Hi everyone, welcome back to No Manual MomCast,
where this is a place for moms to feel connected,
feel like they're not alone, and we're just talking
about the reality of motherhood. Today we have
a really, really special guest, super close to
my heart, Michael's grandma, my husband Michael,
Michael's grandma who raised him, Sharon Bauer.
And Sharon, would you like to introduce yourself
just a little bit? I'm in my mid -70s now. I
have four children, nine grandchildren, and two
great -grandchildren. That's great. Awesome.
Well, we always like to start all of our episodes
with our mom moments of the week. And really,
this is something just, it could be super random,
it could be good, it could be bad. But Erica,
do you want to start with yours? Sure. So this
week... We like got an email from our HOA that
there was going to be a concert in the park.
And we're like, oh, that sounds really fun. We
should go. So we like get everyone packed up
in the stroller, everything like that. We walked
to the park that we thought it was at. Definitely
was not at that correct park. So like, cool,
cool, cool. We like pull up the email, figure
out our mistake. Okay. The park that it is at
is like a 30 minute walk, but it's like a five
minute drive. So we're like, okay, we're just
going to walk home, get in the car. Everything
is going to be fine. Then. we're also potty training
Lloyd's. We're like, this is probably a good
place. Like if anything happens, like it's a
park, it's not a big deal. Um, but in the five
minute drive between our house and this other
park, he pees in his car seat. So like the second
that we get out of the car, we're like in the
parking lot, pulling down his pants, trying to
get fresh pants. And then we also realized that
going to a concert in the park with just the
two of us and two small children. terrible idea
uh because lloyd of course is just like trying
to run away and trying to go on stage to play
the instruments as he does and you know we're
trying to take care of zeta we're trying to get
food all the things so uh next time we go i think
we'll have grandparents with us or you know somebody
else at least a third person a third adult to
help right yeah you're like i need one more set
of hands yeah yeah it sounded like a really good
idea when we were like let's go and It did not
turn out the way we expected. Yeah. But it was
fun. It just, you know. You know, it's all just
memories for you guys. Maybe not great memories.
Lloyd had fun. So that's, you know. Yeah. We
can't be that upset. Probably wore him out for
the day. Exactly. Yeah. Nice. Well, my mom moment
actually was not this week. It was probably like
two weeks ago. So Colt loves. eggs in general
so scrambled eggs he loves cooking eggs in his
play kitchen all the things egg related egg bites
from Starbucks he talks about those often so
every morning when we make scrambled eggs we
let him pick out the eggs that he wants us to
cook for him so he picks out two eggs out of
the container and then he carries them over to
the stove for us and so I let him do that this
was This was after a really long night, too,
where it was just like I was up with Cruz all
night long, it felt like. And I was already just
so tired. And so I'm like, OK, cool. Like, yeah,
grab your eggs, bring them over. And then there
was like something that scared him. I don't know
what it was, a loud noise or what. And he just
like chucked the eggs onto the ground because
he was so scared. And then that like. It frightened
him because the eggs broke open and he didn't
know what happened. So then he's like crying
a ton. And then I'm like, it's okay, buddy. It's
okay. But then I'm like, I got to clean up eggs
off the ground, which is like not a really fun
thing to clean. Like it's not just liquid. It's
like sticky and gross. And Colt wants to help
me clean them up. And I'm like, nobody let mommy
clean these raw eggs up. But he just wanted,
I mean, he's at that stage where he wants to
help with everything, which I love. But there's
some things where it's just like it's just going
to be easier if I just do this right now and
you just watch or you go do something else. But
it just I mean, overall, it was a funny moment.
But like in in the time. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like
stressed and tired and then these broken eggs
on the ground. But overall, it was funny because
it just like I wish. I had a video of it because
something startled him and all he knew to do
was just like chuck the eggs. Love it. Yeah.
