Mom's 94th Birthday

 Sunday, February 21, our family got together for Mom's 94th Birthday.  My three brothers , Thomas, Will and Steve were here with us.  Pamela, our sister from Florida, wasn't able to be with us.  We had appetizers (thanks to Will and Sooz) and wine in Mom's "gathering room" then a roast Pork dinner (thanks to our live in Chef Peter) in the dining room followed by a Whole Food's Oreo Cake (thanks to Thomas).  It was the first time since Mom's birthday last year and the Covid since we have been together as a family!!!

This past week has been a difficult one for us as Mom seems to be less and less able to differentiate from the past to the present.

Most days she doesn't recognize me as her daughter, but as the lady that works here, and she keeps asking me where I live and what company do I work for.  She can not comprehend that Peter is my husband, which causes a few uncomfortable moments when we say we are going upstairs to bed 😕.  She thinks he should sleep down stairs on the couch.  😂😂

She tries to call her mother on the phone to have her come and pick her up and take her home.  We try very hard to convince her she is home, but she doesn't believe us.  Peter and I are both working hard at trying to deal with the same questions over and over again.  We try not to tell her that her parents have passed and are in heaven, but when it is mentioned she says,  "No I just talked to my mother".

We have kept ourselves very busy working on the house.  With the exception of the curtains (There is no Prime next day delivery in Andover, Ct) the kitchen is finished.  We also finished the dining room.  Our next project is one of the bedrooms up stairs.  We are cleaning out stuff that has been sitting in there for a long time.  We will try to redo the floor (All wood floors in the whole house), paint it, and set it up as a guest room.  It keeps us busy.  Once the weather gets better we will start working out side to get the gardens back in order.

I've gotten pretty good at firing up the wood stove.  I look forward to mornings, sitting on the rocking chair in the kitchen, drinking coffee and waiting for the fire to get hot enough to close up the draft.  It's my happy place for about an hour or more.  Mom's bedroom is directly over the kitchen, so I know when she is up and getting dressed.  She never leaves her bedroom before she makes her bed !!!

We have been having dinner at 6 pm.  Our desired time is 7 and hers is 5, so we compromised.  We have convinced her it is best to go to bed at 7.  She now believes it and heads to bed as do we.  We have semi redone the room we are staying in. It had been my mom and dad's room until my dad passed away. We removed the red shag wall to wall carpet, bought a new adjustable king size bed, the one that was there was a 63 year old full bed, put down a new rug, put the TV we brought from home in the room and it is "OUR" space.  AND the bed is now big enough for Chelsea to sleep with us.  All 3 of us are happy !!!

Mom hasn't been sleeping through the night.  I get up every night at least once when I hear her on the monitor.  She has terrible pain in her legs, which wakens her, and then her mind takes over and she is so lost.  Three days ago I decided to find a way to get her to take some Ibuprofen before bed, as it helps her during the day.  She has always refused to take any medication I try to give her in the evening.  But I decided to set up the night time pills just like I do the morning pills, and now she takes them every night.  I have now had the glorious pleasure of sleeping through the night for the last three nights!!!  It really helps with my disposition !  Amen !

AND we are having a heat wave.  Every day this week we will be above freezing temperatures and NO snow in the forecast.

Keep us in your prayers, and add "Early Spring" to them!  Thanks, Sandy