For seventeen years i have been an only child. Last February my mom and dad went to my friends house (where I was sleeping for a night) and gave me a necklace that said "Big Sister". I was shocked. After seventeen years, I was getting the one present I wished for every Christmas, and Birthday. I finally get to be a big sister. This is kind of a crash course list of what I wish someone would have told me before hand, or things I've experienced throughout this adventure called life.

1. The new things in the house are't for you.

I'm not going to lie: I am so used to seeing something new in the house. It's almost always for me. I'm not spoiled or anything, but being a single child for seventeen years, you get used to getting new things every once in a while. It's not a bad thing at all; it just doesn't seem correct. Nothing is really about you anymore. On the upside, you have the opportunity to look forward to one of the biggest presents you'll get in your entire life: you get a new member of the family. You get to hold this baby whenever you want. You get to take care of a little human, even though he or she isn't your little human.

2. The smell of the detergent that washes baby clothes.

It smells really good. Not kidding, every time I walk past the pile of baby clothes and baby blankets I pick one up to smell it. I don't know why, and I might sound crazy, but that new baby smell is just so intoxicating and addictive. The laundry detergent smell fills the house, and I'm in love. I can't get enough of it.

3. Mom gets real emotional sometimes.

You know in movies how pregnant women cry over everything? Honestly, it's only a little over exaggerated. A song that we listened to all the time came on while she driving to work, and she cried about it. Those hormones will get to you. Sometimes you have no idea what to do when the hormones kick in. To be completely honest it's kind of scary seeing her like that.

4. Water breaking scares are real.

I'm always so nervous now, because it can happen at anytime. With our luck it would be in the middle of the day or something. I'm jumpy now, all because this isn't a schedule to follow. No one can tell when someone's water is going to break.

5. Giving up my room.

I had to move my room to the basement for the baby. It is cool in the basement, but I liked my old room. It will probably get better when the baby is here, because I'll be a little more used to my room by the time he is here.

6. Mom has more time off.

This expectation was a little expected, you know maternity leave and all. What I forgot was that mom will be home a lot within the last few weeks of this pregnancy, and a few weeks after the baby is born as well. Which means, she'll be home when I get home, and she'll be home if I'm sick for a day. It's neither bad nor good, just weird to see her home that much.

7. Ice cream is scarce.

The ice cream is always gone, especially if it is cookie dough ice cream. It's in the freezer one day, and gone within the next three. Orange juice is another thing that doesn't stay in the house for long. We buy two or three gallons a week and they are gone by the time we go to the store again.

8. Family is emerging from nowhere.

Family I didn't know even existed went to the baby shower. I saw my cousin who I hadn't seen in years at the baby shower. I met a lot of aunts on my dad's side. It was kind of weird seeing people I didn't know at my moms baby shower, but at least someone knew them and they weren't just crashing the baby shower.

9. You can't find your living room.

At one point I couldn't walk into our living room without tripping over something. Trying to get around piles of baby clothes that need to be washed, and mountains of diapers. The living room was buried under baby stuff, and I had no idea if we would ever get it back.

10. Realizing you will now have to share Mom.

It's always been me and mom. Now there's a baby to add to our family. I'm excited to meet my baby brother, but I don't really know how I feel about sharing my mom. Even though it will be hard to share the one person who is always there for me, I know it'll be worth it because I know my little brother will have the best parents in the whole world.