The metamorphisis from plain old sister to bright shining funny amazing aunt

It is a funny thing to be the oldest sibling.  No matter how old your younger siblings get, they are still younger and thus, less wise than you (heh).  As the oldest, I've experienced most things first; shaving my legs, first kisses, going to college, getting married, having a baby and all along the way I've been able to very wisely dispense my wealth of knowledge of these subjects...but there is one thing that they both beat me to; one thing I have absolutely no experience in; being an aunt.  It's amazing to me to watch how they have gone from my baby sisters to these women who easily morphed into caretakers and nuturers.  I see the way they light up around my son; the way they laugh at everything he does even if its naughty or whiny.  How they make up silly games to play with him.  I know what it is like to be a mother, but I have now idea what it feels like to be aunt.  So I asked,

I haven't noticed a difference, surprisingly, between being a sister & being my sister's son's Aunt. The only thing I can say is that it is easy. Easy to love Greyson, easy to think about him all day long and easy to still be a sister. I thought, maybe, it might be hard to juggle being an Aunt, a sister and a friend. Truth is, it's not hard at all. I love it. I don't have to try to be anything, I just am. I have never been as close to anyone as I am with my two sisters. I would do anything for them and I know they would travel the universe if I simply needed a hug. And I have never loved anything like Greyson Rudy. Quite honestly, I'm not that great with kids. Until Greyson I have never had a baby crawl to me or raise their tiny arms for me to hold them. It makes me feel like crying actually. Haha. It feels good to be so loved by something so tiny and adorable. We have only known eachother for about 10 months, but I love him just the same as my sisters. And yes, if he needed a hug...I would travel four universes to be there for him. Anyday.
-Tasha, better known as Aunt Uch

It's a hard thing to explain. I started wanting (I mean reaaally wanting) to be an aunt the moment Tab's foot stepped on the aisle of the church, the day her and Brandon were married. From that day on my thoughts, hopes and wishes were devoted to Tab and Brandon deciding to grace me with a nephew. Then, one day Tab gave me wings. Literally. I jumped about 7 feet in the air when I saw the plus sign in the photograph of her positive pregnancy test. Let the countdown begin!

The next few months were the longest of my life. I spent hours daydreaming of what it would be like when Greyson Rudy got here. My prayers were answered on my way home from a volleyball game. A voicemail left from my mother, moments before i checked my phone, frantic " we can't wait, were leaving in 5 minutes, THE BABY IS COMING!!!" I couldve passed out, I called my boss, tiny whimpers escaping my throat, "i wont be in tomorrow, Tab is having her babyyyy!" I made it home in record time. sweating, panting, crying, laughing. "thank god youre still here! lets go!" my parents and I piled in the car, close to ten o'clock at night, and b-lined it to the hospital.

Once the endless drive was over, we spent a sleepless night at the hospital (my apologies of being mellow dramatic Tab, I realize my night was nothing compared to yours). The text finally came "He's Here!" followed by a picture message; I have never seen so many adults fight over a cellphone before in my life.

Once we got the ok to go to the room, the guys waltzed causally with big smiles on their faces while us women did that half shuffle/half run with little floaty hearts drifting out of our heads. When I first saw Boo Boo all i could think to do was laugh.

Thats pretty much all Ive been doing since hes been here. Hes cool, really cool. my life has changed because I have one more person to add to the list of people that I live for. People that make my life better just because they are alive. A three hour drive is nothing to watch him do his little dances or to see him look up at me with that heart melting, half smirk.

I have to agree with Tasha describing aunthood as being easy. Its the most seamless transition Ive ever made in my life and by far the best title Ive ever had. I love him every second of the day, I show complete strangers the background of my phone (Grey, duh) I could go on for hours talking about his laugh, or his curly little mohawk. Hes the best. and he is surrounded by not only the two, coolest, most loving parents that I know (or the two prettiest, funniest aunts ;) ) but he also has a ginormous list of family, by blood or choice, friends, cousins, and literally complete strangers that would move mountains for him to make his life easier, safer and heartfelt. He adds love everywhere he goes, and I couldnt be more thankful for him<3

-Kayla, better known as Aunt Kitty

The difference between a mother and an aunt is a great one. Not only do aunts get to return children to their rightful owners at the end of the day; but even better they will get to know my kids in a different way than me. They'll get all the laughs and fun times without any of the discipline and worrying if they are becoming upstanding citizens of the world.  They'll get all the high fives and fun trips without any of the doctor's appointments and parent teacher conferences.  My kids will feel comfortable enough to go to my sisters with details of their life that will be way too uncomfortable to talk about with their boring, OLD mom (who obviously never experienced life before they existed.) They will get to feed them chocolate cake before bedtime and then send them home to me. They will be able to say "yes, as long as you don't tell your mom I said you could." 

Kayla & Tasha - You may have beat me to aunthood, but I'll get my payback sometime in the future when you start making cute little curly haired mohawk babies of your own.  And just as I trust that you will dole out solid moral advice to my babies as they ask you all of those things in the future that they don't think I have any clue about - I promise to do the same for your future babies' questions...Embarassing stories about you kept to a minimum, of course.  (um, yea right.)