Babies R Us

His little smile melts my heart.

Ron and I had the distinct honor, and pleasure/priviledge of keeping one of our grandchildren...

Monday-Friday

7:30am-4:00pm

from mid September through mid December. 2015.

It has been a month since Wyatt was here, on a daily basis.

OH HOW WE MISS HIS  PRESENCE!

and..... 

OH HOW MUCH WE WERE REMINDED of the PARAMOUN T RESPONSIBILITY of caring for an infant. 

Wyatt is now 6 months old. 

We learned so much that was missed, the first 3 times, with our own three children, probably because there were two of us taking care of Wyatt. 

Trust me, it took two of us to keep one baby!

We had the pleasure of holding, and kissing, and rocking, and loving.

We were reminded of the importance of safety, schedules, and doing things precisely the way his parents wanted things done! (To my knowledge, the only rule that we broke was a little soothing background music during an occasional nap time....but I think that was more for us than Wyatt!).

We learned about our own endurance, and the importance of going to bed early.

We learned that in order to take care of someone else, we had to also take care of ourselves!

We learned that we had to pace ourselves.

We learned to re-priortize our lives, knowing that this was a temporary assignment! It was easy for us to say "NO" to people, prior committments, and social events. 

All of a sudden, our retired days were structured....down to the minute!

We placed the pac-n-play next to a bed in our spare bedroom. 

As Grandparents, we would WATCH him sleep!

Monitors are an important infant gadget. We didn't have these 40 years ago. Screeming babies, we heard. However, now, if you are ever interested in RESTING during your duties, this is a MUST HAVE. It's amazing that some of the models come with little tv screens, so you can see every move the baby makes!


We forgot how difficult it was to change, and dress an infant, but we learned fast...real fast! 


Many items for newborn babies can be purchased second hand. This is not a bad idea for Grandparents, or parents. Equipment for babies is EXPENSIVE. You don't need the latest version.  It does need to be safe, and approved by the parents!

Boy, this came in handy, just for the comfort of your arm and baby's.(Actually it was great for our heads while taking a nap.)
Feeding time, was a cinch with this arm rest!

This little blanket was used to stimulate Wyatt, help him to reach, look at colors, focus, turn his head, etc. Getting down on the floor was no problem for us....it was getting up! It was not necessary to purchase a lot of toys for him. Actually the fewer the better(imho). 

Wyatt enjoyed grabbing onto these two things!


The diaper bag...............oh goodness.......I'm now in love with this bag!

The car seat was left here each day, to be used in conjuction with the stroller, which we kept in the car. In a few short days/weeks, though, Wyatt will graduating to the next size car seat.

Here is another piece of equipment that Wyatt used/uses when he is here.
And then there was the infamous SWADDLER....probably our most difficult challenge. I wrote about this in an earlier post! Houdini and the Swaddler

I think that the only thing that has not changed in the last 20 years, is the rocking chair, blankets, and stuffed animals..... everything else has changed...... and for the better! 

Oh yes, and babies haven't changed. They still need lots and lots and lots and lots of unconditional love and attention.

This experience brought back lots of memories with our own 3 children. 

We were blessed to have this opportunity!

Were we tired at the end of the day? Absolutely!

Would we do it again? Yes, without a doubt!

Did we pass the test of reliable and responsible child-care providers? I think so.

Things are a little different now. 

Ron and I kinda looked forward to the weekends during the months that we kept Wyatt. Now we look forward to the weekends, so that we can keep Wyatt for a few hours!