Can't Live With 'Em, Can't Live Without 'Em..

So I got one of the funniest emails ever yesterday.
I had confused a reader.
She was adorably and awesomely sweet about it, but basically she wanted me to explain what the hell is going on with my family.

Apparently she has been reading my blog for a while and she noticed that sometimes I referred to myself as the oldest and then sometimes I talked about having 2 big brothers and sometimes I talked about having more than 1 sister. 

I do not have that cute little nuclear family that you learned about in school.
So, let's chat about it.

In the beginning my family looked like this..

My parents got married and had myself and then a few years later had my sister.
Ps. Her name isn't Lou, it's a nickname.
Sweet little nuclear family!

But then it looked like this..

My parents got divorced. Womp womp.
Truthfully, I'm totally cool with it. Definitely don't need therapy or anything. (at least not for this)
Guys, trust me.. My parents? Totally different people! Honestly, not sure how they were together.
The only thing I'm really happy about is that my parents were brilliant enough to give me a sister. I sometimes like her.


So anyway, my Mom and Dad got divorced when I was very young and my sister was still a baby.
I have very, very few memories of them being together and my sister has none.

Not too awfully long after that my Momma started dating someone new.
And then my family looked like this..

He had 2 kids from his previous marriage too.
Here's a better diagram of that..

To make a long story short my Momma got remarried! To my Stepdad (uh obviously?) and then his 2 sons became my sister and I's step-brothers!
And for a while it's was just that. Just the 6 of us! 3 boys and 3 girls and everything was just so adorable!

always, ALWAYS lined us up in age order!

Then my Momma and Stepdad had to go and have another baby..
So then my family looked like this..

A little baby boy! Who turned out to be the best boy I know! Love that kid to death!

If I had a favorite sibling, it'd be him. But that's okay, because he's also the favorite child, so everyone kind of expects him to be the favorite in everything. All of my siblings would claim him as their favorite too, so I in no way feel guilty about my admission.
(unless of course my sister is reading this and then she's my favorite, obviously..)

OH!


Almost forgot..
See here's the thing..
Growing up, my step-brothers lived with their mom (and their stepdad and half siblings) in a town about 45 minutes away.
So growing up we went to 2 different schools (in the same sports conference, so that was fun) and we obviously didn't all live under one roof all of the time.

This is why I flip between talking about being the oldest and then talk about being the middle child all in the same breathe. 
Because I was.
Growing up one weekend I'd be the oldest and the very next weekend I'd be smack dab in the middle. It's a wonder I didn't get whiplash.

I also think this might be why I definitely have the characteristics of being the oldest (my mom probably just laughed at that) but sometimes I have some middle child syndrome going on (my mom definitely just laughed at that).

ALSO..

My siblings and I almost never refer to each other as anything other than "brother" or "sister". We NEVER use that "half-brother" bullshit with our little brother and we almost never use that "step-sibling" bullshit, unless we're explaining this (fun) mess to someone else.

Here's a pretty diagram that better explains our differences in age.

M2 and I are only 13 months apart so we used to get lumped together a lot. Truthfully, we still do.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My dad never remarried, so he's just got my sister and I.
Which I happen to love because that means we're his girls and that's it.
Also, we're the only grandkids on that side of the family too, so my sister and I might be a wee-bit spoiled.

And FINALLY..
I know I've mentioned that I have a second sister..
Technically, I don't. However, my actual sister and her best friend have been friends since they were in diapers.
I don't mean like they've known each other since they were in diapers and they stayed acquaintances, I mean that they've been best friends their whole lives. They're actually living together at college right now. That girl has been a part of our lives for forever. So yes, I sometimes refer to her as my bonus sister or my extra sister.

Okay, I guess if you weren't the reader who emailed me, then this post was probably pretty boring for you guys.
But shit happens.

Ps. Family Is Forever.