Aunthood

It was the end of summer 2010 when I became a freshly-minted aunt.  That day, I had just finished moving into the foreign language housing at BYU after spending a summer studying abroad in France.  I was beginning my junior year at college in one of the tiniest rooms I've ever shared, and without my involvement or permission, my family had just begun an entirely new generation.

Thanks to PDF, I now had a new calling, a new title.  That of aunthood.  One of my roommates at the time would bemoan those friends with nieces and nephews who insisted on sharing pictures all around, so EVERYONE could benefit from the cuteness of their sibling's progeny.  Ugh, so annoying right? "Oh, I probably won't be like that," I reassured her, only to then bound in her bedroom with even fresher newborn photos and tell her, "Sorry, but just look at how cute he is in this one picture."  That was Nephew #1.  N1.

I found out that Nephew #2 (N2) would be a boy the same week I was hired at my bakery job in AZ.  As I was getting to know people and we approached a lull in the conversation, I excitedly related how I would be getting another little nephew.  So that gave us 8 more seconds of conversational fodder.  When he was finally born, I took advantage of every opportunity to show my coworkers and friends JUST HOW CUTE my two little nephews were.  If my sister posted a new adorable instagram of N1/N2, people would be seeing it. And hearing about it, whether they wanted to or not.

And just like that, these little boys made me into the annoying friend my roommate had warned me not to become.  Like I even cared.  This was it.  Being an aunt allowed me to enjoy kids without changing diapers, having to discipline them, or worrying about paying for their college education.  Plus, if they started to being annoying, I could just give them back.  It was like I just skipped parenthood and made it to grandmother status while still in my 20's, but without all the pregnancies.

I definitely have my qualms about motherhood, and while children are not even ON my radar for the time being, aunthood allows me to enjoy the perks while still being selfish and spending all my money on myself.  Thanks, little guys. 

This night here, as I cuddled them both in the recliner while we finished watching "Up", I felt so lucky.  There they were, all cute in their jammies, sleep in their eyes, their fingers curled around mine.  I didn't need them to be my own because I was perfectly content to be the fun Uncle Beepyhead.

So I'll be around for tickling and hide-and-seek (which right now just entails us sitting on the floor in a dark closet together), for bedtime stories and playing cars and making cookies, and hopefully when Niece #1 arrives (or as she's come to be known around these parts, Egg) that will also entail sleepover parties and girl talk and painting our nails.

This is too hilarious for me.  

Kind of sort of learning what Bingo is all about

Perpetually drool-stained down the front

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse requires the utmost concentration

 

This was *THE* track of all tracks, in case you can't tell

 Popeye wink ;)

So, yeah. I don't need to be a mom right now.  I'll just be an aunt.  

P.S.  Do you see that puddle on the floor? That's where my heart melted all over everywhere.