So that's my mom moment. Sharon, can you think
of anything that you want to share? Yeah, I would
have so many as a mom, but I'm thinking of being
a great grandma. Yeah. And today, can I cry?
Of course you can. Today, Colt took his pacifier
out of his mouth. crawled up on my lap and he
kissed me on the cheek and that just was so sweet
i i mean i haven't seen him since february yeah
so we don't we talk often yeah we see each other
on uh on our phones but To have him just crawl
up on my lap and give me a kiss. Because many
times he just tells me to move out of the way
and get out of there. It's also a stage he's
in right now. Tells everyone to move. Lloyd likes
to just push me sometimes. I don't know where
you want me to go. And where did you learn that?
Oh, that's so sweet. That makes me so happy.
Yeah, made me happy. He's such a sweet boy. I
love that. I'm so happy that you're joining us
today because you have just such a different
perspective of motherhood. And that's because
you not only raised your own kids, but you also
raised your grandkids, which one of them is my
husband. So that is just super special and dear
to my heart. And I think you have a lot of wisdom
to share. So really, first of all, would you
want to share kind of a little bit of your backstory
and how you became a mom and then how you became
the grandma who raised her grandkids? Yes. Well,
I became a mom. I'm not even going to give you
the date because my daughter would probably be
upset with me. But a few years ago, and I had
two daughters. My first husband left me when
my second daughter was four months old. So that
was a really tough time. And then I met my second
husband, which I certainly never thought I would
remarry. And he had two boys. And blending our
families was a lot of work. It was a lot of work.
Because little girls sit and they play and they
clean up their toys. And little boys don't do
that. And it's okay. And I finally, my pastor
actually said to me one day, do you want a happy
family or a clean house? And I thought I want
a happy family. Because I said to him, I'm struggling
with this. It's been really difficult. At that
time, they were 10. six and two and a half and
so uh it was a lot of work getting them all going
together and our oldest child was deaf my my
stepson was deaf so I had been taking sign classes
and I was really blessed that this lady who was
deaf and taught sign language She had her daughter
-in -law call me one day and say, why aren't
you in the class? You need to be in the class.
You've got this new deaf child. And I said, well,
I also have this three -year -old that has horrible
asthma, and she's sick a lot. And then she would
get ear infections and strep. And she said, then
come to my house every Tuesday morning. And so
we did. We dropped the kids at school, and I
took Sarah, and we went to Bunny White's house.
And she taught me sign language, and she let
Sarah play. And it was beautiful, just beautiful.
So I feel like it was a gift from God that I
learned to sign so quickly because I hadn't signed
before that. I ended up being an interpreter
at an elementary school for about, I think, about
15 years. And then at the same time was teaching
Sunday school and working in children's ministries
and running the preschool department. And then
finally got a job. I didn't think you should
get paid to work in a church, but it was kind
of nice. And so then my background for the last...
probably 25 years has been in children's ministry.
And I just love it. I think I'm built to be a
preschool parent. I know that's my job. It's
my calling. But Dick and I have been married.
I think 46 years, we figured out. Yeah. Wow.
A long time. But then along the way, our oldest
son, the one that was deaf, he and his girlfriend
got pregnant, and they had this adorable little
boy named Michael. And we committed ourselves
that day when he was born that we would, excuse
me, that we would always be there for him, no
matter what. And we signed his parents up for
parenting classes, and, of course, they wouldn't
go. And it wasn't that they were abusive. They
were just very neglectful of him. And it just
continued and continued. And Dick and I even
went up the year before he started kindergarten.
We went to his house, and we would read him stories,
get him to bed, because we knew they didn't put
him to bed. He'd fall asleep wherever he was,
even no matter what time it was. But we said,
we want to help you, you know, train your child
to go to bed. And so we worked on that for a
while. And then the parents separated. And at
that moment we knew we had to step in and do
something. We had, gosh, it's hard thinking back
on all this. We had two attorneys. that people
had told us about. One was a man who was a Christian,
who was very gentle, very kind, and very fair.
