girls rock, part two

Our newest niece, Raelle, finally made her long-awaited debut on Wednesday night. Both nephews camped out at our house this week while Carlye and Steve were in the hospital. I attempted to work from home on Wednesday, in between building tents in the study, buying items from Dash's imaginary store and making sure Moses was not climbing on anything climb-able (his newest trick).

On Thursday, Ben had them on his own for the entire day. A first. He shuttled Dash back and forth to preschool, fed them, took them to the playground and changed a diaper (several in fact) for the first time in his life. I expected a few frantic phone calls throughout the day, but not a single call. Turns out, Ben is quite the uncle.

On Thursday night, I took Dash and Moses to meet their baby sister for the first time. Dash, especially, has been eagerly anticipating the arrival of his baby sister. When Moses was born, I had the sweet privilege of taking Dash to the hospital to meet him. That time, we brought cupcakes, which a very determined Dash insisted on carrying the entire way from parking lot to hospital room. He was very proud of himself. And somehow, this has become a hard-and-fast memory for him. Now, it is a rule that when meeting new siblings, you must bring cupcakes. So, with both nephews in tow, we picked up the very same cupcakes and took them to Carlye and Steve's house.

By the time we arrived, my parents and Tim were already at the house with a dozen boxes of Chinese take-out spread out across the countertop. An ecstatic Dash rushed upstairs to meet his new baby sister. Then, he announced that she was coming down like a Master of Ceremonies: "She's coming! She's coming! My baby sister is coming down the stairs!"

"What's she like, Dash?"

"Oh, she's just what I thought she would be....she's so cute! And little!"

So, we all introduced ourselves to Raelle and remembered just how tiny newborns are. Over Chinese food and cupcakes, we took turns holding her -- tiny, wrinkly and slightly startled. Welcome to the world, baby...