Guest Post: Becoming An Aunty!

Lauren and her cute nephew Joey-Tyler

There's one thing I knew for sure before becoming an Aunty, and that is we are as species lower down the pecking order than Parents and Grandparents. Even in today's commercial age, where you can send a Christmas Card to the Dog or a Valentine's to your Mum, when it comes to babys, it's the Mummys, Daddy's, Nanny's and Grandad's that are celebrated, and rightly so.

But that aside I still became an Aunty in 2012, and before baby was born I had a lot on my mind. I was wondering what I would be like with a baby, what sort of role Aunty's are supposed to play, whether I'd bond with baby, especially as I'd had nothing to do with boys, all pretty natural I guess, but for me very new. None of my Aunty's and Uncles live locally, and while we are closer as a family to some than others, we don't see a whole lot of them. My sister however lives down the road, so baby was going to very much be a part of our lives. One thing I did like the sound of though was the much quoted idea that Aunty's get to do all the fun bits, then give the baby back! I am not a nappy person!

Baby Joey Tyler arrived in November, and is of course, very very cute. He is 4 months now, and growing, developing, gurgling, touching his toes, and starting to look around, take everything in, and hold his toys. It will seem very new again when he is a walking, talking boy, but for now I think I am getting the hang of being an Aunty. So here's a few things I have learned:

It's impossible to keep to a normal voice for long, without injecting a healthy dose of baby speak and over enthused singing!
It's also hard to keep a smile from my face when baby Joey responds to me, or a look of awe when he does something I haven't seen before.
I felt a big sense of statisfaction when I soothed a grouchy Joey the other day and sent him off to sleep.
You really can enjoy the fun things, and give baby back, if like me you're not very good at winding!!
Even though I have never really been maternal, I know my nephew will grow up with plenty of Aunty love and cuddles.

My sister having a baby has to be one of the biggest things I have had to get used to, but it's definitely one of the most interesting as well. How have you felt with a new baby in your life? are you a new mum or Aunty? why not share your experiences below.

Hayley's Thoughts:

I first became an Aunty 5 and a half years ago when my sister gave birth to my niece Amelie.

I was SO excited to become an Aunty as I have always loved children, but wasn't quite ready to have one myself - so the thought of my sister having one was ideal...as it meant I got to have cute baby cuddles but give her back at the end of the day!

Amelie and I

I grew up with 9 Aunties (4 blood relations, and the rest related by marriage to my Uncles!) - I was particularly close to 2 of them and still am today. So I understood the role of an Aunty (At least what it should be in my mind) quite well, and was very much looking forward to it!

I loved spending time with Amelie and watching her grow up, we have always been close and - not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but she has always had fun with me and thought I was pretty hilarious! ;) I love being the silly, fun Aunty!

Now, 5 and a half years on, I'm still very close to Amelie - in fact in some ways she almost seems more like an extra little sister than a niece, as she's not afraid to answer me back or argue with me!!! She calls me "Hazel" rather than Aunty Hayley(Its our "In joke" - for some reason she's "Windmill" and I'm "Hazel"....?!!).

The Amazing Amelie & Helpful Hayley Magic Show!

I now have a second niece, Lottie-Marie, who has just turned 3 - Lottie is equally as adorable as Amelie, but she does call me Aunty Hayley and our relationship is more the traditional Aunty/Niece one I think...perhaps just because she's younger!

Lottie getting her makeover from Aunty Hayley!

All in all though, I LOVE being an Aunty! I'm sure it must be extremely different from being a Mum - my sister is always getting annoyed with me for giving my nieces too many sweets, refusing to ever tell them off and allowing them to play with my make up and nail varnish when they come to visit me - but I know that once Bean arrives, she'll be just the same with him!!

After all - Aunties are SUPPOSED to be silly!!!