My inkblots are all grown up

My niece and nephew turned 13 this week. Some of you may remember when they were born. I sure do.

It was 1994 and I was staffed in Miami on my first out-of-town project with Accenture (then Andersen Consulting). Since they were born on a Monday, I had to wait until Friday evening to see them. And since Al Gore's invention--the internet--had not quite caught on, my parents had no way of sending me any photographs.

I had to settle for a faxed copy of one of their first pictures. There it sat framed on my desk in Miami--a black-and-white fuzzy image that looked more like a Rorschach inkblot than two newborn bundles of joy.

Now, it is such a joy to see them totally embrace Braden (and Amanda, too, of course). Everytime I call, they always ask about him. Everytime we're together, they cannot get enough of him. At Kyle's birthday party at the Astros game, Braden hung out with his soon-to-be cousins and Kyle's friends. At Kristin's party, her girlfriends were excited to meet the little guy she has been talking about so much. They did their best to get Braden to do some of his dance moves for them, too.

I sure do love my two stinkin' adorable inkblots! Happy birthday, Kyle & Kristin!