I finished my last day of work in San Diego the day my new niece, Jasmin Elena Draper (who intentionally has the same initials as her late, and wonderful, Grandpa Evans). I was less than 24 hours too late to make it to her actual birth but was still able to see her when she was very, very new to this world. And what a doll she is.
Lois (the sister making the niece), having the genuis book of world records for the most insanely easy births, left the hospital even before her 24 hour observation period was up because it was so easy, or least should could have, had they named the baby in time :).
And although this baby is beautiful and already has a big piece of my heart, especially since she doesn't cry too loud, sleeps many hours at a time, and is very clear about what she's after at any given time (Lois' is the luckiest new mom in the world). Although Jasmin has already stolen a big piece of my heart , my week was spent mostly with this little angel:
Jasmin's older sister, Kenya. She and I became fast friends. We played wii fit together, we listened to music together, we danced together, we danced, and danced. We danced a lot :). A LOT. And it was a blast. We blew bubbles and played with the kitty. And by the end of the week we had our own inside jokes and games. Including bonking heads and yelling, "noggin!" We did soft noggins, hard noggins, and medium noggins. We, by we mean I, played with her hair, which was one of my favorite things to do:
One of favorite pics of Kenya is during bath time when she had this awesome Michael Jackson moment:
We put on makeup (don't love this pic of me, but I couldn't help but post it because of how cute Kenya is while helping me put on my makeup).
And one morning we spent an hour lying in bed just making faces at each other giggling until Robert (Jasmin and Kenya's daddy) came in to say hello and see what was going on. We laughed and snuggled and played and played and played.
As Kenya has had trouble sleeping through the night the last little bit, and Lois had a new baby, I even got to be the one to go into her room at night when she woke up yelling for mom and snuggle her back to sleep. Or at least put in the bed and fall asleep on the floor so that when she woke up someone was there with her and she felt comfortable enough to go back to sleep.
Kenya loves people, and loves, loves, loves her new baby sister and can calming sit and hold her forever. She also loves the cat, a little too much. I wish I had a pic of how tolerant this cat really is, but here's a glimpse:
It kind of just worked out that Kenya became "my job" as Lois took care of the baby, and I'm so glad it did. We had a blast and I have a new BFF.
It must be noted that Lois' pregnancy and birthing was so easy that just one week after Jasmin was born she went on a pioneer trek through Martin's Cove with her family. Hope that's genetic. And if I ever have kids, I may even ask permission to steal the name Jasmin almost got. :)
And of course, here are some more pics for you to enjoy:
