Looking forward to an Amazing Baby

I'm going to have a wonderful summer, especially the month of August.

For one thing, it's beginning to look like we will finally complete the sale of our house. We have spent the better part of a year and a half struggling with the declining housing market, but -- knock on wood -- things are coming to a satisfactory conclusion.

Then Nicole and I will be spending the first half of August in the Pacific Northwest and I get to spend 10 days with my three favorite female people in the world -- my incredible wife, my gorgeous daughter and the Amazing Baby, my wonderful granddaughter Madison.

You can't imagine how much I'm looking forward to seeing Maddy. I heard her cry when she was 10 minutes old and she slept on my chest when she was 10 days old.

I've been watching videos of her for several months on Facebook, and she is really starting to develop a personality of her own. She's very close to walking without help and my guess is she'll be talking sooner rather than later.

But what is every bit as wonderful to me is spending the better part of two weeks with Pauline. I have never been as proud of anyone in my life as I am of my wonderful daughter. In addition to doing a terrific job as a mother, she has made amazing progress in her career as a foreign service officer. When I hear what colleagues say about her and I read her evaluations, I am absolutely blown away with admiration.

Maddy, Pauline and Nicole.

Damn, it's going to be a great summer.