Grandbabies Far Away

What's a Grandma to do? This grandma misses her g'babies so far away in the land of Minnesota. Of course I miss my daughter and son-in-law too, but I can talk to them.
The grandbabies, Mercedes & Jakob I want to SEE, I want to CUDDLE, I want to KISS them! I want to hear their laughter. I want to BE THERE IN PERSON. I want them to KNOW me.
Beka does a great job of taking pictures. She always has her camera nearby and documents most every day for me. How big is little Sadie getting? According to the picture, she fits nicely in a box of Baby Wipes. Well, carton of wipes! Isn't she darling? Such a little pixie at almost 7 months old. Her smile could melt the hardest of hearts!

Then there is Jakob--2 1/2 and all boy, all joy, all never-ending energy! He's enjoying everything that summer in Minn. has to offer......hot, hot, hot and playing in the pool, running, jumping. He is all boy. Jakob moves at top speed. Most of his pictures involve movement. It's fun to be able to see him in the pool wearing the swim suit we got at Target when he was visiting in May. Grandpa and I are eagerly anticipating our long visit to Minnesota late September.

Do you know about Skype? (http://www.skype.com/) It's the greatest FREE thing there is for Grandparents. You need a microphone for your computer and a web cam (camera). Both can be found very inexpensively at Staples or Radio Shack. Even THIS grandma can do it. SKYPE? It is a FREE program you download and it allows you to talk to others a world away WITH VIDEO! This means I can read Jakob a book or sing him a song or just chat. Sometimes I watch him play with his trains. Once I "sat" in Beka's kitchen and chatted with her while she made banana bread. This is the 21st Century way to keep in touch with family and friends who are far away.
When Beka and Jason and Jakob were in Kiev, Ukraine for nearly a year, I could touch base with them nearly every evening...of course they were eating breakfast because they were half-way around the globe. Jakob knew who I was when I arrived for his 1st birthday since he'd seen me and heard me every day. It's the next best thing to being there. I can coo to Sadie and she giggles back. Makes having grandbabies far away not so hard on Grandma's heart.