And With Those Words, 3 Aunts Were Born

My sister is preggo!!! With a baby girl!!! I'm going to be an aunt for real!!!

There is only way to respond to this news, with a zillion exclamation points and loud shrieking and jumping around the house.

I'm a firm believer that the reactions we're required to have here are a bit over the top. Of course I was excited to find out my sister is pregnant. But I felt even more pressure to provide the expected reaction, really put on a show, more than I do when anyone else tells me they're having a baby. I felt like Miranda in that Sex and the City when she got the sonogram to reveal the gender and Miranda was just like, oh, okay, and the sonogram tech shamed her into being loud and over the top excited. Can't we just have normal reactions without our excitement, or lack of, being cause for judgement?

Sometimes I forget my sister is pregs. I'll be catching up w/ an old friend or colleague and fill them on on the normal summertime shenanigans we've been up to. Then I remember and blurt it out loudly, trying to make up for the lapse, "Maureen's pregnant!" Or I'll be talking to my pregnant sister and only after we hang up do I realize we didn't even talk about the pregnancy. 

Part of this is because we were under strict instruction not to tell anyone until very recently, but part of it is because it just doesn't seem real yet. My sister? Having a baby? That's some grown-up business.

This must be how future fathers feel. Women become a mother the instant they find out they're pregnant, but it's not real for men until they hold their kid for the first time. I wonder when I'll officially be Aunt Brig. The first time I see her? Hold her? When I make her laugh? The first time she says my name? I'm so excited for these and all the other firsts, and even more excited to miss the more unsavory ones, like the first time she has crazy exploding diaper diarrhea. 

Full disclosure, I'm also pretty pumped for another reason to visit Chicago. My sisters and I are headed there in September for the shower. I know we're there to help with whatever Mo needs, but it can't hurt to have a few good restaurants and bars on tap for when all the baby stuff is wrapped up, right? This will probably be the last sisters reunion sans kids for a long time; I plan to make it a good one. 

cheers to Chi-town reunions