Reasons

As I mentioned in my last post, this is the first time in 4 years that I have not boarded a plane for Romania immediately after Christmas. There were two main reasons why I didn't go this year. The first was that I'm trying to save money. I have some big plans for the spring and I'm trying to funnel my fundraising efforts into that. The second is that my sister-in-law was due to deliver my nephew (my first!) on Jan. 9. Since I don't get back from Romania until Jan. 7 that would have been cutting it close. Plus, the closer we got to Christmas the less likely it seemed she would actually make it to Jan. Low and behold...

Baby Levi Harold is here! He arrived right smack in the middle of the afternoon (12:16 p.m. to be exact) on Sunday, December 28.

Little man weighed in at 5 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 3/4" long. And, yes, he has blonde hair!

Levi and daddy

It's a little surreal seeing my "baby" brother with a baby of his own but I couldn't be happier for him and my sister-in-law.

At home with mommy

This is one proud Auntie and I'm so glad that I was here to love on him in his first moments of life.

Welcome to the world, little Bubby! Aunt Melissa loves you!