A Celebratory 100th Post

I can't believe this crept up on me so fast. I can't believe I've written 100 posts since March... nuts. (Although really, this isn't shocking; the LiveJournal I kept for years amassed almost 1200 entries in about 4 years.) In celebration of this momentous occasion, I've got a big announcement...

I'm going to be an Aunt!

I can finally let the cat out of the bag; my sister had told me weeks ago, but I was sworn to secrecy to keep it from our parents. Over Thanksgiving, they did the reveal to both sets of parents, and told their friends this past weekend. The gag order has been lifted and I'm really happy to write about it here. Our parents are of course very excited; Spud will be the first grandchild for them.

For the sake of anonymity in this blog, I'll be referring to my sister as Otter, her husband as Thor, and the baby as Spud (their name for the lil' rascal, not mine). Mom-to-be is healthy, glowing, and due in the end of June, which fits her school-year scheduled life perfectly. A lil background: my sister is 8 years older than me and they've been married for 8 years now. Thor is a totally awesome brother-in-law, and they have been gracious caretakers to one of our cats, Clio, when my current job didn't allow pets.

Here's the super-weird-almost-cosmic way I found out... Ari and I were only back from Japan a matter of days when I had a very vivid dream where Otter walked up to me on the street and told me she was 8 weeks pregnant. She also told me it was a little girl and was naming it my maternal grandmother's first and middle names. We hugged, I was excited, I woke up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night, not entirely sure if that was even real. I went back to sleep and told Ari about it the next morning. He thought that was a weird dream too.

So I IM'd her the next day, asking her how she was feeling and telling her about that funny dream I had the night before. My office phone starts ringing and it's my sister. We never call each other during the work day. After a little chit chat, she confesses she really IS pregnant, but only about 5 weeks. I am sworn to secrecy.

Freaky, huh?

But now that's she's out of the preggo closet, I'm happy to spread the news, b/c I'm wicked excited for them. And my sister is very understanding of the whole dynamic - we're both working really hard to be supportive of each other b/c at the end of the day, we're sisters. There are times when it's been really hard, but I work through it (thank god for therapy). I've got a supportive husband and parents. And recently, I've focused less on my constant pity-party for myself and channeled more of that energy into being exciting for my sister and her husband and my future neice/nephew. (Speaking of neice/nephew: why is there no gender neutral term for child of a sibling? That's when I found nibling. It sounds a little odd, but I'm all for a movement for a gender neutral term.) Instead of focusing on loss (what I don't/can't have), focusing on possibility (a nibling!): this small attitude change has had immense help in looking at the general state of affairs with regard to my IF. But every day is different, and I take it one day at a time. I'm so pumped about being an Auntie - that's right, Auntie. I've always wanted to be referred to as Auntie ever since I was little :)

For now, here's to 100 posts and I'm sure a hundred more. Let's hope the next 100 bring Ari and I closer to our dream of being parents ourselves.