Kissing Cousins

Bye-bye, baby Michael!

We said our final goodbyes to Diana and baby Michael today. Richard left for Seattle last week and Diana and Michael are flying out tomorrow. Rachel will miss seeing Michael--she really loves babies! As per her usual, the first thing Rachel wanted to do when she saw him was give him a big, wet kiss and then try to poke his eyes.

Be soft!

We all passed Michael around. He's so cute and so new! And we had to compare his feet and hands to Rachel's--he's going to be a big, tall boy! Of course with his parents, who are both well over six feet tall, he doesn't have a chance of being short. But just look at how their hands and feet measure up, keeping in mind that he is only five weeks old and Rachel is eight months old.

Feet: Michael's on the left, Rachel's on the right

Hands: Rachel's on the top, Michael's on the bottom

Having Richard and Diana move away makes me think about how hard it's going to be to leave our family when we move to Cairo. No more family dinners, no more cousins, no more relying on our parents...

That's both an exciting and scary prospect.

I think moving away will help us--force us--to become a more solid family unit.

We will have to lean on each other for support. I won't be able to phone home just whenever I want to or need to hear my mom's voice because our waking hours will hardly overlap. We will no longer be able to hop in the car and take the fifteen minute ride half-way across town to visit our families because we're moving half-way across the world.

We will have more opportunity to develop our own traditions and values, that's for sure. Exciting and scary, both.

As I watched Diana walked down the street to her parents' house I thought,

"She's crazy--moving so far away from family with a brand-new baby!"

And then I realized that I'm the crazy one...