Oh darlin' don't you ever grow up.

My beautiful niece Collins Reese Caldwell was born at 4:15 on Friday March 4, 2011.  She was a healthy 7 lbs and 10 oz.  Did I mention that she is perfect? 

She has only been here for 3 days, and she has already become my world.  My beautiful sister, Shelby, not only did a great job carrying her, she also did a great job at delivering this little angel.  I am truly blessed in the fact that I was allowed to witness this little miracle being born.  I have always been pretty iffy about medical things and I usually can not even handle watching medical shows.  Needless to say, I was a little nervous about actually seeing her being born.  However, it turned out to be one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and I will never forget the feelings of love and astonishment that I felt at that time.  

Since her birth, my days have been filled with doing whatever I can to help my gorgeous sister, who by the way looks amazing for someone who just had a baby three days ago!  I am really enjoying the time I am getting to spend with her and the baby because I don't have much time left here before I leave for Ukraine.  Many people reading this don't know me (yet), so they are unfamiliar with me and where I come from.  So, I think now is the time to explain that I am ridiculously close with my family, especially with my older sister, Shelby, and my mom.  They are and have been my best friends all of my life.  We are the kind of family all of my friends say they wish they had.  Don't get me wrong, we aren't perfect and we have our arguments, but they are few and far between.  We actually enjoy being together!  And now we have added a baby to the mix and we are all absolutely in love with her already.  Being around her makes me think about how in the world I'm going to be able to leave her in two weeks.  It's not going to be easy and I am certainly aware of that.  The thought of missing the first two years of my niece's life is almost unbearable.  Thank goodness for fancy technological advances such as cell phones, facebook, and my beloved skype.  Although I am thankful for these aids that will certainly help me stay in touch with those that I love, it just won't be as good as actually being there to witness Collins' milestones.  

So, my plan is to spend as much time as possible as I can with my baby niece over the next two weeks.  It's going to be a busy two weeks because on top of seeing her and spending time with my other loved ones, I also have A LOT left to do before I leave for Ukraine.  I have been following other invitee's from my group, and they are on their a game.  Their posts make me feel like the slacker of all slackers even though truth be told, I'm a bit of a control freak who can't stand for things not to get done. And this is why I'm attacking the rest of my to do list starting tomorrow. 

On this week's agenda, I need to do the following:

1. Get clothes for trip!  Of course I have some things I can use, but their is still a lot of simple things I need to get to complete my Ukrainian wardrobe.

2.  Figure out what paperwork I need to bring with me to staging in D.C.

3. Go to three doctor's appointments (this week!)  to make sure I'm in top top health for the Peace Corps.

4.  Put together a picture album of friends and family so that I can take my loves with me to Ukraine.

5.  And this should be the most important one, but I really need to buckle down about learning the Ukrainian phrases I might need.  I also need to crack down on learning that alphabet!  Thankfully, my beautiful big sis took the time to make me some awesome flash cards that should make it an easier process.

Ok, so enough time spent boring you with my rough to do list.  I'm now off to check in on my beautiful sleeping niece and sister.  I want to see them and my other loved ones as much as I possibly can in the next few weeks.