Breakfast at 6:30

One of the blessings Angela offers is doing breakfast each morning when Brooke is staying overnight. I'm not a morning person AT ALL! So, she gets up with our granddaughter and fixes her a nice breakfast. Of course, Angela is a morning person, but not always quite as early a morning person as Brooke is. They have a wonderful time just the two of them, while I continue my snoozes. Of course, I get up in the middle of the night, so it evens out, I suppose. However, doing early morning breakfasts is one of the Best Things About Being Married to a T for me.

Ah, Paradise

It's ten a.m. and I'm sitting here at the computer, still in my jammies catching up on email and waiting for Brooke to wake from her morning nap. I've got a cup of tea nearby, and Angela is out doing all the shopping - you know: groceries, drug store, bank, pet food place, home depot, and anywhere else that has all the necessities. I'm so glad she likes to shop, 'cuz I do not! Oh, I'm okay with our monthly trip to the base for commissary and base exchange services, but all that other searching out all the needful things is just not my idea of fun. I'd much rather be with friends, working in the garden or yard, or playing with the granddaughter. Angela's love of the shopping aspect is just another Best Things About Being Married to a T! Don't you wish you had a shopper spouse?

Help!

It is so great to have help in the mornings. I don't mean the little stuff everyone does like pouring the other person a cup of coffee or tea. I mean the big stuff, like letting me sleep in every morning until 8. You see, Angela's a morning person, and I am NOT! The caps are justified, trust me on that. Left to my own desires, I'd likely be up til 2 a.m. and rise closer to 10, but reality does step in. I stay up til near midnight, read or write for an hour, and then go to bed. So, I generally get just under 8 hours of sleep. It fits my natural circadian rhythm. and that makes me a happier person in the morning. The baby usually arrives between 7:30 and 8 on the days we babysit (Tues, Wed and Friday). So, Angela keeps her occupied while I have my breakfast and time with the puppies. Breakfast also includes reading the paper, so it takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Because she gets up between 6:30 and 7, she accomplishes the same thing before the baby arrives. Anyway, there's nothing in the "rule book" that says she has to give up 45 minutes of her morning because I get up later than she does. She just does it because she's a great gal! There are lots of other things she does too, but some mornings, sleeping in til 8, and having the time to read the paper in peace mean more than I can say. It gives me time to really wake up, so that I can be a better grammie, and get more things done throughout the day. So, in short, here's another Best Thing About Being Married to a Transsexual. She loves all the morning time with the baby! Angela, as David, would have already been knee deep into a project, and not even in the area to help. Yes, he was a great father, but the gift of giving me the mornings to myself was not one of the things he did. So, I really appreciate Angela, and her motherly instincts all the more now.

Best Things About Being Married to a Transsexual

One of the Best Things About Being Married to a Transsexual is she's the primary babysitter for our granddaughter. You see, David wasn't around much when our daughter was a baby. She was fighting in the Vietnam War, as a Captain in the USAF. He did get home, barely, in time for the birth, but he was right back flying missions three weeks later. So, now, as Angela, she gets to do the mommy things she missed. Every step forward that B makes is also a new experience for Angela. B is a tad over 4 months now and making great strides almost daily. She's sitting up and manipulating toys. They mostly go right into the mouth. We've gone through that cuddly eat/sleep cycle when you could get all your projects done, so now we're firmly into the keep-me-entertained stage. She doesn't go long without wanting a change of activity. She loves our fish tank, being outside (although not in the stroller yet - darn), playing in front of a mirror and just babbling at us as we play with her. David was a good father when he was home, but she's an even better Grammie. First off, she's always here. I'm the one that gads about most days for meeting friends, shopping and going to the movie. I'm around as back-up and relief. That means I fill in whenever the fussies get going pretty strongly. Even then, she's standing by.

Least you think that means that all she does is baby-sit, think again. As I pointed out a few blogs ago, she remembers everything that David knew. That means she can do all the things that David did. So, currently, she is painting cupboards and wainscoting, building a new woodworking shop, and helping me decorate for the holidays. Today was icicle day. We have a 9 foot tree, so you can imagine how many icicles that's taking. Last night we put up the outside decoration - lights on the hedges and the grazing deer. Yes, I'm helper on all of those projects too, but as with babysitting, she is primary on the project. See, I have the best of all worlds. That's two of the Best Things About Being Married to a Transsexual

Doctor Visits as the Grandparents

It's pretty nice to have someone to help when you have a baby to take to doctor's appointments and shopping and such, don't you agree? So, now that she's a grandmother, I think Angela should be there for all the important facets of our granddaughter's life, especially since, she's the one who volunteered for babysitting duty. I'm just the tag along, right! You believe that don't you? Me neither. Today, the two of us took Brooke in for her shots. The staff naturally assumed that we were "dueling" grandmothers, so we got the, "isn't it nice she has both grandmothers here," bit. We just smiled. They don't know the trans angle yet. We'll see they get a copy of the Discovery Channel Documentary with us as one of the featured folks (Changing Sexes: Male to Female) so none of us are embarrassed next time. You see, neither of the parents wanted to witness their daughter getting her second series of shots. They hated going through the first round, and they think it'll be easier for me because I already went through it years ago with Aud (Brooke's Mom). Angela, as David, was off fighting in Vietnam when our daughter had to have all her shots, so she missed that whole ordeal. So, I thought it was only fair she have to suffer it this time around, don't you agree? I'm happy to report that we all survived. Brooke hardly cried, and Angela didn't faint, so all was well. She's a real trouper!