Our New Grandson -- Andrew Michael



Our newest grandson arrived on Wednesday, October 17, 2007.......he is perfect....wide eyed and bushy tailed the moment he entered this world. He is now two weeks old (10/31/07) and the darling of the family. His ten year old sister, Rebecca, is overjoyed to have a baby brother.....at age 10, they are mothers-in-minature....willing and wanting to help mom with the new baby. I hope that continues!


Lets flash ahead about 5 years.....Rebecca is 15 and sweet little Drew is 5! He is in that tiresome stage of "she's looking at me!!" or "she's touching me!".....the "she's looking at me" usually occurs while having breakfast....Drew has circled his plate with cereal boxes and is hunkered down behind them. What?? is he afraid that Rebecca will watch him chew? Or is it just a way to aggravate his older sister and drive his mom up-the-wall????? Who knows!

Next comes the "she's touching me" stage.....normally occurring when they are seated in the back seat of the car (where by the way, Mom and Dad can't reach him). Both are next to a window, a big nice space between them.....but if you watch closely, you'll see Rebecca reach over and poke her 5 year old brother on the arm.....and then turn back to her window, the picture of innocence. Older sisters aren't above being a little ornery once in a while.


But, as the years pass, things get better. Becca is her little brother's hero.....the one he goes to when he's in trouble.....the one who takes him trick or treating on Halloween (she loves that holiday and taking Drew around the neighborhood is as much fun for her as it is for him), and the ONE who will eventually pass judgment on any girl who is brave enough to want to date HER "little brother" (he may b 6' 2" tall, but will always be her "little brother" and girls are notoriously protective of their "little brothers".)


Drew's uncle Jeff has great plans to turn him into a place kicker for the Miami Dolphins football team. "Place kickers seldom get hurt and make lots of money"......the rest of the family doesn't give a hoot about what Drew's future occupation will be, and are so thankful to God that he was born healthy and that his mom came through the birth just fine.


By the way, in case you have a potential new mother in your future, remember this! If she isn't going to breast feed, she is going to get mighty uncomfortable in the days after the little one's birth. Years ago when my children were born, we were given pills or a shot to help dry up one's milk supply....that obviously isn't done any more. Now, non-breast feeding mothers are supposed to "tough it out" with ice packs and tight binding.

This is an old fashioned remedy....don't know where it came from, but I laughed about it when I heard it years ago.
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Buy a large head of CABBAGE.....have the new mother put a few leaves in her bra...changing the leaves several times a day. Something in the cabbage will cause the milk to dry up. Also, have her drink Sage Tea, either hot or cold. She can add honey to the tea (actually Nancy said it tastes pretty good).
I imagine that the cabbage remedy originated with the pioneers. I don't know what they did if the baby was born in the winter months...... "toughed it out" I guess.

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