What Being a Third Child is Like

This past weekend I babysat my niece who had a complete meltdown and scared me half to death with weird sobbing and twitching-like spasms. So obviously I consulted the higher power of the internets to see whether or not this was normal, to which I found a thread that basically read like this "my first kid did it, freaked out and went to the ER. My second kid does it too. Nothing to worry about."

Which got me thinking to how differently parents raise their kids as they become more comfortable at being parents and immune to "firsts" (love the commercial above).

Below is a snapshot of how my parents responded by the time they became pros at parenting and my two older sisters had allllllll been-there-and-done-that:

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:

10 Thoughts While Making Finger Puppets

Last week my sister and I put together an easter basket for the wee-little-one (my niece). It's actually kind of hard putting things into an easter basket for a kid that won't really know what to do with half the stuff in there... but one of the things i decided that would possibly be fun/stimulating(?) for her were homemade felt finger puppets! That, and, let's be real- more fun for me to make. =P

My First Stab at Changing a Diaper

Now that i'm an aunt (huzzah!) today i changed my first diaper! Kind of. sort of? okay not really. But it's a learning process!

A started crying and my sister who was napping asked "can you change her?" And i said "sure!" So i placed A gently on the changing table and undid her diaper...

Labor Day Weekend- A Glimpse into the Future

Today for labor day, i went over to a house for a bbq where most, if not all, were married and had children. And as i sat there with 3 children, 1 baby, and 2 toddlers running around, i thought to myself "omg. where is the alcohol..."

Doula / Dude-la

Since my sister is having a baby, naturally almost every conversation during dinner leads to a topic about babies. My sister is thinking of having a natural, no-epidural birth. Jokingly, her husband told her he didn't think she could do it! and so my sister countered back, "FINE. I NEED SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME. IM GOING TO GET A DOULA!"everyone stopped talking and stared at her. A what???