My sister and I have always been extremely close. Since we were young, we would talk about remaining close and living near each other forever. We always planned on having children around the same time, and raising them to be close just like us. Unfortunately, life can sometimes get in the way of your childhood plans. My big sister, Nicole, lives in Phoenix, and I live in the Bay Area. All this means, is that we will have to work a little harder to keep our children close.
When she told me that she was pregnant, after trying for quite sometime, it was such an exciting moment! While my children are very blessed to have three cousins living close by, I was more than eager for them to have a cousin from my side of the family as well! And to find out that her due date was right around the same day as my baby girl Shayne’s first birthday, made it that much more special!
As much as I wanted to be ready to hop on an airplane the day my baby nephew was born, and be there to greet him and support my sister and brother-in-law, since I have two small children of my own, this was not much of an option for me. We decided to go as a family, and set a date shortly after her due date. We were planning on getting a hotel near them, but my sister insisted that she really wanted the company and that we stay with them.
While traveling to Phoenix in June is not an ideal vacation spot, we made the most of the heat, and had a wonderful time. Luckily, Nicole has a pool in her backyard, so we were able to cool off whenever we wanted to.
They also live close to park with a fishing pond, a public pool, and a playground, where we took Kolton a few times in the mornings, before it would get too unbearably hot.
Shayne was content staring at my sister’s cat, Jackson and her yellow lab, Bailey. She would get so excited anytime either of them would walk by her. She would laugh hysterically, and squeal with delight! Jackson loved the attention, and would come around Shayne all the time for love and scraps of food.
We spent most of our time indoors though, staring at my adorable nephew, Fletcher.
He was only two weeks old at the time of our visit, and cute and cuddly beyond belief. I miss his sweet baby smell and adorable expressions.
Kolton was so sweet with his new baby cousin and always wanted to be near him. He was very gentle and loving. It reminded me how lucky I am to have such a sweet boy since he was the same way with Shayne when she was born.
Watching my sister as a new mom reminded me of just why I have spent most of my life looking up to her. She is such a natural and has so much love to give her baby boy. We are so blessed to still have such a close relationship, which is growing even closer with motherhood experiences to share. I love that she comes to me for advice, especially since I have been going her to advice since were young girls. I am looking forward to our families growing together. We are already trying to plan family vacations to make sure our children are very close, despite the miles between us.
xoxo
Danielle (Proud Auntie)