The other one was a lady who the people said
is a Christian, but she's a very hard nose, she
works very hard, she will win this for you. And
we thought, oh gosh, okay, what do we need to
do? And then we realized we needed the fair man.
We needed to be fair in this. So we went to meet
with this attorney. And we wanted to make sure
our son got 50 % of the time because then we
knew we would get 50 % of the time. So at that
meeting, he says to us, do you want to apply
to get the kids? And we said, can we do that?
And he goes, of course you can. And I said, yes,
we would love to. I don't think we have a chance.
Well, within six weeks, we had custody of both
of our grandchildren, which he said is a gift
from God because this does not happen. It's always
such a long process. I know, I know. Even the
judge said to us, you have an uphill battle to
find here. And we were shocked. But it was almost
like they said, we'll let you keep them, but
we want to take them back when we want them.
So we had like joint custody. We had total physical
custody and they had joint legal custody. But
written in there was we didn't have to ask permission
for anything at school, any doctors, anything,
which worked out to be to our advantage. We really
thought the mom would get her act together and
come and take care of the kids, but she didn't.
Now, Michael and Michaela are five years apart.
Michaela was only one when we got her. Michael
was six. And before that, Michael was at our
house most of the time. His parents would drop
him off to go grocery shopping, and we would
see him maybe three days later. Wow. Which, you
know, we loved it. We loved having him. He was
so fun. But at the same time, we wanted them
to be good parents. We wanted to help them and
role model for them and teach them. It just was
not working. So we got full custody of them,
and we loved it. It was just unreal. It was a
lot of work because we were older, but we just
had so much help. Both of his aunts, our daughters,
were so involved in their lives, and so many
friends who were so involved in their lives that
it really helped us out. obviously all of this
was not in the plan for you guys raising your
grandkids. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Um, what do you
feel like was the hardest part at the beginning
of the process of, of bringing in Michael and
Michaela? What do you feel like was the hardest
part, whether it was like maybe putting strain
on your marriage or. I didn't, I didn't see that
because we both had agreed that this was. It
was our job. That's what we're supposed to do.
I don't know what would be the hardest part.
I mean, some of our friends our age were doing
different things, but we couldn't go, which was
fine because we found ourselves. Having best
friends and doing things with families who had
kids the same age as Michael and Michaela. Yeah.
Which was interesting. I mean, our kids, our
friends were 20 years younger than us. 15 years
younger than us. And, I mean, we had a birthday
party for Michaela when she was four. And we
had all these families. Moms come with their
little ones. And we had lunch. We had a bounce
house. And then they all stayed for dinner and
called their husbands to come over after work.
So that's just the kind of house we had. We had
people in and out. It was just amazing. We just
feel like we've been blessed by these little
ones who are all grown up. Yeah, I think one
thing, like when I started dating Michael, one
thing that I always noticed about your house
was that it was always an open -door policy.
And that is something that Michael and I want
to model our family after is because it just,
it was always so welcoming and you could come
and stay as long as you wanted. And there was
never a time that we felt like, like that I felt
like I had to leave because you guys always just
welcomed me in. And I think that is representative
of who you are, of who you are as a mom, of who
you are as a grandma. And I'm just so grateful.
for the fact that Michael, I mean, I'm so grateful
for the story that Michael has had because he
was raised by you rather than his parents. And
I can't even imagine, and I don't want to imagine
the man maybe Michael would be today if he lived
with his parents. And I don't think I would probably
know him or be married to him. It was difficult.
He was supposed to have a visit with his mom
because I asked the court if I could set up the
visits for them so it would be convenient for
the kids if they had things to do. And so for
the first year, they could come. Well, one came
on Wednesday, one came on Thursday, and then
they had every other Saturday. And half the time
they wouldn't show. And his mom would call at
the last minute because we had a relay telephone.
