Scarlett, 8 months old today

Today is a special day, 8 months ago, my niece Scarlett (Natalia's daughter) was born. It seems like ages ago, but it in some ways it also feels like yesterday. It has been a crazy crazy 8 months, but since that has been pretty well documented at this point I won't go into it. I was also very excited about Natalia and Martin having a kid, and was so glad when they found an amazing surrogate in Beth to carry Scarlett for them. I don't exactly remember who called me, but basically Angie and I got the call in the evening that Beth was on her way down to Toronto and that the baby is coming. I thought we should go to the hospital, but I was told to go to sleep and we will be kept updated. In the morning, I didn't go to work, but met my mom and natalia at the hospital, but there wasn't a whole lot of progress on the baby front so my mom, angie and I went to lunch. Things started to progress a bit later and we were back at Mount Sinai.

It's funny, now that I am thinking about it, the details seems quite sketchy, but in short Beth was getting closer and closer, BUT, Natalia needed some of her meds so mom and I went to her house to pick them up and.... you guessed it, when we were there the baby was born. Angie who at the time was already quite pregnant herself missed seeing Scarlett be born my a minute or two. She decided to leave the room when the pushing got a little more serious. Angie and I still laugh at the fact that she was basically right there for the birth and saw the baby soon after Natalia and Martin. It was incredible to see Natalia and Martin with their little one after all they had to go through.

From that day I have got to watch Scarlett grow and grow and start becoming a child (she really no longer seems like a baby to me). I love her very much and she really likes her uncle, she looks at me in a special way (I can tell). So Scarlett, keep growing, enjoy your month birthday and I can't wait to see you and Sophie become girls and women.

John