My Sister

I have to comment on these four kiddos below. My sister has three sons, her younger two are shown below. They are the same age as the girls. So that meant that my sister and I were pregnant at the same time.. twice. It was quite an experience for me.. a very supportive experience which drew my sister and I closer.
 

You see, I am the older sister by three years to my sister. I am tall. She is short. She is skinny and .. I well.. am not. She loves to cook...and I do not. I love to travel... and she does not. We are both very different. I always saw her as my younger sister and in turn she always saw me as her older sister. So in older sister fashion, I ordered her around and always told her what to do. I don't think I ever saw her as my equal because she was so much younger than me. I never asked her for advice nor really confided to her regarding personal matters. But she did marry first (by one year) and had children first. That changed our relationship.

When I became pregnant for the first time, she was on her second round. She was the experienced one now and our roles reversed where I was asking her for advise about pregnancy and parenting. I saw her as a great source of information and comfort whenever I started to freak out on every little new experience I had. I am thankful I have a sister that I can go to at anytime (except no calls after 10pm.. she's asleep) just to ask a question, to complain to or to share a funny story.

Even though we couldn't share clothes or even baby clothes, she shared something that I could not give to my girls: her breast milk. She would nurse her baby and after nursing she'll have to pump because she made so much milk. I call her milk 'the condensed kind'.. creamy and thick. I, on the other hand, made 'non-fat' milk.. watery and without substance and not filling. I had to supplement and instead of giving them formula, I gave them their auntie's milk instead. Luckily she had tons of bags in the freezer filled with her milk. And it was healthy stuff too because she always watched what she ate: no junk food, no soda, etc..

One time at a family dinner,  Hannah was about three weeks old, and I had just finished nursing her but she was still crying hysterically. My sister asked me what was wrong with her and I told her she's probably still hungry but I'm all out. So my sister proceeded to nurse Hannah herself since her son did not want to finish nursing. Hannah drank up E-Ee's milk and fell right asleep afterwards. Now I understand how my sister got her boys to sleep through the night so early. It was her milk!!

Baby Hannah and her Auntie

So those four kids below all had my sister's milk to sustain them when they were infants. They are not only tied by blood but by milk also. They are alike in many ways: the older two are quiet and reserved, love reading and LEGOs and are pretty easy going personality-wise; the younger two are more outspoken, not shy to share their opinions or questions, love to eat rice and seaweed and rice with soy sauce. I don't want to leave out my oldest nephew, Daniel, who even though was very rough with his brothers since their birth, has been very loving and gentle with his girl cousins.

Hannah on her human pillow, Daniel

I am so blessed to have three wonderful nephews. I don't have to have sons, nephews are just as good! My sister doesn't have any daughters but she has mine to care for whenever we need babysitting. She feels she doesn't have the patience to deal with the drama and emotions that come with girls .. and I definitely can't handle the loud, rough and tumble of boys so it's the best of both worlds.

My sister and I