She would call and say, oh, I'm getting my hair
done. I can't come today. Or I'm downtown with
my friends. I can't come today. And sometimes
she wouldn't call. And so Michael would just
be so sad. What do you feel like you would say
in those times? I would say to him, sometimes
mommies make difficult decisions that make you
feel sad. But you know we love you. And then
it got where she would come and he would go in
his bedroom because his tummy hurt. And then
we decided at one point where our home needed
to be a safe home. So we would only meet her
at McDonald's or at the park. And so that's what
we would do. We would go to the park. Even we
had her parents up. We had her aunts and uncles.
They would come up. We'd go to the park. We'd
barbecue or bring sandwiches or stuff. And Michael
usually did not feel good. And so it just got
where we just slowly, if they didn't call, we
didn't call them to say, do you want to come
this week? Yeah. And it got further and further
apart. And then at one point, I think the last
time we went to court, because we went three
times. The last time, Michael was sixth grade,
Michaela was kindergarten, so she was over five,
so she went to mediation also. And she said,
I said, what did the lady ask you? And she said,
she asked me if I could sign, because that was
one complaint from the mom that we didn't teach
the children to sign. But we did. And she said,
I signed to her, do you want to play? And she
said, oh, that's really good. And she goes, Grandma,
she didn't know what I said. So that was really
cute. But, you know, it was just by God's grace
that we hung on to them. That probably was my
biggest fear in the beginning because, oh, my
gosh, she called me one time because she was
mad I hadn't given Michael a haircut or I hadn't
clipped his fingernails. And I called the attorney
and I said, okay, this was a complaint. What
do I need to do? Need to do. And then that call
would cost me $250. Oh, my gosh. And so Dick
says, you've got to stop this. This is too much.
Just afraid that the court was going to. Yeah,
that would be something I would lose the kids
over. Wow. So. Yeah. But, yeah, I can't even
imagine life without them in our home. Yeah.
And half the time, I would have one of my children
living with us, like Allison. Sarah was there.
And then Sarah and Allison got an apartment.
And then Sarah gets married. I think Mikayla
was two. And then when they were graduating from
college, Allison had worked full time and then
gone to college. And Sarah had gone straight
through college. And Allison realized that Sarah
was going to graduate before her. So she asked
if she could move back home, sell her car, and
move back home. finished school. So they graduate
the same time. So I said, sure. So then, you
know, she was always there. She was best friends
with those kids. And as you know, she has such
a great relationship with Michael. Yeah. Yeah.
It really is such a beautiful, I mean, just all
around. You can see God in every piece of it.
I don't know how people do it without God. I
don't know. No. At all. Yeah. We've talked about
that all the time. Yes. Yeah. So you mentioned,
You have your stepson, and that's Michael's dad.
How do you wrestle with this, I love my son,
and I want him to make good decisions, but he's
not making good decisions, and I love my grandson
as well. How do you wrestle with that balance?
We talked to him many times. When the kids would
go to school, we'd go take him out for lunch
or something and just try to... pour into him
you know remember when you did this remember
when and just good things in his life and he
was an auto body painter we had helped him get
through college in this trade school and he did
a beautiful job I mean the the bosses would tell
us how great he was at painting cars and so we
would talk about that and he just didn't care
It was so sad, so, so sad. And he's an adopted
child. Both of our boys were adopted. And he
found his biological sister at one point, and
she lived in Los Angeles, and we knew he was
from the L .A. area. And he met her and got to
know her a little bit, but there wasn't any bonding
there at all either. He ended up dying at 44.
