A big thanks to Disney Babyfor sponsoring this post and theDisney Baby “Little Character” Contest.
I have a very large, complex family and have a niece who is older than I am, so I was an aunt before I was even born. I grew up surrounded by other children and babies, and have been been a baby lover since I was practically a baby myself. I’ve always known that I want to become a mother some day, and while I am still at least a few years away from being ready, I was so thankful to get to experience the birth of my nephew Drew in August of 2010. When my sister invited me into the delivery room with her, I was thinking it would be a great experience seems how I will someday be there myself, and the idea of giving birth while knowing basically nothing about the process is scary. I expected it to be an emotional experience but it was so much more than I anticipated. While I am close with most of my siblings, Drew’s mom is the closest in age to me and is also my only sibling who has the same mom and dad as me, so our relationship is a bit different than the rest. My sister had broken two ribs while pregnant, so although she had an epidural, she was still in a lot of pain because of her ribs. They had her in a position where she was essentially doing a crunch which wasn’t ideal at all given her broken ribs and it was a very emotionally intense situation to watch her in so much pain. Time went by really slowly and it seemed like he would never be born and then, there he was. My first thoughts upon seeing him where “Oh my god. There he is. He’s really here.” A few minutes later I realized how silly this thought was. Of COURSE he was here, this is what we had been waiting on for 9 months. Yet, in the moment it was still surprising.

They cleaned the baby up and allowed our other family members into the room to check him out. I sat in a chair while everyone passed the baby around for probably close to an hour when my aunt asked me if I had held him yet and was shocked when I said no. I think I spent that entire first hour just processing the entire thing! It was a beautiful, intense, MAGICAL experience unlike anything else. I would encourage anyone who has the chance to see a live birth to do so, it’s so unlike anything else I had ever experienced and am so grateful that my sister allowed me to be apart of it.

Now just a couple of months shy of 2, my nephew still amazes me regularly. I babysit him at least once a week and for the last several months, each time I see him he is saying a new word or two that I hadn’t heard him say before. It’s amazing how quickly he picks up language and he is so curious, sweet and funny. It’s odd that just 2 short years ago he wasn’t a part of my life. As he grows and learns, I watch more and more of the “baby” slip away and more of a toddler and big boy emerge. Regardless of age, I look forward to all of his magical moments to come.

If you have had a magical moment with a baby (ages newborn-24 months) check out the Disney Baby ‘Little Character’ Contest. Five winners will get a prize package that includes huggies diapers and will be entered to win the grand prize which is a $10,000 scholarship! The contest ends today (june 18th) so enter fast. Details about the contest can be found here.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

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