Presents

This last Christmas, we had a gift exchange with my sister and brother-in-law before they went to visit his family in Ontario. I was at first a little disappointed that they wouldn't be spending Christmas Eve or day with us, but happy to have a present a few days early. Their present to me was really awesome, as I mentioned before, but there was a present that they gave the whole family that was definitely better. They gave dad a present, which was a frame. I thought it was a wedding picture, because I knew that Marni was planning to give them one to put on the wall, but then I noticed that dad was looking at it more closely, like he was trying to figure something out. He then read what was written inside the frame: (I don't remember the exact wording now, Marni you can correct me) "We wanted to put a picture in this frame, but it's still being developed and won't be ready until August 2011". I knew even before he finished reading it, what it meant. I turned to my brother and nearly screamed "Do you know what this means?!". By then we were all in tears. One of my biggest dreams was coming true -- I am going to be an auntie! Even now, as I am writing this five weeks after the fact, I am tearing up.
I always told my sister that she had to have kids before me, because I wanted to be an aunt before I was a mom. In fact, I had been pestering her a bit in the months and weeks previous, trying to convince her that having a little Marni or James around would be lots of fun. I offered discounts on great books for the baby, lots of presents, and my services as the number one babysitter. I had just begun to convince myself that it wasn't about me, and that I could wait until the time was right for them. I am so, so glad that I don't have to wait much longer now though!
In six months, there will be a new little baby in our family. My first niece or nephew, the first grandchild.   It's still so weird to think that my sister is having a baby, but I am seriously beyond excited. And now even more excited that I can actually share the news!
And, the other day I bought my very first gift for the baby. It was really hard to restrain it to one, but of course the pile will continue to grow!

Even though I think the little one is a girl, I picked a gender-neutral colour so as not to jinx it. Finally I will have someone to mould in my image, since I couldn't have younger siblings.