I believe he was 44. He'd gotten into drugs and
alcohol. He and his wife were divorced. He had
remarried, ended up divorcing that person, but
had two more children. And we see those two daughters,
two little granddaughters, occasionally, not
often, but we see them occasionally. We try to
keep in contact with them. When he died, the
doctor told us we needed to have his medical
files opened, his adoption papers, because he
had arteriosclerosis. And so we did and found
out that all the kids needed to be tested. We
had that done, genetic testing. And the daughter
we were raising, the granddaughter, has it. So
she's been on a statin medicine since she was
17. So we tell her she needs to be careful what
she eats. She's slender, so she's cute as can
be. But, yeah, it was very hard. At one point,
I said to him, we already had the two kids we
had, and he had the other two kids, and I said,
you need to make a choice here. Drugs or your
children? What do you want? And he said to me,
drugs. That just broke me. But all I could do
is pray for him. I couldn't change his life.
I couldn't change anything that he was doing.
All I could do was pray for him and pray for
his children. What has been, obviously, you raising
Michael and Michaela specifically, and then their
dad, kind of like separate, I guess, trying to
separate them. What did that do for your mental
health? Do you feel like that was a really difficult
separation? I think because I had really good
Christian friendships, women in my life who were
strong mentors, I think that really helped me
balance things out, that I could talk to them.
I don't know how I would do it without the Lord
in my life and the strong people that I got to
be around. Do you feel like people around you
judged you in any sense, raising your grandkids,
maybe what your story was and how, I don't know,
how they came into your household? Do you felt
any judgment from anyone or do you feel like
you mostly had support around you? I don't think
so. I think I mostly had support. That's great.
I don't think I had people in my life that were
that caliber that would have done that. I mean,
I had... I had some people say, are you sure
you want to do this? Isn't this too hard? Well,
what are you going to do? Turn them out in a
while? I'm not going to say no in this case.
Oh, sorry. They're here. They're ours. Obviously,
I know a bit of Michael's childhood. Do you feel
like it was more difficult to raise your own
kids or your grandkids? Oh, my gosh. Probably
my own kids. Really? Yeah, I thought Michael
and Michaela were pretty easy. Really? But, you
know, I would say to Michael, okay, I've been
through this four times already, so you're not
getting away with it. Yeah, you're like, your
tantrums are nothing. Yeah, compared to your
Uncle Tim, you know. No, I... I think my own
kids. I think I'm a great preschool mom and maybe
early elementary. But then I think I struggle
through those teen years. Teen years are hard.
What's been the hardest part or what was, I guess,
the hardest part about the teen years for you?
Oh, my gosh. Just the decisions that they would
make knowing that they were wrong, but they didn't
care. Just saying. I know mom said no, but I'm
going to do it anyway. And then we talk about
that afterwards. They say like your frontal lobe
is not developed. I think it's like a little
earlier for girls. But it's like your mid -20s.
Yeah, mid -20s for both. And I look back on my
childhood a lot. And if I am talking about a
mistake I made or whatever, I always blame it
on my frontal lobe. I can say as an actual adult
now who my brain is fully developed from what
they tell us, I can even look back into my early
20s and be like, things make more sense now,
just like random things make more sense now than
they did when I was 21. And the decisions I'd
make now are so different than what I did at
that time. And just your process. Yeah, how you
think about things, the risk -benefit. Yeah.
Analysis, you know, that goes through your brain.
It just doesn't happen when you're in your teens.
No, not at all. Well, the one thing that I always
thought was positive was I would give them advice
about something and then later on overhear them
telling someone the same advice that we've given
them. And I would think, well, they weren't listening.
Yeah. I'm just not sure. Yeah. They may not always
do what I say, but they hear it. Yes, they do.
Yes. They might not take the advice, but they
know what it is. They'll give it to other people,
though. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, so now you
guys recently moved to Tennessee. Mikayla, Michael's
younger sister, lived with you guys until not...
Too, too long ago. Until she was 22. Yeah, until
she was 22, which really, she's 23. She's 24.
24 now. Yeah. And so you guys are now empty nesters.
Yes. Which, like, that's a whole nother new business.
How much of your entire marriage up until two
years ago, it sounds like, you've had kids in
your house then? A very long time. That's a long
time. Did you ever have a gap in between? No.
