Editor's Note: When we launched Savvy Auntie, it was designed for all women in the Family Village who love a child not-her-own. This new column, by Liz Steinhardt, is dedicated to all the big cousins out there who are very much like Aunties. We welcome this wonderful point of view, and hope you do too.

July 12th marked a new era in our family. Not only was there now a newborn baby in the family after 20+ of it just being “the twins” (my twin brother Steve and I), but our priorities and obsessions were about to change tenfold.

Early in August, two weeks after the birth of one of the calmest babies was welcomed to this world, we made the trip from “Manchattan” (Manchester, NH) to Manhattan to finally meet Emma Riley – all five-ish pounds of her!

Leading up to this moment, I experienced feelings similar to a first date – I was scared, anxious and nervous, but I was beyond excited (and yes, I even thought about what I was going to wear). Having not been around too many babies in my time, I was unsure of how to hold her – was I going to do it right? Would I support her neck properly? Would she like me?
When we made our way up to the top of those four flights of stairs on that hot NYC summer day (sweating), and I laid my eyes on the perfect baby bundle (all pink!), it was love at first site. In the infamous words of Rachel Zoe, “I die.”

I quickly scooped her up and feel even more madly in love. Emma had beautiful tufts of dark hair, traces of eyebrows yet to form, huge, wide eyes that still had decided their color, a nose that was only deserving of the smallest, most perfect person, lips that I swear gave Angela Jolie a run for her money, not to mention the tiniest, most perfect 10 fingers and 10 toes (when is a girl old enough to get her first mani and pedi?!).

Welcome to the World, Emma Riley!

Now that she was here, I thought back to all of my amazing memories of my older cousins, Mark (Emma’s dad) and Jill, who were 16 and 18 years older than I, respectively. When we were young, I used to love piggy back rides, coloring book-athons, getting my nails painted and being swung until my arms nearly came out of their sockets. And when we were older, I loved taking the train from NJ to NYC to go to street fairs, arcades, movies, restaurants, shopping at Bloomies, walking through the Grand Central Market to grab hors d'oeuvres and hanging out in my cousin’s apartments whose kitchens were so clean I knew the night would lend way to a dinner out.  Most importantly, though, I had an outstanding relationship with them.

Now with the addition of another awesome cousin, Mark’s amazing wife, Dawn, no matter where in the world we live (NYC, Colorado, Brussels or NH), and no matter if we all get so crazed with our so called lives that we miss a phone call, I know, that at the end of the day, I have three cousins that love me unconditionally, and who care for me like an older brother and sisters do (but without the sibling rivalry).

It is that exact feeling that I carried in with me when I met Emma for the first time. I may be 25 years older than she, and live four hours away, but I know as she grows up, I will do everything in my power to be that fantastically fun, openly loving and unendingly caring cousin that I always had in my life.
 
Are you the big cousin to a little 'niece' or 'nephew?" Share your story in the comments below...