Dear Skeeter,
Welcome, welcome, welcome!
WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL!
You have been born! Technically, you are now about 30 hours old. I have been planning this blog for quite some time, and even though you were born yesterday I only created it tonight because I met you for the very first time today!!!!! It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I have never in my whole life seen a baby more beautiful, perfect, precious, darling, or sweet as you. You have made my entire life! I can't believe my first (right now only) little niece is so gorgeous! You have the most amazing blue eyes and what we think is perhaps red hair? It could be brown, considering you were born yesterday it's a bit hard to tell! I'm sure we'll determine it in the future. The most important thing is - you have captured ALL our hearts. And we will never be the same.
And who am I, exactly? I'm your Auntie Kat! I'm your Daddy's little sister Katherine. Your daddy has two little siblings (he's 29 right now, our brother Andrew is 27, and I'm 22). You have even more from your Mama's side! She has an older brother John (who is married to your Aunt Laura and they have two little sons...your cousins Nathan and Sean! Who I think are 6 and 4 right now, if I'm right about that) and an older brother Andy. They are both your uncles too. I'll go into the rest of your family in a different post. For the most part, I know the most about your Daddy's side of the family, my family, the one that includes me, Uncle Andrew, your BoBo, Grandad, etc. etc. We are quite the group. I'll explain more later.
So, let me tell you a little about why you are reading this. I'm 22 (just turned 22, actually) and I am a senior in college right now. In a few weeks I go back to Washington, DC and start my final semester at American University! I'm a double major in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Special Education. I spent the first half of 2010 (just got back a few months ago!) studying abroad for the semester in South Africa. Your mom and dad came to visit me there! I'll post pictures of that visit soon. I was there from January - June 2010 and I came home with even lighter ginger hair, two extremely overweight suitcases, and completely head over heels in love with a South African man, Lucky. He's right next to me, actually! I'll explain more about him in another post. He was there with me and your grandma, BoBo, when we met you for the very first time today! He has promised to help with this whole blog project, too.
Anyways, so you might wonder what on earth I am actually doing with this. So, if you are reading this, then you are officially 18! Happy birthday, Anna! That is pretty surreal to imagine at this particular point in time considering I met you for VERY first time in the world TODAY! Anyways, if you are now 18 then I am...40. WOW. That is pretty crazy. (Let's hope I have a job! And maybe a house?...PhD? If I do not have a PhD you have FULL permission to turn around and yell at me, Anna!) And perhaps I even have kids of my own (hmm...by 40? Let's hope!) and your Uncle Lucky's dreadlocks might even be gone by then. Who knows?! It is incredibly difficult to imagine what our lives will look like in 18 years. But I was once 18, only 4 years ago. A senior in high school, attempting to think about life after high school, anxiously awaiting college acceptances/declines, and fearfully approaching what turned out to be a rapidly ending teenage period. And I remember looking back, as I often did, wondering what on earth I was like a long time ago, what everyone in my family was doing or thinking or feeling that day or night I was born. What my room looked like, what expressions my brothers (including your Daddy!) had on their faces when our Mama, your BoBo, first brought me home from the hospital. Or even, what did we do for my 2nd birthday? What was my favorite food? What kinds of baby clothes did I wear? Or even, what did our family happen to be doing on April 8, 1996 (a random day when I was 8). Of course, I had pictures to look at. But nothing so descriptive and nothing that was in order or clear or in chronological order. And no written reflections from my family who had so wonderfully cared for me all these years. When did I frustrate them? What were those nights I just wouldn't stop crying? What kind of personality did I have as a toddler? These are questions that I, at least, have always wondered about my own personal history so I thought - what better a gift to give my brand-new niece, the first baby I have ever been related to, then the answers to those questions?
I'm not promising huge long blog entries on a daily or even weekly basis. But I AM promising a blog of Anna, a website that chronicles your birth, growth, and development from this little baby that barely opened her beautiful blue eyes today in my arms to what I'm sure is an intelligent, gorgeous, sophisticated young woman reading this now. Here, you can find pictures of you in order of them happening - literally, watch yourself grow on this blog. I promise to document all major holidays and birthdays, all major family events that I'm at, or even really cute skype photos I take of you since I'm only in Rhode Island on vacations or holidays. I promise to reflect on me watching you grow, and offer a little wisdom from your crazy old Aunt (ah! By the time you're reading this, I WILL be old!), and write about YOU, at that moment, and you can read about your life.
Anna, I know I've only spent like, 5 hours with you so far in your whole life of one day, but I love you more than you will ever know. My heart just overflowed with joy, happiness, and love when I saw your beautiful little face curled up on your Mama's chest this afternoon. I teared a little bit, but managed to hold myself together and didn't full-on cry. I know your BoBo really wanted to, though.
Oh! And you're probably wondering about the "redhead" part of the URL for this blog, especially if you're not a true ginger right now, hahaha. I thought maybe there was a chance of you being a ginger, and decided that whether you were or weren't I was going to incorporate it into the blog. You see, being a redhead actually plays a pretty large role in my identity. I would say that half of my friends call me Ginger, my dad (your Grandad) calls me Ginga, and my loving amazing boyfriend Lucky (and a few close friends) know me as Gingy. When I saw you today, despite the fact that we're still not able to tell what color your hair is going to end up being, I just couldn't help myself, Anna. I knew we had a special bond that was never EVER going to be broken. Thus - I decided that you can be an honorary redhead, or at least in Auntie Kat's eyes. (If you're REALLY a redhead then that's just even more perfect!) But, as you know, you could have come out of my sister-in-law covered in purple stripes and I would still cover you in kisses and love you with my whole entire heart. You are just that special to me.
Already.
YOUR BABY STATS -
Your birthday: December 28, 2010
Full name: Anna Adelaide Noelle Streit
Weight: 8 pounds, 11 ounces (woah! We were all a little surprised when we heard you were such a big baby but you would never know just by looking at you! You are so beautiful and actually not at all the kind of chubby you might anticipated for a baby of almost 9 pounds...!)
Birth: a Tuesday after Christmas (which was on Saturday) at 5:21pm....I was there today in the hospital room with your Mama when you turned 1 day old! Happy first Birthday, beautiful Anna.
Hospital: Women & Infants, Providence, Rhode Island
First home: 52 Barnsdale Road, East Providence, Rhode Island (I'll post pictures soon, I promise!)
Lots and lots and LOTS of love to you, you newborn baby girl, my first and only niece (right now!), my amazing Anna,
Your Auntie Kat (and Uncle Lucky!)
