Getting ready to be an aunt

With my sister and brother-in-law eagerly anticipating the birth of their son, their first child, in the next few weeks, I am getting excited about being able to see and hold my new nephew.

My mom and I were with my sister and her husband when she had her last sonogram. She was able to have "4-D Imaging" done since she was far enough along. The pictures that were taken actually showed his face with astonishing detail. He is going to be very cute. Of course, since he's my nephew -- my sister's son -- I already love him.

What was really cool about the sonogram was that the technician was able to determine my nephew's approximate weight, along with how much he might weigh when he's born. According to her estimations, my little nephew is going to weigh at least 8 lbs. when he's born, if he waits to be born until around his due date at the end of February.

My sister and brother-in-law have decided that they are going to try to have their baby at a birth care center that has birthing suites. I've seen the suites: my home economics class took a tour there when I was in high school and we were studying parenting. These suites are very large and very nice. My sister is wanting my mom and me to be present in the birthing suite when my nephew is born, which would be really cool! (I just hope I'm not working when I get the phone call!)

In the meantime, my mom and I had to postpone the baby shower we were planning to have had for my sister yesterday: it will now be held this coming Sunday. We got about five straight hours of sleet and freezing rain, topped with snow. The streets have not been safely passable for the last three days, but are better today since the sun came out.

One of the things I'm looking forward to doing with my little nephew (besides holding him, feeding him, changing diapers and playing with him) is helping him learn new things. I've always been excited about learning, and I pray that he will be, too.

I have to work tonight, so I'm going to end my post here. I'll be back, though, with pictures of my sister, my nephew and the trip my husband and I took to the Pacific coast to visit with his family.