Here’s the thing about being the baby of the family. Whilst you are still a baby, which means you are still crawling. Toddlers walk, but babies crawl. So whilst you are still the baby of the family, all is usually grand in your world. And for our little Luna, life is always grand. She rarely cries and is usually as happy as can be. About two weeks after we moved to Michigan, she got a bit of a scare. See one of Erika’s friends, Keeley, decided that she would have a premature birth at the local hospital. And as she lives in Arizona, that meant we would have some guests. And one of those guests was a little, tiny baby named Emmy. However, before that would happen, Luna was Luna…

Always happy!

And the girls thought it would be entertaining to take a fun pic at the hospital. Seriously, are they ever serious?

I just had a baby!

Erika would spend time at the hospital whenever I was home with the girls. For the record, I think Emmy was still about a pound bigger than Mira. Which is shocking as Emmy was soooo tiny!

Baby Emmy!

Best friends and a proud mama. Keels, I know you wanted to visit the girls, but maybe the timing wasn’t the best. I’m sure Ethan was having another baby just waiting for Emmy to get home!

Keeley and Emmy!

Erika tried her best to give the baby a little Raiders flair as her dad is a big fan.

So little!

And in the midst of this craziness, one of my old friends came home to Michigan for a visit. Which means that a few of us got together for random nonsense back in my home town of Onsted. Which then meant that 4 of us got in a hot tub and starting drinking and next thing you know we are all back at our high school track preparing to race each other in some weird 2-person mile relay. I haven’t much of a clue how we wound up here, but I do know that John Walz and I challenged Scott Bryan and Matt Grigg to the race. And we spotted them almost 3 minutes in the process.

Scott, John, Matt and I

Needless to say, you are looking at the winning team here. And yes, they did win by nearly a lap in the process. I need to stop making wagers after getting comfy in the hot tub. Life was much simpler when I had a cool beverage and warm water surrounding me. And life was simpler when I didn’t have to make wagers against guys smarter than me.

Team Smarter than us!

Back in Grand Rapids, we were currently staying in a furnished apartment that my job offered me for the first few weeks we were in town. Which meant that we had several new guests there also. Baby Emmy arrived shortly after we got back from a fun weekend in my home town. She was getting bigger and eating really well.

Warm and getting healthy!

Grandma and grandpa Donley even came to visit. Actually, this was a win/win for them. They got to see their daughter and new grand daughter way more than they would have hoped to!

Proud grand parents!

However in the end, Keeley had to get back to Arizona. So we loaded her and baby Emmy up and dropped them off at the airport for the ride home. Yes, she doesn’t look like she had a baby less then a week before this picture was taken. Yes, she shouldn’t be this happy. No, I have no idea how she does the things she does. Frankly, it’s pretty amazing.

Time to go home!

And there was no one happier to see the baby go, then the real Mitchell baby. Little Luna was just as pleased as punch to go back to being the cute little baby again!

So good to see you!