baby books

The Life of the Baby! Sister Tales Continued

Phyllis Lifestyle, People 21 Comments

When we asked you for feedback about what you all wanted to read on Ribbon, one of the topics that kept appearing was “sisters,” particularly my sister (and her glorious rebuttals!). Today, we were laughing about the pecking order of children in the family. I am the oldest, my brother, Keith, is the middle child and only boy, and then there’s Janice, the baby.

We got on the subject of baby books and photos today in our marketing meeting, and Janice immediately chimed in that her baby book has very little in it. Mine, however, is filled out to completion. I have my first haircut samples, first baby tooth pulled, all of the first birthday party cake photos, and all of the cards that were sent when I was born, complete with the gift list. Also included are my pediatrician visits, and each required shot was documented to perfection. I’m telling you, it’s all there! I can only imagine my mom sitting there completing this journal of babyhood for me. The little book was satin with cute baby adornments on the cover.

Janice says hers has her name in it and two pages filled out. She then proceeded to tell the story of me badgering her that the only thing that came in fives was a pack of gum. I don’t remember saying that as a child, but it is highly likely that I did! We also told her she was adopted and came from the cabbage patch in grandmother’s backyard. I was really a bad big sister, wasn’t I? She should have invented the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls!

In the middle of this conversation, Janice thought of a comeback that put us all in our places. She simply grinned and said, “My parents just kept having babies until they got what they wanted!” OK, she won that one!

Janice is a wonderful baby sister. She survived all the mess Keith and I brought her way. We realized that because she was the youngest, she had a gift for swaying our parents in her favor. When she got married, I wrote her husband a letter explaining that because she is the baby, she is spoiled. I simply wanted him to know what to expect and how things were going to work. He just laughed. To this day, Janice always says, “It’s your fault; you did it!” Once the baby, always the baby.

What about you? What are your fun memories of family and siblings?

Comments 21

  1. Thanks for the memories! I was the youngest of 3 girls. The “Baby”, that’s what I was always called. My oldest sister was 20 years old when I was born my other sister was 16 years old when I was born, so I guess I really was the baby to them. I was Mascot for my 16 year old sister’s class when she graduated from high school. Both my sisters spoiled me, but I loved every minute of it. After they both married and left home I was like an only child. I have nieces and nephews who are close to my age, and they seem like brothers and sisters to me. Even with the age difference we were always very close. Sisters are a wonderful thing to have. They are not only family, but great friends too.

  2. We need a picture of the 3 of you. What wonderful stories you tell!

    I am an only child, and while I enjoyed my childhood, I promised myself that I would have at least 2 children. Our first was still-born, but God blessed us with 2 more that are such a joy. They have always been close. They are now 48 & 45, and are amazing adults. The youngest has 3 children of his own and is an incredible dad. Children are the delight of their parents.

  3. Janice, I feel your pain! I was also the youngest of three. My sister is 13 years older than I am, and my brother was 11 years older. There is 8mm film of her and all sorts of things, and, like you, my baby book is mostly empty.

    That’s ok. I was still the favorite. 😉

  4. I love your sister stories!! I am the 2nd oldest of 6. My older sister and I are 18 months apart and are the closest….now. It has not always been the case. We shared a room and almost everything else growing up. When we were teen agers, if she went somewhere, she had to take me. She hated that. My favorite story….we had gone to a house with mom, she was getting a perm, Kathy and I were playing beauty shop on the front porch. She cut off ONE of my pigtails at the rubber band! Gasp! I trimmed her eyebrows…she bled and still has a tiny scar. She got in trouble. Because she is the oldest and should have known better. Saying all of this, Kathy and I attended SOAF in Huntsville for about 15 years together.

  5. When my youngest child laments the woes of being the youngest, I’m going to relay Janice’s wonderful comeback to her! She’ll love that!

  6. I am older than my brother by four years. Until he came along, I was the apple of everyone’s eye. But of course that changed and I didn’t like it one bit.In our home movies where the camera was focused on him, I am seen fluttering in and out of every scene …it is so funny to me how I still wanted the attention and had no desire to share the spotlight! I also practised my future professions on my poor brother…he was always such a willing and innocent volunteer as I cut his hair( hairdresser), accused him of a whole host of crimes( lawyer), and tried to pull his teeth out with scissors( dentist, of course). He was really a cute little guy.

  7. We are the twin sisters Joan is talking about. We are all best friends now that we are all adults. Growing up Joan only knew our maternal grandmother, the others had passed away before Joan was born. Our maternal grandmother moved across country when we were very young. We do not have many memories of her, so Joan has filled us in on a lot about our grandmother. Every day we are thankful for our big sister. Joan was happy when we were born because she always wanted a sibling, she got two for the price of one.
    Marion and Marilyn

  8. I am the oldest by many years. I was almost a teen when my sisters were born. They say it is like having two mothers growing up.
    Joan

  9. I am the second of four children. When I was born in 1948 my brother was so upset because my mother wouldn’t name me Cinderella. I’m assuming that’s about the time the movie was introduced.

  10. I am from a family of 8 children, me being next to oldest. The oldest died young and currently only 5 of us remain. When I was 12, the “Baby Brother” was born. I remember us saying, send him back, we already have enough children! I am now almost 82 and our baby just turned 70 this month. He is a joy to us and always has been. He is helpful, kind, can fix and do anything he sets his mind to do. He turned out to be a great gift to us, and today we still call him “Baby John”.

  11. There were two of us girls and I was the baby and let me tell you I had a lot to live up to. Being compare to my older sibling was always hard for me. I have come to terms with my parents faults, forgiven them and my sister and am a bigger, better sister for it. All is well that ends well.

  12. My son whose name is also Keith, loves to hear about other “youngest children in the family”. He sometimes feels disadvantaged to be the youngest.

  13. Not sure which of y’all are the favorite but I have such happy memories of us playing in the mud (flower garden) when Janice was born! We were there so mom could help Aunt Nez. Do y’all remember this?

  14. Well, I am the baby of 5! I have one brother – right in the middle. My siblings say I was spoiled but I say I was just there longer than they were (didn’t marry at 18). I won’t say I was the favorite – but……. 🙂 It’s nice to be the baby!!!

  15. LOL!!
    As an only child married to an only child, I found this a delightful read – particularly Bro. Keith’s comment. Bless his heart!
    Guess our parents got it right the first time!!

  16. I am the middle of 5 children. My two older sisters have red hair, and I am a blonde. They used to tell me I was adopted because I didn’t have red hair. Also because there were many fewer pictures of me! One day my mother showed me a picture, and I asked why I was wearing such funny clothes. She said “because this is me”. I looked EXACTLY like her! I was elated! To this day, my older sisters and I still kid about this. The two younger sibs came quite a few years later. It’s not easy being the middle child!!

  17. I can testify that all parties and stories in this article are accurate and true. One omission is the fact that I was the favorite. One day I will write a tell all article for this blog for all of you devoted readers!

Leave a Reply to Michele Gavaletz Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *