I'm Going to Be a Great-Aunt!

We got a wonderful surprise in my sister Petra's Christmas card this year. She writes that my nephew Roberto (we call him Boyboy) and his wife (they married earlier this year) are expecting a little one in June.

Congratulations Boyboy and Roxanne!! We are really happy for you. I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family.

Greetings from Jim, Kristina and Elena

Here is another of the wonderful pictures I got in my pre-Christmas mail. I meant to post this one quite some time ago, and the busyness of the season slowed me down.

Not only did Jim, Kristina and Elena send along the greeting card with this photo, but they also did one of those creative family newsletters. I love holiday newsletters. There was something in this one about tater tot casserole. I might have to get that recipe.

Thanks Jim and Kristina!

Thank You Elena

Check out the beautiful holiday greeting Elena made for me. Thank you Elena!!

I meant to mention it earlier, but Elena's mom Kristina recently started a blog for her. You can find it over here and I've also added a link to it on the sidebar appropriately under "Friends." It's called Elena's Montage.
If you visit you will see lots of pictures of Elena and hear all about her adventures. Thanks mom Kristina for setting up the new blog!

Snow Bunny

This is my little friend Elena. She and her folks live up in North Bend where they get the real snow. Last week's weather made for some great playtime in the snow. Thanks to her mom Kristina for sharing these pics! You can click the pictures to see them larger.

More Halloween Pictures

Every year at Halloween I look forward to seeing the young ones dress up in costume. Some of my friends are really good to me and forward pictures of little ones that I can't see in person.

Thank you to Susan who sent me pictures of her two girls on Halloween. This is the beautiful Felicia as a Spanish Dancer and her little sister Cameron who is the lovely ballerina in pink. Felicia is 12 and Cameron is 2-1/2. Cute!


This little guy is Elliott, son of my friends Doxey and Cynthia. I confess to having stolen this photo from Elliott's blog. This was Elliott's first Halloween (he's not quite 4 months old) and his folks dressed him up as the sky. Note those white puffy clouds and the jet plane passing. Elliott's dad is a mountain climber who does weather lectures, and the cloud and sun props are from his collection. You can see more pictures of Elliott in his costume here.


Thanks for sharing the pics of your adorable little ones, Moms and Dads!

Baby Shower for Elliott

It was a busy day in the office today. We had a noontime baby shower for little Elliott and his parents. There were fun decorations...



and wonderful gifts...


and a couple special visitors (thank you for coming Elena and Aiden!)


Elliott enjoyed getting passed around and meeting everyone. But he slept through a bunch of it.

If you would like to see more pictures from the shower click on the sleeping Elliott.

Elliott Visits the Office

My tiny friend Elliott visited the office yesterday. We'll call it an "unofficial" visit because it was a weekend day and he didn't really get to meet any new people. His dad (Doxey) had to work and his mom (Cynthia) and Elliott brought Doxey some lunch.

Elliott is 1 month old today. His due date was two days ago. He hit 6 pounds at the doctor's the other day. He's doing pretty great.

Here's a picture of Elliott giving his dad a bit of a hard time.

I love this sweet photo of him sleeping in his mama's arms.


And of course I got to hold him too!

It's a Scorcher

We in Western Washington have been enduring a heat wave. In many places I'm sure this weather would not be unusual. Today is the third day in a row of temperatures over 90 degrees for us. Friday was a record-breaking 95.

Of course our weather in Seattle is normally temperate. This time of year the average high is 76 degrees. Most of the homes in this part of the country do not have air conditioning. I worry about my mother (in her 80's) and wonder how little Elliott is doing in this heat.

I hope any blog readers out there are finding ways to stay cool and comfortable.

Elliott Went Home

Congratulations to little Elliott who got to go home with his parents on Thursday. He made good progress in the two weeks he had to stay at Swedish Hospital. I know Doxey and Cynthia are really happy to have him home. Doxey is learning how to handle those 3am feedings.

Check out Elliott's website for the latest photos.

It's a Boy!!

Doxey and Cynthia are the proud parents of a beautiful little boy, Elliott Lewis. He's about a month premature, but doing great. In fact, today he was able to leave the Neonatal ICU unit and move on to the Special Care unit at Swedish. He's making great progress. And what a cutie!

Here are the important stats:
born Thursday, July 6th at 9:22am, 4 lbs 13 ozs, 18" long

For more info and some great photos, check out http://lilgiuseppe.blogspot.com.

Baby Watch Continues

Doxey and Cynthia are still in waiting mode for the arrival of their little one. Tomorrow morning will mark 2 weeks since Cynthia's water broke. The baby is at about 34-1/2 weeks and doing well. Cynthia is feeling good and has had no contractions or other problems. Cynthia's doctor says that every day the baby stays in his mama is the equivalent of three days in a nursery once he gets out. So Cynthia is doing a great job keeping Lil G safe until he is ready to come out into the world.

A couple times a day they let Cynthia sit up in a wheelchair and she can be rolled down to a patio garden area where they have a nice fountain. The picture is Cynthia waving hello to me via Doxey's cameraphone. Hi Cynthia! Hang in there!

The latest word from the doctors is that little Elliott (which will be Lil Giuseppe's name after he is born) will be delivered via C-Section around the 6th or 7th of July.

No News is Good News

My friend Cynthia is still in the hospial awaiting her little one's arrival. Her water broke a week ago today with the baby at about 32-1/2 weeks. The longer the baby can stay inside the better for his development, but they have Cynthia on antibiotics and are monitoring her carefully for any signs of infection.

The biggest hurdle was getting past the first 48 hours because they wanted to give her some shots to help with development of the baby's lungs. Now that's past the baby can come any time. The doctors plan to do a C-section at the first sign of contractions or any indication of infection or other problems. At the longest they can wait one more week and then the baby will be delivered regardless.

Best of luck to Doxey, Cynthia and Lil Giuseppe!

Christmas Card Surprises

I love this time of year when cards start arriving in my mailbox filled with pictures of my favorite kids. The first photo to arrive from her proud parents this year was Nikka's. She's growing up to be such a beautiful little lady! Don't you agree?

My Favorite Goblins

My favorite part of Halloween is seeing the little ones in their costumes. Here are my three favorite goblins:

First we have the lovely Nikka in her Kitty costume. She is SO tiny - it’s hard to believe she is 3-1/2 years old now.

And here is Miss Cameron looking beautiful in her ballerina outfit. Cameron is 18 months now!

And of course the stunning Elena as princess of the kingdom. Elena also just celebrated her 18 month birthday.