I love being called "Auntie Caitlin"

I love being "auntie" to my little Kira. We had a lot of fun together. And, look at those big, blue eyes!

I got to spend the last two days with the most beautiful little baby girl, my niece, Kira. She gives me so much joy! I went over on Monday and picked up Mom and Dad from the airport and then we met Josh and Kira for lunch and Claimjumper. Yum! Kira wasn't feeling it however. She gets really irritated when she gets hot, she prefers to be nice and cool. She let us know that she was not happy so Josh had said to take her outside, so of course I snatched her up and out we went. Literally the second I stepped outside she went from screaming to silence, even laughing. Silly baby! She knows what she wants! Mom and Dad took Kira for the rest of the afternoon so that Josh and I could do some Christmas shopping. What a blessing it is to be able to have time to spend with my brother, just the two of us, just hanging out! We didn't end up buying a lot but had a lot of fun none the less.

Hours later, after we finished shopping we went and picked up Kira from Mom and Dad at Aunt Cyn's house. It was very cool to see one of my aunts getting to coo over my niece. I can now relate to that feeling and really understand how special I am to my aunts and uncles. Anyway, Josh and I took off and stopped for some Starbucks on the way back to his house. I ran in to get the coffee and he stayed in the car with the baby. When I got back Josh had stripped down to his undershirt and was outside of the car cleaning the spit up off his messy daughter. It is moments like these that catch me off guard; seeing him be such a dad! He is such a wonderful dad! I just never imagined Josh getting down to the nitty gritty of laughing as he cleans up a messy little girl. I ended up sitting in the backseat of Josh's truck with her the whole way back to his house. It's funny how a little baby like that will just stare at you. So there she say, with hiccups, unable to take her eyes off of me. Melts my heart!!

The next morning we spent the day playing, dancing, feeding, picture taking and altogether just drooling over Kira! Josh and I had a very relaxing morning just being able to hang out together. We do not get time like that very often. We literally just HUNG OUT. Kira was in such a good mood and was totally smiley the whole time. One of the things that I love the most is the look she gets on her face when she sees her mom or dad. If I were holding her on Monday night she was cool with it, but then she would spot either Shawna or Josh and she would just break into smiles! Then the next day when she was familiar with me, she would bust into the same smiles when she saw me! What a beautiful little girl, what a gift!! Mom would hold her and she would look around for me until she found me and then flash me a huge, fall-in-love-with-me smile.

Playing with Dad. They are dancing here. It cracks me up because he holds her up and she likes to move her hips back and forth.

I am so lucky to be her aunt. My brother and Shawna have given me the most amazing gift in Kira.