I'm an Auntie!

Meet Baby P. He's the brand new baby of my closest, bestest friend of almost 22 years, my hetero-soulmate Becky. You know how some people say they can remember the moment they laid eyes on his/or her significant other  and knew they were "the one"? Well, I remember when, at age 6, I was sitting in a new church my mother and I were visiting. I saw a little girl with big, plastic framed glasses and braids walking down the aisle and I thought, "I bet I can be friends with her." Luckily, my mom decided she liked the church and has gone there ever since. Becky and I became joined at the hip, bound together by our mutual love of Sweet Valley Twins and Baby-Sitters Club books. Together we survived our exceedingly awkward years (we had a longer awkward period than most), high school, terrible boyfriends, and living together for a year in college with an awful third roommate. Now we're old married ladies and she is a mommy.

The picture above is more significant than you may think. See me, holding a baby who isn't crying? That never happens. Babies can smell my fear of them and like to make me as uncomfortable as possible when I attempt to hold them. This dates back to when I was 7 and was forced to hold my giant baby cousin at a family gathering. He immediately started crying and no one would take him from me. Traumatized? You could say that. But while I was back home this week, I got to visit with/hold Baby P on three separate occasions, the first time being when he was a mere 12 hours old. I even helped put on his first non-hospital-issued outfit. He never freaked out once. It was like some sort of miracle. I'm not saying I have baby fever now or anything, but I don't think I'm utterly terrified of them anymore. I am totally excited about getting to be the cool auntie who spoils him (which already started when he was in utero).