Our family is so, so, so close. I have one sister and one brother and of course a mom and dad that are still madly in love. I am almost 30 years old. We have always been an extremely close family. My neice and nephew are like my own. My brother is in the Army and will be coming home in a week. I am soooo excited, but a selfish little part of me wonders what it will be like when he gets back home and has his daughter. My hubby and I have had her (she is 21 months old and precious!) for the last 4 months and will miss seeing her so frequently. I am so very excited that she will be able to reunite with her daddy, too! I know my brother will still visit frequently and is so thankful for us helping him out. Im just going to miss my little punkin! ;) But at the same time am sooooo thankful that my brother is home safe and sound and I will actually be able to SEE HIM!
Am I crazy?! Lol. I just feel so many emotions!
I helped raise my niece for 5.5 years until we had to move cross country. I know exactly how you feel!
I think that is so awesome how close you are to your niece! I am very close to mine, and now that they are older, they love talking to me and telling me "stuff". I am sure your brother will still need your help, and I would feel the same way if I had my baby niece for so long. The good thing is that you are family so you can always see her and take her. The best thing is just talking to your brother about how you feel. I am sure he would be happy to hear how close you are with her, he will know he has someone he can rely on!
Barely a week goes by that either my niece or nephew isn't calling me up to borrow money. My niece moved to Nevada...now I get texts from her to borrow money. I just go and put it into her bank. It is never paid back on time. My nephew always pays back on time. None of it bothers me anyway...it is just money sitting there in my bank. As long as they pay it back and it doesn't cost me anything to lend it, and it helps them out. They are both in their 30's...and I love them both very much.
I have 2 nephews who I have spoiled into loving me since the day they were born :)
They are now (almost) 16 & 12 and it is not uncommon for them to spend the weekends w/ me and my kids!
I kinda know what you mean, since oldest nephew entered HS and started football and wrestling and his band and girls, I have been feeling likwe never see him anymore :(
My oldest niece and I are closer in age..7 years.. than her Mom and I (sisters..12 years apart). We have always had an especially close relationship. When she was born, and I was just 7, I "claimed" her. SHe was born just a week before Christmas and I was certain she was my gift! My sister was young, unmarried and came back to live at home right before the birth.
She was always very close to my own daughter as well. She was the adult babysitter for our out of town trips and it was a great! Now my daughter is 17 and watchers her almost 2 year old and her 2 step daughters on occasion (often I help as its alot of little girls!), but they live an hour away on the other end of the Twin Cities, so that makes me sad!
I was also very very close to this nieces younger brother and when he committed suicide at (almost) 19, it changed alot for our family. I am not as close to any other of them...but different degrees of closeness. My newest niece (born to my half brother and his wife) is a special baby, born at 30 weeks, hardly needing intervention at all, and is my Godchild. I plan to be very very close to her as well!
All of mine range in age from 1 year old to 35 years old!! I even have 5 "greats" in there! (8 nieces and nephews on my side..and all have sig others or spouses as well...plus the 5 greats...then 9 on hubbys side!).
I feel blessed!
My family is very close.
There are only 4 kids in the family right now.
2 are mine
2 are one of my sisters kids.
We all live far apart but talk everyday.
My nephews are amazing and I miss them everyday.
Funny thing is me and my sister were pregnant together for both of our kids.
Her oldest was born 7/22/08 my son 8/4/08..
My daughter was born 9/6/10 my sisters son 10/25/10
When the older boys were babies they spent almost every day together. Then I had to move away.
We skype as much as we can to keep us close.
my side: blessedly close to my nieces/nephews. I feel blessed whenever they think of me. Just this past wkend, my 15yo niece was texting me about her new cookie recipe & our plans for the upcoming wkend. & last week, my Navy nephew contacted me on FB about his life-altering decision....danged proud of him! & my 23yo niece & I text/talk almost weekly.
my IL side: hmmm, it's a danged shame that they are like their mamas! :) There's just too much happy in life to go around looking for issues...& unfortunately that's how they all behave. I do have FB contact with some of them occasionally, but since they were little....they look for faults & that's not how I live.
I'm also blessed with a wonderfully uplifting network of cousins (my side) ranging from 15-70+yo. It feels wonderful to be a part of a caring family!
Now for another thought: since you embraced helping your brother....have you ever considered foster care? Perhaps this event is leading you somewhere.....:)
Before I had kids I loved my nieces and nephews more than anyone else in the world. Who could I possibly love more than my brother, than his kids? Now they are adults and I still love them so very much.
I hope to have a much closer relationship with my baby nephew than my other nephews and niece, who I met when they were between the ages of 8 and 14. My cousins and I were close growing up and I'm still close enough to one of them to feel very sisterly toward her. Their father was like a second father to me.
Just remember the very special time you had and build from there.
Wow, how exciting! But I think I would feel the same about missing her.
My brother married when he was 19 and his wife was 17 (I was 17 too). They had 4 daughters and the oldest one is only 18 years younger than me.
Then I married at 32 (nieces were all in my wedding) & had my only daughter at age 40.
I am extremely close to my 4 nieces & love them like my own. Now that they are grown, they are my best friends -- and I can spoil their little ones. My oldest great-niece is only 5 years younger than my daughter.
:D
First, I have a question: where's her mother?
But no, you're not crazy, you sound like a normal caring aunt. Do you have any of your own children yet? Maybe this has been good practice for you to show that you'll be a good mom? I've always been close to my nieces and nephews also and now that they're all grown up we keep the relationships going by talking all the time via Facebook or emails since they're scattered all over the place.
As for your parents, I love that they're still together; cherish that!! My parents almost made it to 60 years but God had different plans first for my Mom and then 18 months later for my Dad to join her.
Tell your brother "thank you" for his service!! Good luck!!!
I don't think that's crazy at all! I love my nieces and nephews to pieces, and if they were living with me, it'd really be an emotional blow to me when they had to go back home again.
Make sure that you make it very clear to him that you would still LOVE to care for her whenever they need you to, as you will miss her. At this point, he might feel guilty and feel like he'd be imposing, but just reassure him that you want to keep helping out. Visit them. Come pick her up from time to time and take her for the day. You sound like a wonderful auntie and sister!
My brother doesn't have kids, and my sis is only 18 and not even thinking about kids. So my only nieces/nephews are on my hubby's side. I have only met one of them (my nephew...and I feel funny thinking about him as a nephew because he is a year younger then my sister) The rest of them (3) are all under 18 mnths so I have yet to meet them (they live about 8 hrs away)
