We are proud to announce that our family will be getting a new addition in May 2012.  Our daughter is having a baby!  This will be our first grandchild and we are looking forward to welcoming him or her into our loving arms.  As you can imagine, this will be a transition for all of us (especially the new parents) as our “youngest” is now 23.  You can see the anticipation and excitement in their eyes and also remember our own joys and fears when you realize that you are pregnant and your whole life is about to change. Hopefully, I can pass on some of my wisdom and experience to my daughter and help her adjust to her new motherly role, but we all know there is a crash course of motherhood and fatherhood that awaits them once their little bundle arrives!  We all survived it and I have confidence that they will also.

While walking with Dad in the park today, we reminisced about our own experiences.  He and my my Mom were barely past 20 years old and had been already “trying” for over a year – but timing was a bit off and my Mom was 5 weeks pregnant (same as our daughter is today, give or take) when she had to get on a ship to come back to the mainland from Hawaii (where my Dad was stationed).  Technically, she was not allowed to sail because she was pregnant, but she kept silent, fibbed (a little) and did it anyway.  Morning sickness + an ocean voyage – THAT must have been a real stomach turner!  How I wish that she was still with us to see her great-grandchild with my Dad.  I pray that she is watching over us, smiling and being a guardian angel for our daughter and her developing child.

It has been a long time since we had to have diapers (haven’t missed those much!), cribs, highchairs, strollers, security locks, bottles and binkies, baby food jars and little spoons that go zoom like an airplane, sippie cups and toys, toys, toys (if they can get them away from their uncle, great-uncles and Dad).  Looking forward to lullabies, first tooth, first step, first word, trips to Disneyland, Chutes and Ladders, Sing-Along DVDs, Peek-A-Boo, Patty-Cake, Little Piggies and “I Love You One…I Love You Two…I Love You Three…etc”, Christmas and Easter Egg “hunts”, Butterfly Kisses and Bear Hugs.  Then comes the whirlwind of years that fly by:  potty-trained (at last!), first day of school, taking off the training wheels, science fairs, recitals and sports, homecoming, puppy love, teen-angst (yuck!), prom, graduation, college, career, engagement, marriage and children of their own.

First official advice from Grandma and Grandpa:  Time goes quickly so make the most of every precious day.