little black journal

Shane and I returned yesterday from a quick trip to Portland, and once again, I am already dying to get back down there to spend more time with my niece.  She is such a good-natured, lovable, beautiful little girl.  She is growing so quickly, changing with each trip, smiling more, babbling more, becoming more animated in her facial expressions and movements.  And it’s been so fun to see the effect that parenthood has had on my brother and sister-in-law.  I never doubted that Mitch would be a fantastic dad, but still, it’s surprising and wonderful to see him hold his little girl with such tenderness.  Then again, who couldn’t help but to be absolutely melted by a face like this?

Just got back from a fantastic couple of days in Portland, visiting with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece.  Elise continues to be precious and beautiful and wonderfully good-natured. She patiently endured my incessant photo-snapping and even cooperated with a smile or two.  These are some of my favorites:

I have become quite the mommy-in-training, under the tutelage of my brother and sister-in-law.  I think I have bath-giving, bottle-feeding, and burping down.  But I’m saving diaper-changing for later…

We just enjoyed a fantastic weekend with my family down in Silverlake, Washington. My parents rented a cabin in celebration of my dad’s birthday, and my brother, sister-in-law, and niece came up from Portland. Lots of laughing, lots of eating, and lots of watching/holding/falling in love with my newborn niece. She is eight weeks old now and is much changed since I saw her just 4 weeks ago. She is looking around a lot more, doing a lot more wiggling, and has a whole new bank of facial expressions. I caught her smiling just a couple of times, though she refused to let us capture this darling little upturn of her lips on camera. Maybe next time… I caught myself smiling as well several times this weekend as I watched my family enjoy each other – seeing Shane and my brother throw the frisbee around, listening to my parents playfully tease each other over a card game of Quiddler, watching my sister-in-law lovingly care for my niece. And our afternoon stroll in the woods definitely renewed my appreciation of the outdoors (it’s impossible not to appreciate the outdoors on these 85-degree days in Washington). I have much to be thankful for.