bake these gorgeous loaves for yourself, you can find the recipe at this link.

Happy baking! And eating. Oooh and breathing. It smells divine!

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You know that I’m going to be Glammie very soon (February 13!) to little Aniston Lee. But it’s been many, many years since I’ve hung out with and taken care of a baby. I was up for the challenge.

The babies are so sweet and snuggly and I enjoyed every last minute I got to play with and take care of them.

My first confusion came in the area of bottles. They don’t make bottles like they did when I had babies.  I mostly breastfed anyway so I looked at this multi-pieced contraption with much confusion. I tried this way, then that way. Finally, doh!, I looked at a used bottle that hadn’t been disassembled and was able to figure out how to put the bottle together.

I was down on the floor with the babies and playing with them, entertaining them, coaching them to roll over which they each did for the first time!

The first night, I laid down in bed. Early. I thought I would die. I hurt everywhere. I felt like I used to feel after pageant weekend was over and I’d been on my feet in heels for days.  I slept well! I heard the babies in the night but knew the night nanny had them and went back to sleep.

Fortunately, during the days, the babies’ Grande was there and there were two of us taking care of them. I’m not sure I could have done it alone even if I were younger.

I was able to check out the cool toys for Aniston.

I purchased the monkey ball yesterday. Wee hoo wheeeeeeeeee!

He’s currently in the back of my car having a high time. I’ll leave him with Nikki today.

I still need to get the Baby Einstein jumper.

“Laurence” loves that thing and spends hours in it running and spinning the tunes. “Lauri” is still such a tiny thing that she is almost swallowed up by it. She does like it, just not for as long.

I scoped out the cute clothes.

Glitter socks! I’ve already ordered these and they are on their way. I KNOW Aniston must have them.

All in all, it was a fun and special week. I love those little guys so much and feel so honored that Denise and Jason would let me take care of them.

It was hard to leave them. But I’ll be back to visit in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait! I think I’m going to bring them balloons.

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