There is a sentence I never thought I’d hear

Niece, running around the house sans underwear: “Wheeeeeeee”

Daddy-Friend: “Go get your panties and bring them over here right now!”

Niece: “Wheeeeeeee”

I don’t know why she insists on being without clothes when we come over…

“Bring me your panties!”

She ducks into the hallway closet: “Hide-go-seek????”

Mommy-Friend: “Bring me your panties right now or Uncle will not play Hide and Go Seek with you”

Hubby, looking at me in bewilderment: “There is a sentence I never thought I’d hear!”

Niece: “I go find them right now!”

I guess she loves her Uncle even more than she loves being without pants!

The Hulk

On Christmas I went to visit with Mommy-Friend & Daddy-Friend and the kiddos.  It was crazy and fun as usual.

Niece informed me that she received a yellow spoon for Christmas.  One look at Mommy-Friend said that she believed her child was crazy since they were not in the habit of handing out spoons as presents on Christmas morning.

Dainty little Niece then proceeded to take the aforementioned yellow spoon in both hands and with a look of total concentration, bent it in half… grunting as she did so to maintain her focus.  With a smug look of satisfaction she handed me her mangled “Christmas present.”

Last night we were over there for dinner.  She again tried to show off another one of her feats of strength by grabbing onto the dining room table, grunting in concentration once again as she tried to move it.  Ha ha, little girl… I can barely move that table… good luck. 

To bad we can’t channel that energy and focus into something productive… cleaning, cooking, doing laundry… 

I think they are going to have a body builder in the family when she grows up. 

I was right…

Of course my heart melted when I saw my wonderfully cute, albeit a bit yellowish,  Nephew this past weekend.  He is amazing!  He was a good 8lbs. still so not too tiny or fragile… he felt like a baby not a newborn. 

We had a great time visiting and watching the new parents at work.  New Daddy must have thought I had never seen a baby before and wanted to walk me through everything I did.  Come on… I am not going to pick out 18 month clothes for him to wear… I know they won’t fit just yet!  I also am quite experienced at holding and swaddling a baby.  In fact, I don’t think I dropped him once… imagine that!!!

Our time up was short, but that seemed just fine with the new parents.  As we got in the car to leave, Hubby said, “Man, look at your sister’s eyes…”  The poor thing looked scared, exhausted, and just a bit unsure of herself as we pulled away.  She didn’t have the defeated look we have seen in our other Mommy-Friend’s eyes… not yet. 

Not that she has anything to worry about, I am positive that she will be a great Momma, but at the same time I understand her fear.  It was to be her first night alone with baby and New Daddy… no Grandma and Grandpa there to help.  No Auntie and Uncle there to lighten the mood.  Just her and her two boys. 

Talking to her the next day, she mentioned that it was a good thing that everyone had left and that they had some time alone.  It was the first day since Nephew was born that they had time to just be themselves… not to mention get some much needed sleep! 

What I learned this weekend… While it is nice to have visitors, well-wishers and helpers after having a baby, there is something to be said for just being alone as a new family and figuring things out on your own. 

Oh, and I have the cutest nephew ever! ♥

It’s Official

Yesterday, December 20th, I became an Auntie… for real this time!

My cute little Nephew was born at 2:00 am. 

Everyone keeps asking me what it feels like to be an Auntie for real.  Ummmm…  I am tired.  You woke me up at 2:00 am to tell me he was born and had me listen to him crying through the cell phone.  I haven’t seen him yet, so there isn’t some special Auntie-Nephew bond or anything.

The only thing that is different is something I won’t tell anyone.  I nearly cried when I saw the pictures of him with my parents.  They are so excited to be new grandparents.  They were looking down on him with so much love and awe.  I’m a bit jealous that it wasn’t my baby that was the first grandkid.  That it wasn’t my child getting all of the love and affection that only a first grandbaby could get.  Isn’t that terrible? 

At the same time, I am so excited for my sister and her husband.  I can’t wait to meet my nephew and I am sure that there will be plenty of pictures of me holding him with that same look of love and awe on my face.  I am, afterall, his Auntie ♥

See ya later Mom & Dad

The other day we were visiting our friends and it came time to leave their house full-o-children and go back to our house-of-one-dog.

As we were walking out the door, Niece ran over to us.  She walked outside when we walked outside.  We looked at her dad and got the high sign to mess with the child.

