Grand-mere

Hooray! Hooray! Grandmother is coming!

The countdown, anticipation, preparations are all coming to an end. Mother is coming on Thursday. We are all so excited to have her here that these last days are a sweet torture. We've been waiting, waiting, waiting to see her familiar face, hug her tight and smell her Momness/Grandmotherness.
She smells good, my mom.

I can't wait to show her our new life. She's never been to France and I know she's excited to see this place that's stolen us away. My secret hope is that she'll let it steal her too.

We haven't seen her in the flesh, no skype substitutes, since April 2009. Can you imagine how big the kids are going to look? We see them every day, their growth spurts only noticeable in their rapid outgrowing of clothes and the 'how high can I touch on you' height test. S used to be able to reach my chest, then my chin, and now she touches my forehead. No tippy toes! How do you prepare for that kind of change? The Middlest has stretched too and his lovely face has changed, not so much a baby anymore and more of a handsome boy. And then there's the Baby. He was only 8 months old in April 2009. Now he's nearly two.

We've gotten her room ready, fluffed her towel, bought her fan and made travel plans. The girls are going on our own adventure. Provence look out. We're going to make some signature parfum, smell the lavender and drive through hillside towns. We're even going to get her to la plage. I've bought her a colorful parasol to make the experience more pleasurable. She doesn't share my love of the sun...maybe one of the reasons she looks far younger than the numbers of her age.

So you'll forgive me if my posts slow down. I will let you know about our trip to Provence, our parents only escape to Barcelona and whatever other noteworthy things happen. But mostly I will be sitting on the terrace talking to my mom, in person and not on the phone. 

 2 more sleeps!!!!