My Baby Sister...

I have read many stories on this website and they have all touched me. We all certainly experience great tragedy in our lives, and reality can be a very cruel thing. The loss of someone close to your heart is among the worst of all of life's obstacles. I certainly had a hard time thinking of a personal tragedy to share here. I have been very lucky in life and have fortunately never lost anyone I was especially close to. Although I love my parents, my younger siblings are the most important beings to me. I have always wanted to be the best example I could be to them all of my life, although for the first 14 years it was hard to be an example to my two brothers. My brother Joey was his own role model to my baby brother Paolo. They had a special bond all their own and would spend hours talking and laughing in the room they shared late at night. Being the only daughter, sometimes i cried and wished I had a sister to bond with and teach things to. 

On January 21st 2004, my wish came true. My baby sister Aubrey Isabella was born, but we call her "Bella".
 She is the most adorable thing. Light brown long curly hair, deep brown eyes, and such a sense of adventure about her. She quickly grew into such a hard headed but independent little girl.  Brave, outgoing, curious, loves bugs, etc. She has grown up to become the opposite of me at her age, but I admire her for it. The only thing is she is trying to grow up way too fast. Yet still, spending time with her is what keeps me young at heart. 

 Thankfully she has grown up very happy and healthy through her toddler years, until one day we began noticing she wasn't pronouncing many words correctly once she began speaking. This led my parents to wonder if she had the same problem my first brother had. She had somehow developed fluid behind her ear drums due to an infection. She also began getting sick more often than normal and her throat was in constant excruciating pain. We found out that in addition to this she needed three surgeries. A tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and an ear tube placement.

So the poor thing needed her tonsils taken out, her adenoids, AND have those awful cold tubes put in. She now had to worry about wearing ear plugs when showering and dealing with not being able to put her head under water when swimming either.

She was so brave through it all. For only being 6 at the time, she really stayed calm through it and hardly cried. She smiles flawlessly in this picture, as long as she's got her favorite ducky.

Today she is doing much better. Although she still needs to wear the earplugs.