More Maella pics!

Just in case you were wondering, Maella's still cute:

(Yet) more pictures here.

Meet Maella!

My sister Amanda gave birth to her lovely daughter (my niece! I'm an aunt!) yesterday at 5:08pm (Calgary-time).

Her and proud new daddy Brandon named their addition to the Kobie-Best household (Best-Kobie sounds funny, like there's a not-as-good-Kobie household out there) Maella Lauryn Elizabeth.

It sounds like it was an easier birth than it was a pregnancy -- which should suggest how difficult a pregnancy it was, given how not fun birthing must be.

But well worth the effort, I'm sure you'll agree:

More photos are here -- thanks to Michelle, who has taken all these, there shall soon be more. This child will be more photographed than Kate Moss, I tells ya.

The downside, of course, to me being so very far away is the things/people/events I miss. I've felt homesick before (and with good reason, I think -- last year was not an easy one for me) but none of the difficult times I've been through have made me feel as homesick as Maella. How can you love and miss someone you've never met yet?

Baby showered.

To mark the impending birth of the current occupant of my sister's womb, we had a baby shower down here in De Winton today -- the purpose of which seemed to be to literally shower her (or possibly drown her) in gifts.


Based on today's results, I predict one very spoiled child. Aside from the large piles of tiny clothes, stuffed animals and assorted other pastel-coloured presents, Amanda-and-the-baby (hyphenated as they, at the moment, remain one entity) were gifted a blanket with built-in simulated heartbeat, a tiny spa bath complete with "Victorian-styled" clawed feet, and a "Diaper Genie" which shrink-wraps dirty diapers for smell-less disposal. We really do live in a marvellous age.

Although the bulk of the shower was spent eating and watching my heavily-pregnant sister rip wrapping paper, we also played a few games. Natalie dominated, winning all three contests. She's either on a lucky streak or just genuinely good at counting q-tips, naming baby animals and guessing belly circumference -- useful skills, each of them...

More photos are here.