I’m sad to report the passing of my Grandpa Bill, my mother’s father, on Friday, February 26, 2010.  He was 95 years old.  He was under the care of Vitas (hospice) and was very calm and comfortable, with my mother at his side, when he passed.  He had a good life, and I have many fond memories of him.  I remember walking down the street with him, and he always insisted that I walk on the inside, away from the street, and he walk on the outside.  Don’t know why that means so much to me.  My mother remembers him taking us out to eat when I was an infant, and saying that he was my first date, the first man to take me out for a meal.  He was once the Mayor of their small town of St. Anne, IL, and my uncle Steve has called him Mayor ever since.  He was my final living grandparent.  I last got to see him at Christmas time, and I got to tell him that I am pregnant.  He was very excited.  I’m sad that he won’t get to meet any of his great grandchildren.  But he’d been in a nursing home for many years, and his life had certainly deteriorated.  He’d been in and out of hospice.  We even joked that he got kicked of hospice because he was too slow to go.  Mostly I am sad for my mom.  But I am glad he was peaceful and that she was there.

I’ve been reading that I would soon be feeling the baby move.  Not sure why, but every since my Grandpa Bill took a turn for the worse (about 3 days ago or so), I had been wondering will the day he dies be the day I feel the baby?  I had some sort of feeling it would be that way. I don’t think that all of a sudden my Grandpa is coming back as my baby.  Maybe it’s just that I was feeling more tuned in.  Maybe I’d been feeling it all along.  Or maybe it was just gas.  Who knows.  But I am pretty sure I felt the baby move on Friday, the same day my Grandpa passed away.  I felt it again a little bit today.  They say it’s like fluttering, but I’m not really sure how I’d describe it.  Anyhow, I might not look big, but I am sure feeling bigger, and bloated.  I’m doing WAY better with eating and even got back into cooking a little this weekend.  I’m getting more and more excited about the baby and it’s feeling more and more real these days.  Less than two weeks and we should know the gender.  Less than two weeks and we’re half way there.  Amazing.