Showing posts with label Grandma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grandma. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2014

Grandma McMurtrie

I mentioned my grandma was placed into hospice care a couple of weeks ago on the first of May, she passed away that Sunday the 4th.  My mom spent the day with her and said she really didn't respond to her all day, Mom left and my aunt Lucy was there with her when she passed about 20 minutes later.  Lucy said it was very peaceful and had she not been watching her breathing she wouldn't have known that she stopped.

It's so hard to lose people that are close to you, I feel like I've been through this way too many times.  But no matter what or how it happens, whether its something you knew was coming or it happens in an instant, it hurts and it's sad to think you will never get to talk to them again.  The selfish part of you thinks about all the things that they will miss out on that you know they would have loved to have been a part of, or you just wish they could be a part of to share in your life.  Things like watching great grandkids be added to the family, watching a grandchild graduate, grow etc.   As sad as it is to say good-bye I'm also comforted to know that she's no longer in pain.  One thing is for sure my grandma was a strong woman.  Through the past few years as her health/mobility declined she was the last person you'd hear complain.  She was also the last person to ask for help or be willing to give up the ability to do things which is probably what kept her going as long as she did.  She had a lot of pride and wasn't going to stop doing anything that she could continue to do on her own.

Grandma's Obituary

I have so many memories of a childhood filled with my Grandma & Grandpa.  Days spent on the farm, the time grandma picked me up from school in kindergarten because I vomited all over the desks..yep that happened, making us pancakes of any shape we could imagine (My favorite was the horse/cow shape), mint chocolate chip ice cream and letting us eat as much as we wanted.  I remember making towering ice cream cones with my cousins Kevin & April.  Her allowing us to have contests to see who could eat the most ears of corn during sweet corn season, being amazed at her ability to peal an apple with a knife in a huge spiral without breaking the peal, always whispering to her in the wrong ear (she lost her hearing in one ear when she was young to scarlet fever).   But always keeping us in line by threatening beatings with her yard stick, not sure anyone ever got one but I sure wasn't going to be the one to find out!  Grandma was exactly what you think of/want in a Grandma.  In her eyes we were all perfect & she was the first to tell people about her perfect grandchildren regardless of how imperfect we might actually be.  Grandma & Grandpa put photos up of all their grandchildren and great-grandchildren for grandma to see from her hospital bed before she passed, 6 kids of their own, 14 grandchildren & 13 great-grandchildren....that's a heck of a legacy when you consider that's 33 people who wouldn't exist with out the two of them.



It's so hard to say good-bye.  (thanks boys II men)  But how fortunate we all were to have someone so wonderful be a part of our lives.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Doctors, Doctors and More Doctors

Today I've been spending my day enjoying my kids in what I am considering the last day of my maternity leave.  Yes, technically I still have Friday off also.  Friday just so happens to be the day that they scheduled for Alex's referral to UofM for his kidneys.  While I am very happy to get that done and over with tomorrow I am not excited to have to drive to Ann Arbor, to UofM on my final day off.  Might as well go to work!  So Addison will be at the babysitters while Mom and I take Alex to UofM.  We first have to go to an appointment in imaging for an ultrasound and then we are going to see a doctor from the Pediatric Nephrology Clinic who hopefully will give us all the answers to what the heck we are dealing with.  As much as I despise UofM, there is no denying that when you have a sick kid, or a medical issue, it's the place to be.  Hoping his turns out to be a non-issue but we shall see.


Speaking of medical issues, I got news today that my grandma (79, this summer) was placed in Hospice care this week.  :(  About 3 weeks ago she was hospitalized for a week, to put it simply, her body is failing her.  Shes been unable to walk for the better part of a year but recently things have gone downhill quickly.  Most likely due to her inability to be mobile.  She was sent home from the hospital on oxygen to help her heart about a week before Easter.  My family has been amazing in stepping up to help take care of her and keep someone there with her around the clock so that my Grandpa can get a break and get out in the fields to get some work done.  It's so hard to watch someone you love waste away and lose the ability to care for them self even worse when they are still in their right mind.  As hard as it will be to lose her I know that being stuck in a chair now hospital bed in pain is also no way to live.  I feel so bad for my Grandpa I can only imagine how hard this is for him.

I just love this picture, I feel like I have a lifetime of memories of my Grandma, I'm glad I have at least a few photos of her with the kids to show them and share my memories someday.
When I went to the hospital to visit her while she was there I took the kids but had planned on letting them stay with my step-dad in the waiting room while I visited to keep the calm in the room.  The second I walked in alone my grandma asked me where that baby was.  So in came the kids.  Can't deny Grandma any baby snuggling.
holding Alex when he was a week old

Holding Alex again at the hospital 
With a Newborn Addison in 2010

Helping Grandpa Pick on a 1 year old Addison

Bad photo skills but Addison's First Christmas

Love these two, they celebrated 60 years of marriage this past February!


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wordish Wednesday Family Time

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for me, not that I accomplished a ton, but I was on the go for most of it.  Saturday I joined my mom & step dad at their house where they were having his family over for their monthly birthday celebration.  (They get everyone together once a month to celebrate anyone's birthday who was born that month, from grandparents to grandkid's and soon to be great-grandkids, though technically I guess Addison would be a great grandkid.)











We had a nice dinner, some cake and ice cream and a lot of time playing with the kids, chickens and spending time with Grandma.  A nice day of family time!



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