No. There was no gap. No. Well, Michaela moved
into an apartment when she was 22. She was in
college. And we thought, okay, this is going
to be interesting. I mean, she was still in Sacramento.
She was still very close to us. She still came
for lunch almost every day because her job was
really close to our home. And so we saw her all
the time. It's been very different. The other
thing I think the adjustment for us is we've
never hung around with people in their mid -70s.
So even finding a church and now... Like, these
people are old. What is going on? I think, okay,
Dick, what are we going to do? We've got to get
out there and make some friends. Then I had knee
surgery shortly after we moved there, knee replacement
revision. So that's been holding me back. I've
got blood clots, so that set me back. Now we're
ready to go back home and maybe start our new
life together. Find your community. Yeah. As
empty nesters. And I'm sure it's different, too.
Like, I mean, you guys have been raising kids
for so long, just you and Dick. Yeah. And now
it's like. Well, now you guys have to get to
know each other in a new. I know. A new. It's
going to be different for us. Yeah, stage of
life. And in a new place, too, that we don't
really know. We're ready to explore. We just
haven't been able to get out and go places and
go to all these places in Tennessee that we want
to visit. And now I think we'll be doing that.
Yeah. What was the biggest challenge for you?
in raising your grandkids? Because we, I mean,
we talked about this was never in the plan for
you to raise your grandkids. What do you feel
like was the biggest challenge for you in raising
them? Staying consistent. It's, you know, you
got to be consistent with your children. And
I knew that as a mom, but feeling a little sorry
for them because they didn't have the life that
they should have had. And I think trying to not
give in and just let it go I couldn't do that
and I wanted to so badly sometimes you just you
have to hold them accountable no matter what
their age is uh for what you know for what they
can understand and it was it was difficult to
do that because I felt bad I knew that Michael
had been exposed to so many things that were
so inappropriate and I would just pray that God
would take those things out of his mind and that
as he grew that he would have really strong youth
ministry people around him, and he did. I was
so grateful for that because those people could
feed into his life and help him. But just staying
consistent with them and not feeling sorry for
them. They didn't need me to feel sorry for them.
They needed me to love them and guide them. Was
it hard missing out on being a grandma? So I
know when I talk to, like, my mom and my mother
-in -law and, you know, my dad and father -in
-law, they love so much that they get to spoil
the kids and they get to just do the fun things.
Like, obviously, there's a little bit of discipline
if they're babysitting or something, but it's
mostly just, like, the fun parts. And then they
hand them back and go sleep. So you kind of just
skipped the fun parts of being a grandma. I know.
You do. You do. Was that hard? Like, did you
have to grieve the fact that this part was gone?
I think I did. And then also trying to. my other
grandchildren. Sure. Because I wanted, Michael
was the first, Michaela was the second, but then
there's all these other ones that came after.
Yeah. And wanting to be their grandparent and
love on them and at the same time having to parent
these two, it was, it's a difficult situation,
but we just, I mean, we tried our best. I'm sure
we failed many times, but we tried our best to
just do what was best for these kids. And we
always took them everywhere with us, wherever
we went. And they're close to all their cousins.
They love their cousins and love having them
come and visit. I think it was difficult for
a couple of family members that wanted me to
leave those kids at home and come and be with
their children. Sure. And I could not do that.
I had to say that I can't do that. But all in
all, it takes a village, and we had a big village.
We were very fortunate that if Dick and I needed
to go away for a weekend or do something just
for us, we always had someone who was able to
stay with the children who we trusted and who
loved them, and we knew we'd take care of them.
That's awesome. What was your biggest joy? in
raising your grandkids? Oh, my gosh. Oh, my word,
there's so many. You can say a few, too. You
know, just seeing them in school and singing,
you know, singing. They love to be on stage doing
something, you know, with their talent shows,
you know. Michaela and her little friends would
all buy the same outfit, dress up, and do the
talent show. And then Michael did one, and they
did baseball uniforms and sang this baseball
song. You know, Coach Let Me In is what it is.
