My Niece Kayla

My older brother Randy and his wife Jenni welcomed their new daughter, Kayla Marie, into the world on May 31. With the impending dissertation and the craziness of the upcoming move, I haven't been able to fly home to meet her, so you can imagine how ecstatic I was to find out that Jenni and Kayla are going to fly out here to SD for my defense!! I'll get to become a doctor AND meet my niece in the same week!

I've been a vicarious aunt this last month, poring over pictures that my brother has posted to his flickr and making gurgly goo-goo sounds to the computer screen.

Here's Kayla, just a couple hours old:

We were all on pins and needles, waiting for little Kayla's arrival. I was out of the house all weekend, at a beach house bachelorette party for my friend Kim, and I was nervously checking my phone CONSTANTLY!! I had a feeling all Saturday evening ... when I went to bed at 2 am, I just couldn't believe that my phone hadn't rung. I was CONVINCED that Kayla was going to be born Saturday night! 4 hours later, my phone rang, and I got the best news in the world from my brother: their happy, healthy, beautiful little girl had just been born. Good to know my gut wasn't dysfunctional after all! =)

Jenni and the baby, taking a little nap together:

And here she is with her proud parents:


I love this series of shots of her funny expressions, taken on her first day home from the hospital:





It's been fun to look through the more recent pictures and see how the family is adjusting. The dogs seem to be adapting well to their new friend - Randy said that Chompers figured out that she gets attention when the baby is sleeping, and Dusty responds to Kayla's cries by coming over and licking her ear. Awwwww. The doggies seem pretty content:

Kayla, snuggling with Randy:


And here's one of Randy and Kayla from the other weekend. They took a road trip up to MN for a friend's wedding and had their first travel experience with the wee girl. I love how all the white bedding makes it look like the most heavenly place to nap!!

T minus 5 days until I get to meet the little lady!