Adley Sue Dawson

I'm an aunt again! Truth be told, she is one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this here blog. Any spare chance I get I'm sneaking over to my brother and sister-in-law's to see if Adley needs a quick auntie squeeze. But alas, it's time to devote a blog entry to this little girl that's been the talk of the town around here.

Last Tuesday they induced my sis-in-law because she had signs showing she would probably get pre-eclampsia if the doc had her wait until her due date. So they headed into the hospital and both sides of the family camped out in the waiting room.

Everyone but Zach and the kiddos, it was going to be a long day/night.

How we wait in the new age: my dad and sister.

We saw the doc go in and knew it was getting close.

After a few more hours we heard the chimes (the nurses play a little tune when a baby's born) and a nurse friend of mine caught my eye and gave me a thumbs up-we knew the chimes were for us. For my brother and sister-in-law, for their new family. And that's when we got ridiculously excited waiting for my brother to come out, for the first time, as a new dad.

A staged photo of how we'd surely look once we saw my brother's face.

The aunties, arguably the most excited.

The grandmas...ok, maybe they were the most excited.

And then it was time, I saw my baby brother coming through the window and alerted the troops. And this was his face. From the quietest person I've ever met in my life, happiness was written all over his persons.

After the grandma's, it was the auntie's turn. Boy was it pure joy holding her. She was beautiful right from the start.

 Auntie Katie

 Hotflawedmama, one smitten aunt!

 Aunt KK

 Adley's own Red Tent

And the new proud family.

The next day the SUPER excited cousins got to see Adley for the first time through the nursery windows. It wasn't as great as if they got to hold her but it did hold them off for a bit.

I've mentioned before how much I love being an aunt, and boy do I! I must say it's slightly different when it comes from someone I've known basically my whole life. Watching my baby brother become a daddy has been one of the coolest things I've experienced in my short life. Both exhilirating and scary, if I'm to be honest. I've spent the better part of my life trying to protect him and now there's really no point. For the rest of his life he'll be walking around with his heart on his sleeve, at his most vulnerable. That's how it is as a parent, right? At our weakest and strongest simultaneously? I've enjoyed seeing the strength from my brother, and it's made me nervous as hell to see him this vulnerable too.

Because I already see it in his eyes, he'd do anything for this tiny little human. I'm pretty sure she's managed to create quite the little army of people who love her and would do anything to protect her.

One of those people is definitely me. I love her already. And it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she has my (and by "my" I mean "my brother's") nose. :)