Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old. ~Mary H. Waldrip

My little side kick and I are back from our trip to La Jolla. We spent the remainder of the week with Caitlin, Danny and precious little Charlie. We finagled an invite under the guise of "helping." Well, that is not entirely true. They wanted us to stay but the helping part ... that was my intention, however, they hardly needed my help. Caitlin and Danny are already amazing parents. No exaggeration. Very little rattles them and they are embracing every,single, solitary aspect of parenthood. They are a fabulous team and Charlie certainly completes them. As for Charlie, what can I say except that she is perfect. Just beautiful. She has taken to nursing effortlessly. So much so, that she came home on Monday weighing 6lbs.10oz and today, at her follow up appointment, she was 7lbs 8 1/2ounces! What a little porker. The McAuliffe family of three are going to do just fine. More then fine. They are and will be magnificent. We all wish we were closer in distance but something tells me we will be taking alot of road trips in the future. And Miss Zoey, she was such a trooper. Laid back as usual. Adapted to her porta-crib and the change to her daily routine with no problem whatsoever. She did have an off day on Thursday though. I was concerned something was really off. My mind goes to crazy places whenever she is not herself. I do not think I will ever not go to those places with this child. Ever. Poor little love, cried for an entire hour straight in the late afternoon and, the thing is, Zoey NEVER cries. I still am not sure what was up but today she seemed more like her happy little self again. The week also proved to be a real growth spurt for her as well. Not physically but on a cognitive level. As I told you and now you can see for yourself in this little video, she signs baby like crazy. She claps in her modified way. She puts her hand and pinky up for I love you. She places her hand on her head for daddy and a few times repeated the sign, or her version of, thank you. Mind you, these are all prompted but she is at least doing a really fantastic job of imitating. Some signs will end up being modified versions of some kind or another due to the absence of use of her left hand. So, to me, considering all that Zoey has been through, this stuff is truly mind blowing to watch evolve. Mark and the boys came down late yesterday to get us. They went to the beach with Danny until into the evening and then we had a late dinner on our last night together. Perfect ending to a perfect week. A week just enjoying each others company. We had a blast watching Zoey doing her thing. I savored each moment with my little grandbaby and marveled as I watched my amazing daughter step into this next chapter of her life with such grace and beauty. Love you Caitlin and Danny. We are so, so very proud of you.

*If you want to watch the video of Zoey, don't forget to scroll down and pause the blog music.