My entire week in Arizona was mostly spent babysitting these cuties. It was a sweet departure from my last visits in May when I could only stay for a day each time. My nephew is now a little older so he always remembers his Aunty Relly, but my niece is already shy so it takes a while for her to warm up to me. After babysitting her for about a week, I hope the next time I visit she’s yelling Aunty Relly too.
Took some photos for the Aunty Files.
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I think it’s important to gift my niece and nephew with things that are meaningful and memorable. My niece just turned 1 last month, and I have no idea what toys or clothes she already has. As her only aunt (read favorite aunt) I want to get her cute things!So when I saw that Lexi Lizama from MeAndMyMerbaby.com reopened her Etsy shop, I messaged her right away for a custom order.
Lexi is a Pacific Islander like myself and–inspired by her adventures with her sweet daughter Aaliyah–she makes the most adorable merbaby dolls and sea friends from soft colorful felt and hand stitched detailing.
Lexi is super sweet. She was super helpful and sent me a custom Etsy link for my order. At only $30 for both the custom merbaby and seahorse, and the fact that she was able to make and ship my order within just a few days, it was all so worth it! I placed the order while I was on a trip to the Dominican Republic and was so excited when I got to Arizona and found that the order had arrived! Just in time too since I only had a couple of days with my niece before I was to return to American Samoa.
My order was wrapped in white tissue paper and twine. She also included my message “To my sweet little merbabe Rachel”.
My nephew helped his baby sister open her present and let her rip off the tissue to reveal her merbaby.
My sister noticed the special details right away, like the twinkle of the merbaby’s eye, and the secured stitching at the end of her braided hair to prevent from unbraiding and flyaways.
My niece is an observer, so she held it skeptically at first. I imagine her thinking to herself: what is this… it’s soft but it doesn’t smell like mom… oh but it looks like her… ok I like it!
I really like the size of these plush merbabies too. It was larger than I expected, which is nice so Rachel can hug them for warmth and comfort while she’s still tiny, and she can still hug them as she gets older.
This merbaby and seahorse plush was the perfect gift for Rachel’s belated birthday. It has all the elements of what makes a gift from an aunt so special, and it felt great to support a small business and artsy friend! I hope my niece goes on many adventures with her merbaby friends.