Makayla Noele

Shae and I went to see the new baby in the hospital yesterday. It's been a long time since I've seen a brand-new baby up close and personal -- I honestly can't remember how long it's been. A while. And I have to say, 8 pounds, 10 ounces sounds kind of big in theory, but in actuality, Makayla is smaller than I expected.

Granted, Shae has big hands for a 3½-year-old, but she still has pretty small hands in general, and Makayla's entire foot can fit in there. And they're so pink and wrinkly.

Everything about this kid is small, except her resemblance to my side of the family. Huge resemblances everywhere you look. Like, that is a Shively mouth, right there. Poor kid has no upper lip, just like the rest of us.

She's got a nice head of hair already, though, like my sister did when she was a newborn. Dark. Shelleybeans had black hair when she was born (I was a redhead, and my other poor sister was basically bald until she was two). Looks like a teensy-weensy little widow's peak, too. Yeah, this kid is related.

Not really sure how Shae feels about this whole thing. In most of the pictures I have of her with the baby, she looks baffled and terrified. I don't think Makayla is even as big as Shae's Cabbage Patch Kid. But she was pretty good about being gentle and quiet, and not five minutes after we left the hospital, she said she missed "my Kayla" already.

Yeah, kiddo, I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with this one, too.