By Kevin Chiri

Good to see Joey Scontrino of Landcraft Homes up and about.

I stopped by to see Joey last week to talk about real estate, since he is who I consider to be the local expert.

While most of you may know this, some of you may not be aware that Joey had a rough 2007—and it had nothing to do with home sales, since his company set another all-time record for closings.

Joey had not one, but two heart surgeries last year. He told me the first one was in the earlier part of the year near the summer, but then as a few months went by, he began to develop trouble again.

That suddenly got him back in the hospital in December where he had to undergo heart surgery again to fix a faulty artery.

But looking at him this past week, the guy looked terrific and as fit as ever. He admitted he has slowed down a bit and is making sure the rehab goes well, but for those who have heard stories about what happened, I’m just letting you know that he is doing great.

Glad to have you back and doing so well Joey.

Now that my oldest daughter will be bringing her son home from the hospital in the coming weeks, and begin that wonderful time so many of us have come to know as parenting, I decided to give her a reminder about just how things will change should she have her second and third child.

Here are a few examples of the way our parenting skills begin to change as each successive child comes home.

Pacifiers

1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.

2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby’s bottle.

3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Diapers

1st baby: You change your baby’s diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.

2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.

3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities

1st baby: You take your infant to baby gymnastics, baby swing and baby story hour.

2nd baby: You take your infant to baby gymnastics.

3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.

Going Out

1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.

2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.

3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home

1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.

2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn’t squeezing, poking or hitting the baby.

3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Swallowing Coins

1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.

2nd child: When a second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.

3rd child: When third child swallows a coin, you deduct it from his allowance.

Yes, that all reminds about me about the joys of grandparenthood.

I have been told about how wonderful it is for years, but now the wife and I are fully realizing how much fun it is to be grandparents.

We have enjoyed going to the hospital to see little Jerry Scott III gaining size so he can come home soon, after being born at just a little over two pounds.

But it just has a nice feeling to visit, then head home, knowing we won’t be the ones up at night, or missing our favorite TV shows, since the baby is crying at the most inopportune times.

And when we visit our little Abby, now a year-and-a-half old, I love being with her for a few days, but then packing up and waving goodbye as we drive away.

Yes, the joys of grandparenthood. I think it’s probably the reward God gives us for just getting our own kids grown and gone.

Kevin Chiri is Publisher of L’Observateur and can be reached at (985) 652-9545 or at kchiri@bellsouth.net