Maddison, my dearest niece,
You are so beautiful, smart and marvelous. It sounds completely cliché, but honestly the words that I write now cannot begin to describe how eternally happy and extremely lucky I am to get to be your aunt. I never imagined it would happen as quickly as it did, but I'm so glad it happened. You've been all I could have ever hoped for in not only a niece, but a human being. Now, a year and two months you may be, but in that short amount of time you have become just everything to me.
When your uncle told me that his little sister was pregnant with a girl, I was overcome with emotion. I wasn't blown away because I knew I would be your aunt, but because I was excited for my boyfriend (at the time) to become an uncle. I never knew if I would be in your life forever, but even as you were on the way I grew to love you. I was ecstatic for your arrival into our world and it didn't matter if I was in your life for five minutes or your entire life. I didn't even know it, but in that little moment where I knew you were coming my whole life had changed forever.
Months passed by, your mom got bigger and I got more impatient to have you here with us. Your uncle and I had got engaged late January 2015 and we were still patiently waiting on you to come. We were sure you were going to be born earlier than your due date of March 8th, but we just didn't know just how early. You sure surprised us! Exactly three weeks early on the morning of February 15, we got a call from your grandparents saying we had officially become an aunt and uncle. We were amazed, shocked and super excited. Nothing in the world could take away that wonderful feeling.
Even as you were here, we were still having to be patient to get to see you. You were only five pounds and weren't eating all that much. You and your mother were both being monitored by nurses and only certain family members were allowed to see you/be in the room at certain times. One thing is for certain: I was willing to wait for as long as it took to make sure you were alright. One of the first lessons you gave me in being an aunt was patience. It took a long time to master, but it was so worth it once we finally got to see your lovely little face.
I remember the first time that I held you in my arms. My heart was full and my arms were open to embrace the warm, loving girl you are. You were so small, but my love for you was infinite in the very moment I laid eyes on you. I longed to see every move you made and hear every sound you uttered. I remember wishing that we could've stayed longer that night, but the visiting hours were over and we had to leave you. I think the hardest part of learning patience came after that first time seeing you and knowing that I would have to wait some more until you got out of the NICU and made it home.
Now, here you are. You're walking, talking and you even have a couple of teeth. You get into everything and you're the most curious little human I've ever seen. I love your little personality, the funny faces you make and how you mimic every little thing I do to try and make you laugh. I cannot wait to see what your future holds and the kind of person you will be as you continue to grow older. I want you to know you will always have a best friend in your aunt and that you can always come to me and count on me to help you out of any situation you encounter in life. I will always be a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. You are my niece and I want to be the very best aunt and role model I can be for you to grow up with and learn from. To me, you will always be precious little baby Maddison Ann, who I got to hold, love and adore for a lifetime.
Love,
Auntie Anne
P.S. Sorry to disappoint, but I wish I could say I was the one they named that super amazing soft pretzel shop after.
