Mamy and papy,

I miss you both already! Without you papy my room wouldn't be decorated (check out my name on the door everyone!) and I wouldn't have a crib to sleep in. And all those meals you cooked (sorry, couldn't capture those on camera) made my mom's milk taste extra good and gave my papa extra time to entertain me with his mandolin playing (for those who don't know, my papa does all the cooking around here, which has already taught me all about gender roles). Mamy, as you saw on previous posts, rocked me to sleep on many an afternoon. She also finished up some really cool embroidered towels while she was here and gave me my baths. So when are you coming back?

In the meantime I decided I can't do without my grandparents so I asked my mama to get on the phone with other grandmama, and make arrangements for her to stay with us too.

Here's how much I love my grandmama's by the way: I've been named after them both. My full name is--as the picture illustrates--Ruby Marguerite Hyland. Marguerite after my mamy in France (her official first names are Margaretha Maria) and Hyland is my U.S. grandmama's maiden name. That's my official last name now--something special about my parents wanting to honor the maternal family line. My papa has a ton of stories about growing up on the Hyland farm: ask him about them sometime.

-- Ruby

P.S. I'm curious how many of you check this blog regularly. Let me know, so I know how often to take a break from breastfeeding or my napping to give you all the latest in the Niemeijer-Pratt-Hyland household.