All Grown Up

My little brother turned 12 today. He is the second youngest child in my family and probably the one I have the most memories of as a baby. I was a teenager when he was born, so I helped Mom out a lot with him. I've heard stories of teenagers being mortified by a pregnant mother. This never occurred to me. I was so excited to have a baby in the house! He and I just clicked. He was such a good baby too. Always laughing and smiling. I remember a friend of my aunt jokingly asked me if she could just take him home. I answered her in no uncertain terms, "No! We waited way to long for him!" Two years later, my youngest brother came along. He was the polar opposite. Always crying and fussy. You had to hold him at all times or he would scream. I would get up in the middle of the night to walk around with him so Mom and Dad could get some sleep. I don't know why he was so fussy. Since I was the oldest, Mom relied on me for a lot of help. I never really resented it, but it got exhausting at times. When I met and married DW and people asked us when we were planning to have children, I would laugh and tell them I already raised two boys and was ready for a break! I look back on it now and am so grateful for those experiences. It gave me so much experience on changing diapers, rocking a fussy baby, giving an infant a bath, teething, fevers and so many other things. I know things are different when it's your own child, you worry so much more, but I feel like I will have a handle on things and not worry as much as the normal "first time mom". Wait, who am I kidding!? I will FIND things to worry about!