AESTHETIC DALLIANCES: My Heart Belongs to Mimsy. For Now.

newborn mim with her rat-ified aunt

Another unexpected but welcomed change that came along while newly pregnant, was finding out that I was also about to be an aunt. This piece of news was a surprise, but filled with plenty of happiness and excitement for my quickly-growing kid sister. If only I lived a little closer to her, the two babies would have ready-made playmates and cousins all rolled into one!

I remember the thrill of seeing the ultrasounds, and generally hearing about all the things I'd shortly be going through ahead of time. When I first arrived in Texas, a few days before Thanksgiving, I even got to feel the little brat squirming around in Carla's belly. That was pretty neat, but nothing prepared me for the utter excitement of finding out Carla was expecting a girl!

Caaa & Mom at her baby shower last September

Our family is full of girls, which guaranteed that everyone would not only fawn over the little-she, but get to feel the matriarchy was once again being passed on. Plus, if you know Carla and her husband, the speculation as to the baby's physical appearance was something approaching that of Suri Cruise or Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.

the celebrities

the real star

Lucky for Caaa, Ava Sophia (who I like to call Mim, Mimsy or Mimsica, depending on my mood) came nowhere near disappointing, and actually beat the competition out if you ask me. My mom and sister joke that I held her more than Carla at times during the first weeks of her life. If you had a niece as cute and happy as her, you'd want to as well.

Mother's say nothing prepares you for the overwhelming, all-encompassing love you feel the first time you see your child. If that's true, then it's also true that nobody ever even talks about the love you feel as a first-time aunt. As soon as I walked into that hospital room last November and saw her, I knew: My Heart Belonged to Mimsy. In a way it had never belonged to anyone before.

Once he got to meet her, I think Uncle Matt felt the same way.

At that point, Ludovictus was still relatively unwilling to make his presence known in terms of uteran kicking power, so it was a little hard to feel as strong of a connection with him as I did with the fiendishly cute, squirming and breathing, little Mim. (I have to admit, I wondered at my own maternal instinct!) But actually, seeing Caaa go through the first couple of months of life with Mimsy and getting to share in the diapers, the picking of clothes, the dancing and dallying with the midget, made me even more excited and desperate for April to come around. In the meantime, I also got to use the new creation as a guinea pig for my new baby gear.

Baby Bjorn, how I love thee...

The only thing in the world that can even approach the beauty and excitement that comes with waiting for your own progeny to arrive into the world is seeing someone you love have a baby too. And then spoiling the heck out of that baby until yours comes along (and probably thereafter anyway). :)