Nephew!

We drove up to Flagstaff this past weekend to meet our nephew, Elias--and to see Emily and James, who were in from California--and to spend time with everyone else there, too, of course! We were all hoping Anna and Justin's little girl would decide to come over the weekend, but she and God had a different plan than ours . . . so despite desperate measures (castor oil) to induce labor, poor Anna suffered on still pregnant through the weekend.

When little Elias nestled under my chin and sighed his sweet baby sighs and tried to suck his thumb--well, I was smitten (as I knew I would be). What else compares with cuddling a little babe on your chest? I'm so glad to be an aunt. Thank you, Elias, for satisfying my longing for a tiny one--at least while I was holding you! 

You can see for yourself what a sweetheart this little guy is--he's mellower and cuddlier than I remember my three being at 2.5 months, and it was wonderful to finally meet him and hold him and kiss him!

Uncle Jer and Elias

 Looking a bit tired

 Josiah on Pa and Grandma's wall 

Josiah, Lydia, and Abby were all interested in Elias in their own way. I think Josiah expected him to be a little more adept at things like running and hiding (not just sleeping and nursing and being cute). He told me on the way up that he wanted to show Elias his fort in Grandma and Pa's backyard. But he accepted the fact that he was just a little baby (with the promise that he'd get bigger and do stuff with Josiah in the future), and he did like giving him kisses and looking at him for a few moments now and then. He calls him "little 'Lias." Lydia and Abby mostly just wanted to poke Elias' eyes and say "Hi! Hi! Hi!" really close to his face. They sometimes tried to be gentle and sweet when reminded, and we successfully protected Elias from any permanent harm from their overtures of cousinly friendship.

I'm disappointed I didn't get any good pictures of the cousins together, and I don't have one from our camera of me holding Elias (though I held him just about as much as I could over the weekend!). Emily got a few good ones on her phone, though, so I'll try to post those here soon. Next time we'll need a picture of all FIVE grandkids, now that Kezia is here!

Pa and Abby

We went on a hike in the cold Flagstaff wind on Saturday. It didn't kick Anna into labor like we hoped, but the mountain in the evening was still beautiful.

 Bundled up in Pa's coat!

Lydia and her mountain-man Daddy