I'd love to see a video of that, please. I love
it. It was so fun. We enjoyed that so much. And,
you know, teaching them to ride a bike. And you're
trying to run down the street, and you're in
your 40s. But it was so fun doing that with them.
And just even when they got in trouble for something,
you're helping them work through that or solve
it. Yeah. I'm sure, yeah, like you mentioned
that it was harder to. raise your own kids. Second
time around, it's like you have more experience.
Even when you have a second child, don't you
feel like you know so much more? And you're just
a little more confident. Absolutely. I didn't
kill the first one, so I feel good about the
second one. And it's okay if they cry. That's
why they communicate too. It's good developmentally
for them, in a sense. I know. So one of the things
Stuart and I have talked about with having kids
is one of the joys is getting to experience life
through them oh yes right so like the example
i always go to is lloyd loves lights so much
so last year for the fourth of july we made sure
he got to see the fireworks and he had just like
the most joy in his face and it was so much fun
for us because we got to watch that and i feel
like as i hear you talk about the joys of raising
your grandkids it's just that again it's like
oh i got to experience yes these joys through
even more kids yeah in my house of you know seeing
them experience life and all these things are
like kind of boring once you're an adult aren't
boring anymore because you have this kid to experience
it with that's right and you want to share those
activities yep yeah that's so fun oh my god so
what is something you would tell someone who
is either maybe considering taking in their grandkids
or is actively parenting their grandkids, have
them in their house? Well, hopefully they have
Christ in their life first. And then just don't
have expectations that are going to be so big
that you can't meet them or they can't meet them.
That you make sure you spend quality time with
them and make sure it's going to work out for
you and your family. You don't want to take them
in and then regret it because it is a lot of
work. But you have to know that this is the best
thing for your child, your grandchild, and for
you. Yeah, yeah. And just swarm people around
you that you love and want to be a part of these
children's lives. I think that's so important.
Yeah, that's great. Well, yeah, I mean, obviously,
like I said, you're so special and dear to my
heart because I probably wouldn't. Be here, married
to Michael, and we wouldn't have our two little
kids if it weren't for you stepping in, you and
Dick stepping in and raising Michael and Michaela.
And he wouldn't be the man and father he is today
without you guys. So I'm just super appreciative
and grateful for who you are and the way that
you stepped in. put your life on hold in a sense
to raise your grandkids. So thank you for all
that you've done. Oh, you're welcome. Well, we
like to close out every episode with our wins
of the week. Erica, do you want to go ahead and
share your win of the week first? Sure. Lloyd
is in a stage where he really loves airplanes
and he always points them out and it's really
fun. And we live pretty close to a couple of
like small air parks. So Stuart had the idea
that we should have, you know, pack a picnic
and go watch airplanes take off while we eat
lunch. So we get everyone packed up and we tried
to find a spot and we just like couldn't find
a good spot. And we finally found a spot that
was reasonable, except for that there was like
a tree right in the way. And it was just one
of those things where it wasn't working out how
Stuart and I had imagined it at all. But we're
like the few planes that are taking off and that
are like blocked by this tree. We're like pointing
out to Lloyd and like, look, it's an airplane.
And we're just sitting there eating, and we're
also trying to teach him sign language. And just
out of the blue, he wasn't saying anything. He
just, like, said it and signed happy. And then
he kept eating, and it was just the sweetest
thing in the world. We had this vision of how
this day was supposed to go. Didn't work out
at all. But he was so happy that we were just
sitting there together, watching cars and airplanes,
even if the view was terrible. Oh, that's so
sweet. Yeah, and he's also never signed or said,
happy like at least without prompting without
prompting yeah usually it's like he's clearly
practicing his words or something like that whereas
like this time it was clearly that he was communicating
that he was happy it was just so sweet and one
of those times you're like oh we're not doing
a terrible job as parents oh that's so so sweet
i love that My win of the week, so we've been
dealing with just sickness after sickness in
our house. And I think it's from Sunday school.