“Do you want to go home with us?” we asked, fully expecting to have her rush back to Mommy & Daddy and the warm house.

“Sure.” was the reply from this little girl dressed in her PJs

“Okay… we are leaving…” Daddy-Friend closes the door on us and his headstrong daughter.

Niece grabs my hand and starts tromping to the car without a look back.

Ooops!  She was supposed to rush back to the loving arms of her parents, NOT want to leave them and go with us.

Figuring it has gone too far and they wouldn’t appreciate us running off with their daughter, we turn around and head back to the door.

Niece instantly starts to scream and cry.

Hubby picks her up and opens the gate.

Niece now adds mighty kicks and an arm flailing or two to her crying and screaming.

“Nooooo!  Want to go with Auntie and Unca!”

We hand her to her parents and make a quick exit.

She has since told her parents she is running away to come live with us.

She is only 2.

Seriously, it wasn’t our intention to scar the kid for life…

My hero

As I mentioned, my sister is very, very pregnant.  This makes her my hero.  Not because she is going to be having a little baby, but because she has the courage to not let being pregnant stand in her way of living.

You see, a few weeks ago my we had the brilliant idea of going to Disneyland with the entire family.  My wonderful sis came to Disneyland with us… eight months pregnant and all!  We had a great time and I am so glad that she came.

A friend of mine treated pregnancy a bit differently.  When she was only 6 months pregnant, she acted like she couldn’t do anything.  On a family trip, she couln’t even go on a short walk with everyone.  Now mind you, she did not have any complications or anything, she was just pregnant.

Why does being pregnant or having kids seem like a death sentence for some women’s sense of adventure? 

I am determined that if I ever get pregnant have a child I will not let it stand in the way of living life to its fullest!

Questions

I am going to be an Auntie for real in about a month.  My younger sister is pregnant with a little boy who will soon be my first “real” nephew.  

Sis has been married for a little over two years and they have been trying for a baby since the beginning.  Unlike me, she knew without a doubt that she wanted kids.  Her husband was perhaps even more on board with the idea of having a baby.

Her pregnancy has been a bit hard on me.  Strange, but true.  How can I be jealous of something I have chosen not to do?  Why does it hurt that she is having the first grandchild?  Why does it hurt even more that she is having the first great-grandchild?  Why do I feel like it should have been me doing all these things? 

I am so excited for her and can’t wait to meet my little nephew.  At the same time, I am a bit sad and frustrated.  Why?

Afraid of Commitment? Me?

Despite what it may seem like, I do not consider myself afraid of commitment. I have been married to Hubby for almost 7 years! That is like 50 dog years! We are still having a blast being married.

We have also moved up the ladder over the years by way of commitment in regards to our pets. We have had (listed in order):

• Fish- they committed suicide… long story… involved bare feet in the middle of the night…
• A bright blue Beta named “Fish”- He lived for years and years on top of our TV. He loved when we watched movies.
• Frog- Yep, that was his name… we are sooo creative. Frog was the cutest little water frog there ever could be. He lived to a ripe old age of 3.
• Hammy & Little Guy- Our hamsters. Hammy was named thus because he was a hamster, duh! And Little Guy was smaller than Hammy. We snuck these guys into our apartment even though we were living under strict no-vermin rules by the land lady. These guys lived a good long while too… for hamsters.
• 2 MEAN Hamsters- We tried to replace Hammy & Little Guy… should have known better. We gave these evil creatures away.
• 2 Stray Kitties- Can you say ALLERGIC??? After 2 days of not breathing, we found a nice home with kids for these cute cats. Now we can breathe again!
• Puppy- We found the love of our life at the animal shelter and had to rescue him. He is an adorable Spaniel mix and is 3 years old. He seriously is the perfect dog. We plan on cloning him.

So, besides the evil hamsters and the keep-them-and-you-will-die-of-lack-of-oxygen cats, we do pretty well with our commitments.

Three things can be learned from this…

1. We aren’t afraid of having something alive rely on us
2. We take good care of living creatures
3. We have no skill in picking names

Our poor kiddos might end up being called “Kid 1″ and “Kid 2″

About me

I don’t have kids. Nope, not me. Not yet.

Who knows if I will ever have a child. Part of me wants to create that small piece of my husband and myself and experience the joys of parenting that I hear proclaimed by everyone I meet. Yet, another part of me honestly dreads the change a child would have on my life.

