Suburban Barbie??: L.O.V.E.

So the maternal instinct has finally kicked in…..
And I finally can say it out loud. :-)

But not to mad enough levels to want to subject my husband to an insatiable wife (I don't think he would mind one bit though!).
But mad enough to simply want to kidnap my nephew and run away with him somewhere…….
Forever.

My sister should be mightily worried with this piece of information.

The last 8 months have been a total and complete joy because of this one little individual.
This one little boy who has stolen my heart.

The day my sister went into labour...
I didn’t sleep.
I hardly did any work that day.
I didn’t even cook dinner.

I think I didn't even eat that entire day for that matter!
My phone was never so overworked….
Thank God for 21st century technology, because somehow being ‘present’ during that time, despite being thousands of miles away, was only made possible via today's technology…..

The moment he arrived, both my mother and I were like screaming lunatics.
My sleeping husband was of course woken up.
It was 6am Eastern Standard Time.

I remember a couple of years ago when the singer Beyonce was gushing when her sister had a baby.

And nobody was paying any mind to her utter joy at being an aunt.
Now, I totally understand.

Everyday that I wake up, the first that makes me smile in the morning is seeing his picture….
Or watching one of the multitude of videos I have of him…..courtesy of his very obliging mother….
Or if time allows, simply getting on Skye and watching him go about his day, which merely consists of sleeping, playing, eating, whatever…….It doesn't matter!

The last year couldn’t have ended in a more perfect way.

I finally got to have him in my arms.
There was an instant connection.
He is a part of me so intimately, just as my sister is a huge part of me……
Words cannot explain it.
I was ready to go all Mama Bear on anyone and anything…..
Suddenly all those sentiments of being able to take a bullet for somebody…
Bruno Mars ready to stand in front of a train out of love….
Or simply the Twilight expression summed it all up……as corny as it sounds…
I imprinted.

Many people would wonder as to how close an Aunt-Nephew relationship can be...
But from my culture, it definitely has a special place.

Such that for him, I am not just an aunt.
I am like his older Mother.

As one of my friends asked me when he was born, if I would go all 'Western' and have him call my Auntie? Or would I stick to my East African roots and let him call me 'Mama Mkubwa', which translates as Big Mother.

I think you can pretty much figure out which one I picked. :-)