Welcome, Elianna..... my new niece! Isn't she beautiful?!

On a brighter note….

My brother and his wife welcomed their 3rd daughter on Saturday (12/06/08). I have another beautiful niece!!! She was almost 8 pounds, and three weeks early...if she made it to full term she probably would have been over 9 pounds (my brother was over 10 pounds! We grow 'em BIG in my family!)

My sister-in-law’s water broke about 4 a.m., Arizona time and my Mom got a call from my brother at 4:25 a.m., California time, informing her she has a new granddaughter! That’s about right for my sister-in-law once she gets started it progresses quickly for her. She woke up at 4 a.m., turned over and felt her water break, she didn't waste any time getting into the car, she beat my brother, that's a surprise. They sped off toward Tucson (about an hour away from their home); passed a Sheriff at 80 miles an hour….of course they got pulled over. My brother stepped out of their vehicle and explained that his wife’s water broke and she was in labor. Believe it or not, he said “Okay, go ahead and go”! That’s right he let them go without a ticket!!! Unlike the couple who have been in the news the past few days...the ones who were ticketed on their way to the hospital! My sister-in-law thinks he let them go because my brother was in his uniform (he’s in the Army Reserve and was getting ready to go to drill when her water broke). Anyway, my niece was born just over an hour after my sister-in-law’s water broke. They made it to the hospital with just a few minutes to spare, she was born shortly after.

They knew once her water broke they would have to rush since my sister-in-law has a history of having her children quickly. She had my first niece in the car on the way to the hospital, she delivered her while my brother drove, with a bus load of people watching (it was passing by right then!). Their second daughter was induced because the doctor didn’t want a repeat of how my first niece was born.