Category: aunthood

Two months after his arrival, I finally got to go see my little nephew again. He is the sweetest, cutest, most best baby I have ever known.

I got some good Ollie time in, holding and jiggling and bopping his nose.

It was hard to leave and I miss him already. Hello tiny sport!

Baby nephew Oliver lifts his head to say hey to me!

He loves me already. For the complete Oliver video collection, visit his YouTube site.

Don’t worry, it’s just the end of my NaBloPoMo experiment. Apparently you all want me to keep it up. As of this writing, 60% want updates more than twice a week and 40% want updates twice weekly. Go vote if you haven’t already.

I am prepared for Baby Cain’s arrival. I have my ‘It’s a Boy!’ banner and bottle of champagne at the ready if he arrives while I am on this coast. My co-workers are on alert to celebrate if I am in the library when the call comes in (right?). I have advice from my friends and loved ones. I have directives from his parents.

Some of you have expressed surprise/amusement at how seriously I am taking my aunthood. I will respond by saying this is one of those things that trumps other things in life. There’s going to be a human that I have above normal access to and influence on and I plan to make the most of it.

If he ever gets to see some of this project in the future, I want him to know how excited I was for his arrival and I want him to feel special. He’s going to have the greatest parents on earth (next to mine) and be a very lucky little guy.

So stay tuned for pictures and stories. Also stay tuned for 2 to 3 posts a week (hopefully?) on this site.

I already love you nephew and I can only grow to love you more.

I think the mother of the nephew deserves to be my final guest speaker. So here it is.

Here are a few thoughts on my upcoming Momness.

It’s a mysterious thing, having a baby in your belly. He is with me
all day and night, wiggling around and hiccuping, but I don’t get to
know what his little feet and hands look like or if he’s a serious
bean of more of a joker. So needless to say, I’m dying to get my hands
on the little guy. I think he’s going to look exactly like his dad,
and act like him, too.

I don’t have experience as an aunt, but I have had some long-distance
aunts in my life, and I can’ stress enough the importance of gifts. I
know that Annie Jo is a champion gift giver, so no worries in that
department. Since the peanut won’t be old enough to really appreciate
presents for a couple of years, though, we hope for lots of visits.
Also: Webcams! And on a less material note, irreverence. Sneak him
treats, keep him up past his bedtime, let him wear his PJs all day.

I must say I’m relieved. I was hoping to be a rule breaking candy feeding bad girl aunt and now I’ve got written permission. Also I think gift giving might be my Language of Love.

Regarding the nephew acting just like my brother, I will say that I hope the Marika genes interfere on some of the more unpleasant actions as I already lived with a young Ben and I was glad to say goodbye to that when he moved away for college.

Christmas was so awesome when I was little.  The cookies, the lights, the presents of course.  The spirit has kind of slowly slipped away in the past few years, but I’ve realized that I don’t wanna be a scroogy aunt.

So my iPod is loaded with holiday tunes and my Santa socks are on my feet this very day.  I even cut out some of those paper snowflakes.  I remember the ones I did as a kid being way better looking so I might need to practice a little, but you get the idea.

If you’re looking for some enjoyable, affordable and positive-impact seasonal music, check out the $7 Peace on Earth charity album.  Proceeds go to Toys for Tots and there are some real gems on there.

From the babydaddy:

Here are some quick thoughts on being a dad…..

There’s all the immediate stuff like I mainly just can’t wait to meet the little fella. It will be so fun for him to meet his mom and all his grandmas and grandpas and aunties. I can’t wait to hold him and carry him and feed him. I also keep thinking about all the fun stuff we will get to do over the years. You and I had so much fun with our dad and I can’t wait to have that experience with my little guy.

What a lucky little boy he’s going to be. I nominate this post the best yet.

Voting is close. My own mother has suggested Auntie Ann today, so there’s a new choice for anyone who looked earlier.

Get your votes in. I think I’ll give this poll a week and announce the winner next Friday. Perhaps start putting it into use for practice.

Although the nephew will probably come up with his own concoction, it’s good to think about. Kate has advised that having a special name is important and I definitely agree. So it’d be good to have a little Aunt or Auntie or something in there.