I have 14 nieces and nephews spread across the US (pretty soon the world as my brother in law and wife are leaving for Italy soon). I do a couple of things to stay "close" to them. I have read my childhood favorite book on tape (CD) with a bell when it is time to turn the page and mailed it to them with the book. I have also made a Bear at a store in the mall with my voice in it saying something that is familiar from me to them. Also, don't forget Skype. I am waiting to meet my second youngest nephew soon, and I like to imagine that he will think I am famous because he has seen my on the computer so much. Hope this is helpful.

thanks for the great ideas! skype really has revolutionized communication for those of us who live far from friends and family. i need to do it more! i've also been sending my niece a lot more cards and snail mail lately. with every holiday, big and small, i like to send her a card to let her know that i'm thinking of her. even though she's only 7 months old and can't read, i know that one day she'll be able to read them and look back to realize how much i loved her from the start! has anyone tried the new Hallmark recordable storybooks? or does anyone have any craft ideas that would be fun and possible to do long-distance?

I have always lived no more than 15 mins from my niece and 3 nephews. We saw each other daily and sleepovers (in both directions) were commonplace. Then my brother got a promotion that moved them to Germany!! EEKKK! How does a Beah (that is what they call me) deal with that ??? We took a firm hold of technology and Skype, Facebook and email. And for the little guys, Skype is rather distracting (because they can see themselves), so a regular old phone call does the trick!

Has anyone had to deal with your niece/nephew becoming a teenager and not wanting to visit you as much? My husband and I are very close to our niece that lives in Texas (we live in Florida) and she has came to visit us every summer since they moved 4 years ago. Well, we didn't want to wait til summer to see her and offered to fly her here for Spring Break and she gave the impression that she din't want to and of course it broke our hearts :) How did you deal with it?