Grilled Grandma: Jules

How many children do you have? We have two. Our daughter, Tracy, is 26 and our son, Andy, is 24.

How many grandchildren? What are their ages? We have three grandchildren. Tracy and her husband have Felicity (2 1/2) and Hadalye (6 months). Andy and his wife have Jack (1 year old on March 4th).

Any great grandchildren? Oh noooooooo.

What do your grandchildren call you? There's a little story here. When my daughter got pregnant my first reaction was.....I'm too young to be called Grandma! I decided that my grandchildren would call me GG, which stands for Gorgeous Grandma. Hehehe. I didn't actually come up with this, I heard another young grandma call herself this and thought it was cute.
 
Other than the initial elation, what was your first concern upon hearing you would be a grandmother? I honestly didn't have any concerns, just unbelief that I was actually going to have a grandchild. Then the long wait began. It seemed like forever until the first one was born. Then before I knew it, we had three.
 
How often do you get to see your grandchildren? Since we all have homes on the same 100 acres, I am fortunate to see them every day. I am so blessed to have them so close.
 
What is the best thing about being a grandma? The best thing about being a grandma is in their eyes I am soooo cool.

What is the most challenging part of being a grandma? The most challenging part for me is not giving in to their every command. For the "serious" things I stand strong. But for those little things that it really doesn't matter GG let's them do/have it.
 
Describe a recent time that one (or more) of your grandchildren made you laugh out loud. Each of them makes me laugh in their own way. Hadalye has the biggest smile ever and I can't help but smile back at her. Jack makes the funniest faces. He squishes up his little pug nose and laughs. He cracks me up every time. Felicity says the funniest things. Sometimes I know what she is saying but keep asking her to repeat herself just because the way she says it makes me laugh.

What is your favorite thing to do with grandchildren who visit your house? My favorite time with them is snuggle time in the rocker. I realize that they won't let me do that for long so I take advantage of every moment I get to rock them.

What is your favorite thing to do when visiting grandchildren at their house? I love when Felicity has new things to show me in her room. With her it's usually not a new toy but new clothes. At Christmas time we would ask her what she's getting and her response was, "socks, undies and tank tops."  She has more clothes and shoes than Oprah.

How do you maintain the bond between yourself and your grandchildren between visits? We really don't have too much of "between visits" time. I recently was gone for a week and a half and we got to Skype with them. They are getting pretty good at Skype since both their Daddies are truck drivers and that's how they keep in touch.

What do you most want to pass along to your grandchildren? The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

What is one word you hope your grandkids think of when they think of you? How about two words: Unconditional Love

What is one thing you wish you had learned earlier as a grandparent? I've only been a grandparent for two and a half years so I probably haven't learned those lessons yet. Give me a few more years and I'm sure there will be much more I have learned about being a grandma.

What one bit of advice would you give a new grandma? Savor every minute with them, they grow up way too fast. When I look back I realize how fast our own children have grown up. It seems that with grandchildren time goes by even faster.
 
Head on over to Little Houses in the Village, where Jules blogs about "sharing 100 acres with my family."