Steven S.'s Memoir

My New Little Brother

“Slam!” The car door shut and in walked my mom with my 7-week early, new baby brother. “Yeah”, I cheered. When Sean arrived inside in his new car seat, he looked similar to a little old man. “Leave him alone”, our mom announced. “You can see him later when he is awake.” The baby still excited us because it meant looking forward to many great experiences.

When he arrived home, he looked peaceful. I figured babies sleep a lot, therefore, I tried not to bother him and let him sleep. Weeks passed by and Sean behaved perfectly. When he turned about a month old, he started to vomit all the time. So much for perfect! Now nobody wanted to hold Sean as much because when you wait for clothes to head out of the wash for a week, that stinks.

One day before school, I had to hold him. He was fine for a while and right before I handed him back to my mom, in order for us to proceed to school, he spit up on my white shirt (washed that night). I wanted to explode! This was one of my favorite shirts, not one your grandma gives you for Christmas and you only wear it once. I guess that’s how it goes when you possess a spit up baby in your house!

After that, holding him wasn’t appealing anymore. Then, my luck, my mom asked me to hold him one night before bed. This time it was good luck! He smiled and stayed in my arms trying to fall asleep. Once in a while, he even made baby noises, trying to talk to me. I actually felt more confident about holding Sean and not getting thrown up on. As a matter of fact, he refrained from spitting up on me.

In my opinion, other than the spit up, he seemed like the perfect brother. My opinion changed one night when he kept me up because sleeping is not his thing, especially drifting off to sleep. Screaming is more like it. Even my eyes filled with tears. I would almost rather have Sean fall asleep than me. ALMOST. I need my sleep too. Besides, I’m the one who departs for school every morning.

Once he finally journeyed off to sleep, two hours later, he awoke crying again. Except this time, looking for a bottle. I tried to bury myself under my blankets and pillows to drown out the sound of crying. My strategy worked and I drifted of to sleep. Only that night, I promised my mom I would wake up earlier. Therefore, at 6:25 a.m., my alarm clock beeped! I shut it off and tried to gain some sleep, but not long after that my mom dragged me up and out of bed for school. I kind of blamed my lack of sleep on Sean. Although, I still made it through the day at school attentive and awake.

Even though Sean has his ups and downs, he will always be the best baby brother I could ever receive and he’ll always be my best friend! I now realize that living with a baby takes a lot of hard work, but once you are used to it, it rocks!