Mnladyslipper, I've moved your post to the Windows Live Hotmail Feedback Forum.
The feature that you're referring to is not currently available to Hotmail. Nevertheless, I'll take note of your inquiry and submit it to our product team as a feature request for future Hotmail improvements.
Btw, there is an e-mail notification feature when you're signed into Windows Live Messenger. For more info on this, please contact the Windows Live Messenger Technical Support Team by following these steps:
1. Go to http://support.live.com
2. Select Windows Live Messenger.
3. In the Help page, select the version of your Windows Live Messenger.
4. Select any of the help topics displayed in the left pane.
5. Click Get more help at the lower right side corner of the page.
6. Click Get support.
7. Complete the e-form and then click Submit.