Preparations and Changes...

Well we are really getting down to the home stretch with this pregnancy! I am 36 weeks, but since I will have a repeat c-section on 11-5-13 then there is really only 3 weeks until we get to meet BBS! :) Preparations have been going well, I have washed all our baby things, made up the crib, pulled out all neutral clothes, folded (well Chris did that for me) them, I have yet to put the clothes away in the drawers and then I have to make up the bassinet, that is pretty much it! Oh and pack the diaper bag and decide what outfit BBS will come home in! WOW! we actually did pretty good! There is not much we need to do! We would like to rearrange the living room, which we will do maybe this weekend or next, but that is not a crucial piece to the arrival of this little man! :)

The changes part of my title is in reference to some of the changes that we are noticing in Evelyn. We have been trying to have a very positive vibe and openly talking about Evelyn having a baby brother. She overall seems super excited and positive about it. For example, she likes to look at baby brother's clothes, and decide what things are baby brothers. Recently as I was getting some diapers out and ready, I was oogling over how tiny the size 1 diapers are (hard to imagine having such a little one again) and Evelyn so perfectly and cutely mimicked me and was all 'oooh, the diapers are so cute!!" then I explained how they are going to go on baby brother and she said 'yeah he is going to poop in them and I will wipe his butt!'  How cute is that?!? She talks about wiping his little butt! :) But at the same time, I think it is still a little overwhelming for a person who is only 2 to fully understand what is going on. We moved her into a big girl room a few months back, and by design did it plenty early so that she did not feel like she was being kicked out of the baby room. She now knows her old room is a baby room, and she does not want to be called a baby or referred to as a baby, however she literally said to me: "I am a big girl and a good girl, but I want to be a little little too!"  That kind of hit me hard, I think we have been talking about her being a big girl so much I should step back and remember and embrace that she is only 2... she is not really a 'big' girl! TEAR! and I don't want her to be too much of a big girl, she is still my little girl, our first born, light of our world! :)

The past few weeks we have noticed how she does not like to do anything alone, AT ALL, like going to the bathroom alone, going to sleep without us by her, and staying in her own bed the whole night, and even started some issues at gymnastics. A lot of this started after she was sick for like a week, so I thought she was just thrown off because of that, but it seems to be a little bit more than that. I am now thinking, cause the baby talk is revving up so much Evelyn might be starting to get some of that jealousy or concern for not  being the center of attention (even though she still is). It must be a thing she can sense, and she is clearly concerned about our attention and us being with her. So we have been attempting to reassure her on a regular basis and with all things possible, and just always talk about how we are never going to leave her and we are always here for her. We are taking baby steps, and finding out parenting of a younger child is almost as much learning on the parent's part as it is on the kid's part!

I might be an over-user or the phrase 'I love you' although, I don't really think you can over-use it, but if you could, I would go above and beyond normal usage. This morning, I looked back at Evelyn in her car seat, and she was talking about something, and I said 'I love you, Evelyn' and she said very matter-of-fact almost as if annoyed 'I know mama!' in which I had to giggle, and I said well I just don't ever want you to doubt it! And I proceeded to tell her again, that is what I do. I know she knows it, and I hear her say it back to me the way I say to her: 'I love you ssooo much' so I know she hears it and it sinks in.... So overall I know we will be okay with this adjustment to having to share mommy and daddy's attention, but that is probably my biggest concern now moving forward. So any advice out there would be greatly appreciated! :)

Car seat is clean and ready to go, Evelyn's baby Cinderella had to try it out! 

Evelyn rocking the car seat... it works well for Baby brother!

She is such a ham, difficult for me to get a good picture of her moving so much...

Crib is all made up, I am getting the noise machine toy attached and Evelyn is trying out the crib, mommy and daddy thought this was funny, but our sensitive drama queen did not like being the 'baby'! :)

Sad, cause she is not a baby! :) poor girl! :)