I know, I am selfish, right? Maybe. The thing is I want to want to have a child. I also want to have one for the right reasons before it happens. I want Hubby and myself to be ready and willing to bring this new creature into our frantic lives and not just have a baby because everyone expects it.

My wonderful, albeit crazy Hubby and I have been married for almost 7 years. Most people, including myself, thought that we would have one or two kiddos by now. It just hasn’t happened and everyone is wondering what is wrong with us.

Last year when we purchased our first home- a cozy 3 bedroom, 2 bath- everyone congratulated us with a knowing smile and wink that indicated that we surly bought the home to accommodate a growing family. What a let down for everyone that we were not pregnant.

We did, however add a new member to our family right away. Puppy entered our lives only a few months after we moved into the new place. Again, friends and family were excited by the possibility that having a dog would prepare us for having kids and encourage us to procreate. Again, it did not happen.

Hubby and I lead crazy, hectic lives. We own our own businesses. We also both work “real jobs.”  We love to travel and are always on the go. Starting the businesses in our first year of marriage (when we were both sooo young… Hubby-22, Me-19) took a ton of work and just a bit of insanity on our parts. The aviation industry is ex-pen-sive and we were wide-eyed newlyweds thinking that we could start a business from scratch and have it supporting us and a family in no time. Ha! The flight school actually did take off (no pun intended), but after 9-11 the costs and liabilities associated with it also skyrocketed. Although the business does very well compared to other flight schools, it isn’t a step away- have kids- live the good life type of business. The old saying goes, “How do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a large one!” So reality is, we both work like mad to support ourselves. How can we even think of having kids and trying to live on one income?

Honestly, the move to postpone having kiddos isn’t only financial. We LOVE to travel and keep planning trips trying to do everything while we still can. You see, there is an overwhelming idea in our heads that if we don’t do things now we will never be able to do them once we have kids. Irrational? Maybe. However, we can only go on what we have seen first hand. All of our friends who have kids act like their life is over. The things they used to dream of doing remain dreams. The kids become an excuse for everything.

I don’t want this to happen which is why we are trying to do everything now so that if we do have kids and fall into this inevitable trap, it will be okay because we have already done what it is we want to do. The problem… we want to do EVERYTHING. We said we would go to Europe and then have kids, then we said we would go to Alaska, then New Zealand, now Peru, China, Russia, Egypt… See the problem? We keep pushing off having kids to do things but that list of things to do never ends. The longer we wait to have kids the less we seem to want them at all.

So what are we to do? What am I to do? Right now I am enjoying being the Auntie and taking notes about what to do and what not to do if and when I have kiddos of my own. We will see where this leads me.

How it all began

I became the Auntie a little over two years ago on a warm August night when my little Niece was born. Although not technically related to her, I am her Auntie all the same.

I remember getting the five or six frantic voicemails from her parents saying that they were headed for the hospital and begging us to meet them there. By the third voicemail Daddy-Friend’s voice sounded strained as he wondered out loud about the reasons why we would not have our cell phones turned on. Just to clarify- we ALWAYS have our cell phones on and with us. Hubby ALWAYS answers his phone be it in the middle of dinner, during a movie or at bedtime. Why then were we not answering our friend’s desperate cries for help? Well, it just so happens that on that fateful night, we had gone out with some friends to a comedy club and turned off our phones. Weird, but true.

Once we finally received the messages and headed to the hospital, we were surprised to see Mommy-Friend in labor. You see, she was supposed to have a cesarean because our little Niece was breach. We were fully expecting to show up and see them lying in the hospital bed together, lovingly admiring each other, the perfect picture of a new mother and daughter.

Instead, we found a poor, suffering mommy-to-be having contractions every few minutes while still trying to be her usual cheerful self.  She happened to have eaten a small sandwich just before her water broke and apparently that meant that she had to wait at least 8 hours before they could do the surgery. Hospital policy. It must have also been hospital policy or at least the policy of the mean nurses that poor mommy-to-be had to labor that entire time with no relief!

After an eventful night of picking up Grammy from the airport, trying to get comfortable in the hospital room and watching the screen that indicated mommy was having yet another contraction, the moment finally arrived and she was wheeled out of the room. A few minutes later my Niece was born and I became the Auntie.