I'm a Grandma and a grandaunt

I wanted to let you know of a recent addition to my extended family. Since I have been a little negligent with this blog, the newest of my mother-in-law's great-grandchildren has actually been here for about a week. So, without further ado, may I introduce to you:

Sherman Kent Hess Jr.

Lil' Sherman, born Feb. 23 at 8:15 p.m. weighing 8 lbs. 15 oz. He is, of course, our nephew Sherman and his wife Ana's little boy.

For my mother-in-law, that makes (the way I am counting them), 10 great-granchildren. I am not counting the grandchildren of her stepsons, Glen and Dale. If I knew the names of Glen's children, I would. Dale does have one grandson, named Joshua Porter. Dale has two sons, Dale Jr. and Andrew.

I mention that because of the coincidences. If you know me, you probably know that the Joshua Porter we usually talk about in our conversations is not Dale's grandson (even though the boy lives in our community.) It is our own son, Josh.

And the Andrew Porter we speak of is usually not Dale's younger son, but the boy on the right in this photo:

Jed and Andrew Porter

These two boys are two of Brian's five grandchildren, both sons of Paul. Andrew is the oldest at age 7, and Jed is right behind him at 6.

Aidan Porter and Kaia Coleman

These are two more of Brian's grandchildren, Danielle Coleman's children. Aidan Porter is 6, falling in between his cousins Andrew and Jed. Kaia, who just turned a year old in January, is the next-youngest after Sherman.

I don't actually have a picture of the next addition to our family. Her name is Briana, and she is David's granddaugher, Neesa's daughter. She is about 4 or 5 years old, the oldest great-granddaughter. 

Kiera

The next-oldest great- granddaughter is Kiera, who is Ana's 4-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. She's a very big part of Sherman's life, and Nancy loves having a granddaughter along with two grandsons.

You can see Nancy and Kent's older grandson, Kristan's son Eddie, in the corner of the photo of Kiera. Here is a better photo of Eddie.

Eddie

About a month after I posted most of this entry, I learned my nephew Paul actually has three children. His daughter Jade was born in 2010, and shares a mother with Jed.  For reasons I don't know, while Jed has lived with Paul for more than three years, and with Andrew's mother for most of that time, Jade remained with her mother until April 2012. I do have a picture of Jade, but until a custody battle is resolved and/or until I take my own photo of her, I'm going to hold off posting it.

These nine little kids are my grandnephews and grandnieces.

The other great-grandkid is someone very special to me:

Abigail Cronin

Although Abigail is just 1 year old, she falls near the middle of the pack. Andrew, Aiden, Jed, Briana and Kiera and Jade are older than her. Eddie is just 12 days younger than her, and Kaia is also 1.

Sherman Jr. isn't going to be on the bottom for long though:

Abigail is a big sister, to a little one who will be arriving in September.