keeping in touch with the grandparents

(posting a little off schedule this week to do a blog hop with my cute mom, the midlife guru.)

my husband and i live 800+ miles away from both sets of parents. this isn't usually a big deal, thanks to daily phone conversations with my mom and plenty of skype chats with everyone -- until the holidays come around, that is. we usually travel to visit our families over the holidays, and when i see how excited jack is to see his grandparents and how much fun they have playing together, i get a little sad that he might be missing out on seeing them more often.

(jack with my parents, last thanksgiving)

it's been nice to be able to develop our own little family traditions and routines on our own, independent of any other family around -- but i'm not gonna lie, i totally feel jealous when one of my friends mentions how they "dropped the kids off at the grandparents for the weekend" or i see them schedule a weekday playdate with local family members. i'd kill for some free babysitting! ;) really, though, i do wish jack could hang with his grandparents more often -- he's lucky to have super cool family who loves him, and i always like having people around who think my kid is as adorable as i do. 

so, until we can move back to california or utah to be closer to family, i guess we'll have to stick with the regular substitutes -- cute snail mail (like our grandparents day cards or halloween grams), face time on my new iphone or reading the blurb books i've created, every page filled with photos of family members in hopes of helping jack remember names & faces. it's not ideal -- but it's way better than nothing at all!

want more perspective on long-distant relationship building? check out the midlife guru's post about grandparenting.