Being Auntie Lizzy

I hate complaining, because I really love my life....but, one the things that I would change if I could is how far away I live from my neice and nephews. I've been made even more aware of the distance since last week. My newest nephew, Sean William Bates was born on October 3rd, 5 weeks early! He was the same size that I was when I was born: 5 lbs 11 oz. Well, I was 1 oz heftier. He is the most darling little newborn. Check out how happy Juniper is to have a little brother:



This news and the e-photos made me so happy. But I'm also sad, because I can't snuggle him...or as Juniper would say, "noggle" him.

I did get to noggle with Juniper and play with Evan this summer after the wedding in Michigan. Alex and Amy went on a little getaway for their 10th anniversary. Since my mom took off on her medical mission to Honduras, I got to babysit Evan and Juniper. We had a great time, and I love thinking back on these happy memories. Forgive me for sharing some of them.

I was reminded of the sleep interruptions that parents endure, and while these were minor, I did feel pretty tired at times! I actually enjoyed getting wakened by sweet little Juniper. The first night she woke up crying so I went to hold her and comfort her. When she had stopped crying she didn't want to be put in her bed-- she wanted to "noggle" more. Way to melt my heart, Juni! So she came in my bed. She fell asleep but then I couldn't because I was acutely aware of her presence, so I lay there awake for a while and eventually took her back. The next night I heard her crying again. I went into her room and to her crib, but she wasn't standing in her crib. She was still asleep and was crying out, "Hep me! Hep me!" It was the saddest thing ever. So I just stayed there and rubbed her back until she stopped crying. Her little nightmare just broke my heart.

We did have some great play time too. We went to the park, where Evan was king of the gnomes, and we were worker gnomes. Evan and Juniper rode together to the park and read a book on weird Japanese inventions. Juniper learned to climb up the twisty slide all by herself and when I commended her for it she explained, " I tough."




I made a lot of PB sandwiches those few days. One day I asked Evan if he wanted his cut into a triangle or a rectangle. After some consideration he chose a rectangle. When I presented it to him, he looked at it and said, "Umm....Lizzy? This is NOT a rectangle." Surprised, I inquired as to what it was then. He responded, "Rectangles are flat. This, is a rectangular prism." When I told my dad he was pleased as punch. Little math genius in the making.

We went to the water park. Evan braved the big kid slides and diving board, while Juniper had a blast on this cute froggy slide. She wasn't tall enough for the big kid slides and because she's so tough, she was not too pleased about that. My dad came from work and joined us. We topped off the awesome day with a fine meal at McDonald's. My dad asked Juniper for a bite of her ice cream cone and she firmly responded, " No."



We went and saw the movie, Surf's Up, played a lot of legos, played pirates and ate ice cream sandwiches. And we went on a little shopping trip, during which both kids got to pick a toy. This decision was inspired by Juniper who was following me down the aisle at one point, and the next thing I knew, she was gone. I turned around to go find her, but within moments she came flying around the corner holding a toy, with a huge smile on her face. She had found the toy of her dreams.


She didn't let go of her "mubber ticken" the rest of the time I was with them. It made me crack up that she loved it so much. Evan picked a pretty cool sword, meant for the swimming pool.

Sigh....can't wait to see them in a few months. By that time maybe Sean will be able to see a little better, and smile.