My college life had become kind of a lull between weekends, with occasional exam panics peppered throughout.

But last week was different. My older brother sent me a text that read: ‘Chloe is coming today!’ For those unfortunate few who do not know the intimate details of my life, Chloe is my niece who was supposed to be delivered a week from Thursday.

She may have been early (unlike my older brother, who has believed in being fashionably late since birth) but I was more than ecstatic ‘ I was going to become an aunt! But it was five in the morning, I was tired and had a test in the morning. I fell back asleep.

A couple of hours later I ran to my 8:30 a.m. exam after calling my parents. My sister-in-law was delivering during my exam; they said they would text me a picture as soon as she was born. Understandably, my thoughts were preoccupied throughout the exam, but I managed to finish. I checked my phone as soon as I got out of the class.

Lying there in the safety of my inbox, amidst the ‘LOL’s’ and ‘see you there’s,’ was a picture of the cutest thing involving my older brother’s DNA that I had ever seen. She erased all the minor annoyances in my life ‘ the fact that I should have put A instead of B on the third question really didn’t matter at that moment.

I was in class all day, but my twin and I (and of course Katy Perry and Eminem) took off in a rush Friday morning to see the new addition to the family.

We arrived at the hospital Friday night; the woman at the front desk was thrilled at how expertly we wrote our names on the check-in list, saying that everyone else these days is so incompetent that they might as well ‘run around Central Park at night in a bikini.’ Flattered and confused, I walked to the room.

Upon opening the door I saw my sister-in-law lying on a bed recovering. My mom was talking to my older brother with a smile that I was sure had not left her face since the morning before.

And then I saw my niece. She was lying down in a crib ‘ she was tiny, soft and fast asleep. My initial reaction was to pull her into a hug, but at the same time I was worried to touch something so fragile-looking.

It was my sister-in-law that asked me if I wanted to hold her. Expecting her to be more protective, I was completely unprepared for this offer and decided to wait a little while.

A few minutes later I was ready to hold my niece. As she was placed in my arms, it suddenly hit me. After being twin-tied on the baby throne my whole life, I was finally going to have someone to impart valuable information to.

As she grasped my finger with her tiny hand, I smiled and realized that the excitement had just begun. We’ll have tea parties, tricycle rides (tricycles, as in more than one ‘ it’s a personal choice) and vital daily rituals ‘ like conquering the Jumble over pancakes.

And after much deliberation, I already know the first big rule that I’m going to tell my niece. She should never run around Central Park at night in a bikini ‘ unless she’s with me.