Umma's World

Tomorrow our grandson Jayden ‘graduates’ from Nursery School.
In the Fall he will start Pre-K which is a full day of school, five days a week.
Baby no more, now he’s a ‘big boy’. I miss the newborn, I miss the baby, I miss the toddler.
Feeling this way about letting go of Jayden’s babyhood makes me look back in wonder at my apprehension when he was first born. I thought it would be hard to get back into the swing of things after Jayden came along, it’s been a long time since I’ve raised my own kids, and I felt so much like I was happy in so many ways to say good-bye to that time in my life. Been there. Done that. It was all so beautiful, but it was time to move on.
So when Jayden entered our lives I had a lot of trepidation about starting over.

My daughter Katie and Jayden live with us and she works full-time, so I have the honor of watching Jayden full time during the week. I felt too old to be raising another one. But Jayden has been such a Blessing to our lives.
Don’t get me wrong, there are days I am just worn out beyond belief! I really do feel too old to be keeping up with his energy and I'm very happy to see his Mommy walk in the door in the evenings! But he’s usually such a good boy, and he adds so much happiness to each and every day of my life.
It is a joy to be so much a part of Jayden's life, to watch him grow and to have been right there for his 'firsts', first words, first steps, first attempts at feeding himself, and first attempt at saying 'Grandma' (and that's how I became "Umma"!).

I feel that Jayden misses out on a lot though having Umma watch him full time.
I don’t really get to ‘spoil’ Jayden the way a grandmother should.
Jayden hears a lot of “Sit still.” ~ “Eat everything on your plate or you get no dessert.” ~ “Don’t be fighting with the other boys in school.” ~ “Be polite.” ~ “Don’t talk back to me!” I’m the ‘rules and regulations’ grandmother to Jayden because of the situation.
And with my granddaughter Mia, she hears “Oh, leave her alone, she’s not doing anything wrong” because with Mia I get to be the ‘spoil her and send her home to her parents’ grandmother. Mia gets to visit us for a short while, we get to indulge her, and then she goes home. But this is Jayden’s home, and so Jayden misses out on that special grandparent/grandchild relationship. It’s like the poor kid has two mommies. And he lives in a house-full of adults, which translates to Jayden having a LOT of bosses. It’s got to be very frustrating for the poor little guy, but I have to say, for the most part, he handles it very well. Very rarely now are there any meltdowns, not many tantrums like during his ‘Terrible Two’s’, he really tries hard to cooperate and please his Umma.

For the last four years, four months, and eight days my life has been so Blessed as my world has revolved around this little boy:


Umma's baby boy!







Happy First Birthday!


Jayden's Baptism Day!







Jayden's 2nd Birthday!









Summer fun!


Jayden turns three!


Jayden's first day of school! (Separation anxiety, more for Grandma than Jayden!)


Jayden turns four!



Umma's Boy ~ Umma's World!