Soon Sara and Lexi came home. It was great! I love kids anyways, and being such a big part of my granddaughter was awsome. Besides baby sitting periodically over the years I hadn't dealt with babies much. Sara and I was in for a treat. As I have said earlier, Sara was unsure of everything that had to do with Lexi, how she would do as a mom, what the future would bring etc... I was really surprised at how Sara took to caring for Lexi. I had told her from the beginning that she was going to be Lexi's primary care giver. I wanted to be a major part of their lives, but I did not want to be a grandparent who would raise their childs baby while they were out having fun. I tried to maintain enough distance to allow Sara room to grow. I didn't want to mother her. I did however, try to provide guidence and support. When I got home from work, I would care for Lexi while Sara napped, took care of household chores and the like. I had set up sleeping arrangements in the living room since Sara wasn't allowed to climb stairs for a while. I helped change diapers and bath Lexi. I was careful not to do too much. We went through all the emotions of new motherhood, depression, anxiaty and joy. Everytime Lexi would do something new and cute, or even not so cute we got so excited. I called my girlfriend Patty with every detail. I told everyone that would listen of our experiences. I did this throughout her life and I still do. Lexi and Sara were both healthy and doing very well. Sara soon returned to school. We have a program that provides day care for mothers who want to finish school. It just so happens that my landlady at the time was also the principal for this program. She took Sara and Lexi under her wing and helped out emensly. Come April my girlfriend, patty, her son Andy, Sara and I moved in together.This ended up being quite the adjustment for all of us. Patty had not lived with anyone, with the exception of Andy for about 8 years. Sara had a brand new baby and trying to finish school. Andy has attention deficit and was a handful. Me, I was the typical male and wanted this living arrangement to work. I got frustrated when I couldn't fix everything. At first we had alot of termoil. Don't get me wrong we had many great times too. Sara graduated from school and I felt it was time for her to go to work. After all, it was time for her to become more responsible as an adult. I felt she needed to work towards becoming self sufficiant. Sara continued to develope her mothering skills and was doing a great job. She worked part time and was extremely critical of who took care of Lexi. She would even go so far as to work around her babysitters schedule. It took her forever to finally go out with her friends. I had to really push her before she relunctantly went. I think she stayed out for about five minutes and called me 42 times. Shortly after Sara graduated she decided to move out. Sara and Lexi moved in with a friend, into a one room apartment. Shortly after that a couple of other people began to stay there also. This did not last long as the management of the apartment building felt four people and a baby was not a good situation. Sara then moved about an hour away with some other friends. This lasted for a few months. Sara didn't work and the people she was with had two kids of their own. They were good friends, just didn't work out. During this time Sara had met a guy whom she fell for. This ended up being a different situation altogether. This portion I will get back to a little later.
Lexi's development was normal. Her growth patterns and milestones came just about the right times for her age. Totally uneventful as far as her health and wellbeing was concerned. My most favorite memories are many, I will never forget the first time she smiled at me (not counting gas). I melted into the carpet. When Lexi was fussy, I would put in Roy orbison or Van Halen and sing to her. As she grew I would dance with her as well. When Lexi was teething she would sit on my lap and eat ice. She would sit on my lap and play video games. Lexi would fall asleep with me on the couch watching a race. I helped her learn to walk. Lexi and I shared her first sprinkler on the fourth of July. I thought I was the first to take her swimming, except I found out later grandma did that first. It became a joke between Sara and I that if a picture wasn't taken when grandma or I did a "first" with Lexi it didn't count. Christmas was a blast. I got Lexi her first car. The license plate plate read Lexis 1. Lexi loved to be pushed around in it. Making motor noises and all.
