The pages of the Reporter are filled with the changes in the Kirkland community. Residents have become like family to many of us at the paper, letting us into your homes and sharing your stories with us. We have recently experienced some life-changing events of our own that we would like to share with the community.

Kirkland Reporter editor Carrie (Wood) Rodriguez gave birth to Mercedes Cecelia Rose Rodriguez at 8:59 p.m. on Saturday. Carrie, and her husband Miguel, welcomed the 8-pound, 2-ounce bundle of joy four days early. Both Carrie and Mercedes are happy, healthy and home today. Carrie and Miguel married during the spring of 2011 and have three kids from prior marriages. Carrie plans to officially change her last name to Rodriguez professionally when she returns from maternity leave in October.

Reporter Matt Phelps has been selected as interim editor for the Reporter while Carrie spends some quality time with Mercedes.

Matt has worked for Sound Publishing and the Reporter newspapers since 2000 as a reporter and sports editor. He has also been acting editor both on Mercer Island and in Kirkland for short periods of time.

Matt will also take a few weeks off this month, as his wife Brenda is nine-months pregnant with the couple’s second son, Byrun. The newest addition to the Reporter family is due on Aug. 22 and will be born at Evergreen Hospital.

The newspaper would also like to welcome a new reporter to the staff while Carrie is on maternity leave. Raechel Dawson is a recent University of Washington graduate but she has experience reporting on major issues for Kirkland residents. She was a legislative correspondent through UW News Lab for Sound Publishing and the Kirkland Reporter during the last legislative session in Olympia. Dawson, who grew up in Renton, is passionate about community journalism and dedicated to maintaining the Reporter’s reputation for accurate, unbiased and in-depth news coverage.

While these changes are life altering and joyous for our news room, we remain dedicated to bringing the Kirkland community up-to-the-minnute news coverage.

We also look forward to telling more of your stories in the pages of the Kirkland Reporter in print and online.