I Must Be Getting Shorter | Virginia Family Photographer

That has to be the answer I must be shrinking because there is no way he is getting taller!  No way he is about to be taller then me!  There is no way he is turning 12 next month!  It just cannot be right!!  I still remember sitting on the floor at my parents house with my sister, Michelle, getting him to take his first steps and walk between us.  I still remember him being born and leaving the room for 5 minutes and coming back to find my sister cutting the cord.  I remember how tiny he was and that I cried like a baby when I held him.  Actually I cried all throughout my Mom’s pregnancy, remember the commercial with the little girl and the golden retriever puppy running up the stairs and they get to the top and she is college age and the dog is really old with a white face.  Yeah that commercial put me into full on sobbing every time and usually I immediately grabbed my dog and cried into their coat.  I had sympathy something or other and I was overly emotional the whole 9 months.  I remember his orange dog that my Dad bought at the hospital gift shop and how it became his favorite toy, we had to have 3 of them so he was never without one.  I remember all of this and then I see the young man who will totally be taller then me by summer and I wonder what happened to my baby brother!  I turned 19 a month after he was born and moved out on my own about a year later.  In the beginning I kept forgetting I had a little brother because it had just been me and my sister for 12 years, we joked that my parents needed the tax write-off!  Now he is about to turn 12 and he is hitting the teenager phase and is going to run over my parents at every turn, I can see the deviousness in his eyes!  He knows not to mess with his sisters though!  I may be 30 years old but I will take him down and give him noogies whenever I feel like it.  Although the last time in typical little brother fashion he farted on me when I did that which was totally disgusting but I’m sure I’m not the first sister to go through that!  He know that when he starts dating he better treat the girls right or both his sisters will beat him up.  We are also looking forward to embarrassing him on his first date!  Typical sibling stuff.  I’m a terrible big sister and if I haven’t seen him for awhile he will call me and leave me a sweet voicemail that rips my heart out that I’m not there with him everyday like it was for Michelle and I.  It is funny because I’m finding more and more people that have siblings way younger then them.  People always assume he is from a second marriage and I have to correct them that no we share the same parents and that while my parents had tried when Michelle was younger to have another it was when they gave up that it happened.  Funny how that works out!  Now he will be 12 and Michelle pointed out that he looks like a mini version of me in the male form of course!  Reddish brown hair, brown eyes and freckles!  He is lucky he took after Dad on height and metabolism because he is skinny as a rail and growing like a weed.  It is totally unfair that Michelle and I were not blessed with my Dad’s metabolism, my Dad eats like a horse, is 6’3″ and weighs like maybe 150lbs since he hit his 40’s and got a little middle age spread.  Totally……Not…..Fair!!!!

I love that he still hugs me goodbye and plays the favorite sister game with us.  Today it was a bag of Snickers from Michelle vs home made cupcakes from me, who was the favorite sister then!  I love that the kid isn’t bad at volleyball and I have no problem spiking the ball at his head!  Hey if Michelle could take it at 7 years old he can totally take it at 11.  I loved dancing with him at my wedding and that he and my niece kept the DJ hopping all night long.  I love his freckles and that he and I make the same faces according to David!  All in all I love that I have a little brother and his name is Alex!

This is an old polaroid I have of Alex with his orange doggy! I've kept this for a long time and I always hang it above my desk. He was so cute with those chubby cheeks!

This year Christmas at my house, I can't believe how big he is now!