I don't know. I mean, we're not around a bunch
of other kids all the time, so I don't know where
Colt keeps getting all these sicknesses from.
But he had croup a couple weeks ago, and then
that kind of turned into he had a sinus infection
and an ear infection. all that to say sleep has
been just like non -existent in our house. Um,
because I mean, finally, once we figured out
he had a sinus infection and ear infection, we
were like, okay, that makes sense why he's like
waking up screaming and inconsolable. But so
we finally got him on some antibiotics, but like
two nights ago we get him down for bed. And I
mean, pretty much every night. Colt wakes up
in the middle of the night and Michael has been
going in there and like pretty much sleeping
on the recliner with him for the rest of the
night. Or they go down and sleep on the couch
for the rest of the night because Colt, once
you get him back to sleep, just putting him back
in his bed is like impossible pretty much. And
so the other night, yeah, we put him down at
like eight o 'clock, go to bed eventually. And
I mean, we go into the night with the mindset
of like, okay. it's not going to be a good night's
sleep. And we know that. We have a newborn too.
So it's like, you know, it's not ever going to
be a great night's sleep right now. But we woke
up at like 6 .30 and checked the monitor and
Colt was still sleeping. And I was feeding Cruz
at this point. And so I like just was looking
at the monitor. And at one point at like 6 .30,
Colt like sits up in the crib. He like sits there
for a minute and then he lays back down and goes
back to sleep until 7 in the morning. Michael
woke up at like 6 .45 and he looks at the monitor
and he's like, is Colt alive? And I was like,
is Colt? Yes. I was like, he's. He's breathing.
He's fine. I saw him sit up. Michael's like,
oh my gosh, I just got a full night's sleep.
And I was like, when was the last time that happened?
Yeah, exactly. And so that's my win of the week
is that we got one. I mean, I didn't sleep the
whole night through because I was up feeding
the baby a lot. But even just having one kid
wake you up throughout the night instead of two
makes a big difference. It just was a game changer.
And I was like, I don't know what we did. I mean,
I think that he's getting like better from his
sicknesses. But the next day I was like, we're
going to do everything the same. I was like,
when it comes to what he eats before bed, what
pajamas he's wearing, what books we read, if
he takes a bath or not. I was like, let's do
everything the same. And we did pretty much do
everything the same other than the pajamas because
he got food all over them. And then he didn't
sleep through the night, the next night. But,
you know, I don't know what we did, but it was
a win just that one night. It was great. Yeah.
Sharon, what about you? I think my win is getting
to come and meet Cruz. Yeah, yeah. Big chunky
boy. Yeah, he's just so adorable. And to see
Colt again, and then to see Michael as a dad.
Yeah. It just really makes me feel good that
he loves his wife dearly, you can tell. And even
though he teases you, I like that. And he loves
his children. He spends time with them. talks
to them colt he and colt have these great little
conversations and it's just so sweet i love seeing
the way he's matured and and gone through all
the struggles he went through and come out the
other side and that's such a testament to you
too oh thank you you've raised this this man
to be such a good dad and husband and yeah yeah
it's so true and jesus a whole lot of jesus yeah
yeah You know, my daughters are amazing women.
They're just, they would do anything for anyone,
both of them, our son. So we have a great family.
We love it. We like seeing them parent, and Allison's
the best aunt to every child in town. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it,
be a little part of your family. Well, we love
you. Love you guys. We're so glad Michael chose
you. Me too. Well, thank you for being on today
and sharing your story. That's such an amazing
story and just testament to your character. It's
amazing. We're really thankful that you're here.
And thank you all for listening today to Sharon's
story and joining us this week. We hope that
you liked it. Please connect with us on social
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week. See you next week.