An Auntie Again

My youngest sister had her second baby yesterday! She came three weeks early, before my mom could even get out to Arizona to help, but she's fine and beautiful to boot. She looks like her brother, with cute cheeks and dark hair. This brings the grand total of nieces and nephews to 18. We are especially happy to have another girl because of my folks' 23 grandchildren, only 6, now 7 are girls. It's a bit boyish when we all get together, so this new infusion of femininity will be welcomed by all. They range now in age from my oldest at 21 (almost 22) down to Newborn, with number 24 on the way in June. Pretty amazing. I'm so happy for my sis to have an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery as she has Type 1 Diabetes and has to be super careful when she's pregnant. She's been blessed though, and this little one is just fine. I know her name, but I've no idea how it's spelled. It is Aubrey Susanne or something that will sound like that, if not look like it. Anyway, congrats to my darling sis!

I love being an Auntie, with the only downside being that I am far from all my siblings, thus all my nieces and nephews. I make up for it by trying to be friends with as many little ones here as I can, and the hugs I get go a long way toward filling up that void. Hopefully though, we'll be in Arizona for Christmas and I'll be able to play with lots of little relatives.

This is almost all of us in the summer of 2007. If you're trying to count, there are several missing: My son Jeff, plus one of my brothers, his wife and two children are missing. Oh and one brother wasn't married yet, so his wife and her kids aren't in this one either. Time flies I tell you! The new mama of today's post is sitting down on the rock on the right side.