The Minkz

Sassy McSasstern

Tomorrow is Sass' fifteenth birthday.  What a year it has been for my dear mostly sweet little niece.  The evalution of her birthday celebrations has been quite a ride.  I remember the tiny tea party, the petting zoo party, the cooking party, the first slumber party, and every birthday in between.  One of these days Sarah will realize how lucky she is to have a family that loves and cares for her as much as we do.  But hell I remember 15 and seriously family was the last thing on my mind.  One benefit of moving is she cannot attack me with her teenage angst for posting this awesome photo I found of her.

Happy Birthday Sarah we are proud of the person you are growing to be even if at times we've wanted to drown you in a mud puddle. 

Love, Aunt Megs, Uncle Bob & Noah

The Mini Mushes

Time has flown by and the Mini is almost one.  I haven't seen her since January but this has been tiding me over.  It  completely slays me.  I'm going to miss her first birthday and I'll probably never recover from the self inflicted Jewish guilt. 

Cutie Patooties

These are my roommate from college's kids.  They are at the Chicago Cubs Spring Training camp, training with the team as you can see.

Isn't she lovely

Today I had the most lovely day with my SarahBug.  She was for the first time in a long time the little niece I have loved to spend time with.  Unfortunately I was also reminded that she is no longer that little girl who used to crack me up by wearing flip up sunglasses and reciting lines from The Lion King.  Instead we spent lunchtime discussing how she should apply herself completely to school, get into a great college and kick ass.  We went to the movies afterwards and as the previews wrapped up Sass folded herself into her seat and rested her head on my shoulder and I was reminded of the heart exploding love I have for this kid even when she drives me nuts.  Sarah thank you for reminding me that you still love me inspite of it all.

Frightday

This morning at 12:33 our phone rang.  It was my sister calling from Stanford Hospital where Matt had been taken after being involved in a frightening car accident.  Matt is fine; shaken, bruised and stitched he'll not forget this day anytime soon and nor will his family.  I don't know what we'd do without our Matty, but Iknow a lesson has been learned today.  A painful live changing lesson.

Crackin' Crab

Today I waited two hours for fresh cracked crab and it was totally worth it.  After much debate, consideration and deliberation it was decided that we’d host Christmas Eve dinner again and have a crab feed.  This turned out to be the best and easiest meal ever.  Since we took care of picking up the crab before noon and since it was already cooked, cleaned and cracked we were free to play rather than slave around the kitchen all day.  So I of course went to my annual Christmas Eve movie with Matt & Sass.  However this year Matt drove (scary) and Sarah checked her text messages ever 7 minutes (not at all surprising).   I was slightly shocked they were willing to partake in continuing this tradition and they were equally shocked I could go to the movies with them considering we had 12 people coming for dinner.  I have learned to treasure these brief moments I get with them as I know they will soon be off to college and not interested in doing anything with me.  Dinner was a huge hit, everyone loved that the crab shells could be tossed on the table and since I covered the table in plastic, clean up was a snap.  Now if we can just get some sleep tonight…

EWWW

This is a test....

This morning it was clearly evident that the Mini had taken the liberty of filling her diaper and I offered to change it*.  I got the extra liner for the changing pad and took four wipes from the pack in preparation and let me tell you nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for the carnage in that diaper.  The Mom was called in for reinforcement once the poop was on my hand.  But really I could have handled it on my own but I do believe this was a test of my Auntie aptitude plotted by the parents in advance.  I am sure they got a good laugh out of my "eww there is poop on my hands" comment. 

*Alex is still trying to figure out why I would do such a stupid thing. 

We're going to Disneyland

Disclaimer I personally do not care for Disneyland but the chance to go with 4 kids was just too much to pass us.  I adore watching the wee ones at the Magic Kingdom and cannot wait to see their little faces light up at the sights and sounds.  Oh the fun we shall have!

Sucka

Reason number 4,573, 291 why I am not qualified to be a parent.  I am a complete sucker, mothafuckers!  Sarah called me twice, first at home and then on my mobile which was a sure sign something was up.  She never calls anymore unless she needs something.  But I am okay with it, she's a teenager afterall.  I was that way too if not worse.    Some syrupy conversation ensued followed by the bomb, would I please spend the night with them this weekend so she and Matt would not have to go to Tahoe* with their parents, WHAA! Life is soo tough, they are so abused, neglected and overworked who would ever want to go to Tahoe anyways???    Of course I said yes and proceeded to tell Sarah she better buy me a sweet gift cause I am that mature.

*Let's see how they feel about Tahoe after the house is finished.

Introducing the Mini

The Mini has made her debut which means I need to stop calling her Mini and use her name.  Yes, she has a name and she is cute, cute, cute.  Chunky baby fat abounds!  I've had a hard time getting my mind around all of this as I don't cope with stress and well, labor & delivery are very stressful especially for the absentee aunt who suffers from OCD.  I also took a long ride on the emotional roller coaster too once she arrived.  I couldn't look at picture of her or talk to Michelle without bursting into tears.  This is the first time ever I've wanted to live in Southern California, how very selfish of me.

Now I am in awe of this little being who last weekend I watched kick the shit out of her mom's ribs from the inside.  Now she is here for everyone to admire and oh do they, that is how cute she is.   I'll admit to being a tad bit worried way down in my guts about how my princess pup would react to being knocked off the pedestal by her new roommate.  But I hear she's doing just fine.  The pedestal apparently has enough room for the two of them!    I've warned the 'rents I'm about to become a baby whore just like my sister.

Welcome to the world Daniella, you are truly loved.