Things I'm Learning as an Aunt

Whoever said that you need to have your own baby to understand motherhood is partially wrong. As a new auntie (almost 9 months) I'm learning loads about childrearing. Here are some things I've come to learn:

1) Babies are TIRING- Talk about sucking the life out of you. Sometimes I'll go and relieve my sister of mommy duties so she can do other mommy duties like clean the house. Even though I'm only there for a couple of hours I basically go home feeling like I stayed up all night long. I don't know what it is about babies.. they just... IS THIS WHY MY MOM LOOKS TIRED ALL THE TIME?!

basically me after a couple of hours of babysitting

2) You need to be creative- Do you know how hard it is to keep a baby entertained? In an effort to keep flashy objects and gadgets away (and possibly prevent early ADD), it's back to the basics. Talk about making your creative juices flow. You would think that a baby, who doesn't know any better, would be entertained by any toy... but no.

3) The smallest things can be the most entertaining- When she finally realized that I was trying to grab her attention by rotating the same toys, she started crawling away. GET BACK HERE BABY. and then I found out that she likes closing the lid of a box.... what??? mind blown. So for the next 10 minutes I opened the box and she closed it. It was so basic....so repetitive.... she loved it.

4) You can overpack and still leave out essentials- One time we took my niece out to the park....and all i have to say is that diaper bags are just like mary poppins' bag: oh is she going to be cold? here's a blanket. What if it's hot? here's a lighter blanket. Did you pack the milk? Do we need to take extra clothes? Let's take some snacks- adult and baby. Do we have drinks? Where's the stroller? and even after all of that, you still forget to pack important things.

5) They grow right before your eyes- babies remind me of those toys that start off real small and then you put them in the water and they grow. It's amazing. One week she's on her stomach, the next week she's chubbier and sitting up.

6) Baby drooling is OK- When my niece drools on me, it's like kind of gross, but kind of adorable, but kind of not, but kind of like water, but really it's spit... but it's okay. You just wipe away and continue going on with life. But if a grown person drooled on me, there will be problems.

7) Free time is PRECIOUS- I used to feel bad about myself when my mom called me and was all like " ARE YOU WATCHING TV?! STOP WASTING YOUR LIFE". But then after helping my sister take care of the baby I realized that this is the only time i get to waste my life and relax. Pastors say that God wants you to relish in your single life... I totally get it now (lolololjk. #thatsnotwhatGodreallymeans).

And lastly

8) You have one objective, and only one: Keep baby happy- The "life code" is supposedly "happy wife, happy life", but that's all lies. It's really "happy baby, sane life". One time I held my niece for 3 hours so she wouldn't cry. My back hurt and my arms were sore, but that didn't matter because, ya know, baby was happy and NOT crying.  :)