Sister, Sister

I’m 6 months pregnant and have yet to feel like I’ve done anything to get prepared for this new baby. My husband and I seem to be going through the motions of everyday life – we’re busy and the days go by so quickly! When I finally lay down at the end of the day and feel my belly move, I’m suddenly reminded of the fact that I’m actually growing a tiny human inside me and, oh yeah, that tiny human is going to be born, like, soon. The hospital only lets you stay so many nights, so eventually that tiny human is going to have to come back to our house and sleep somewhere; plus, she’ll need clean clothes and blankets, a properly installed carseat … you know, the essentials!

The lack of preparedness on our part might stem from the fact that this is our second baby. We designed the nursery, bought the big-ticket items and read all of the books the first time around. As luck would have it, we’re having another girl so the items we have will work again for round two. Hooray for hand-me-downs! We’re pretty much pros at this point (yeah, right) and we know what to expect when it comes to a newborn (not really) so I’m thinking we’ll just “go with the flow” once she gets here (um … sure). That doesn’t mean we’re not excited for this baby. We are excited – really, we are! It’s just different this time.

One thing we have been doing, though, is talking to our daughter, Gracyn, about her baby sister. I mean, someone should be prepared, right?! Our firstborn’s world is about to be rocked and I want her to be as prepared as she can be. She will only be 22 months old by the time her sister is born, so her level of comprehension might be limited – but we can still do things to help her understand what is happening before the baby is born:

• Talk about the baby. When we’re around Gracyn, we talk about the baby all. the. time. She knows there is a baby in mama’s tummy. We remind her that we need to watch out for “sister” every time she tries to jump on my lap or crawl across my body. She’ll kiss my belly and tell the baby “night night” when it’s time for bed. Whether or not she understands the baby will eventually be coming home to live with us, thereby invading Gracyn-land, remains to be seen …

• Read books. We were given a couple of “new baby” books from our friends when we first announced we were expecting. The first night we read “I’m a Big Sister” to Gracyn, she spent the entire time pointing out the daddy, mommy and baby on each page. We’ve since ordered a couple of books about sisters, in particular, to start reading about the special relationship we hope the two of them will have with one another.

• Prepare her “big girl” room. We’re keeping the nursery set up as-is and plan to move Gracyn to a new bedroom, complete with a “big girl” bed and everything. She’s been involved in the process, too. She “helped” me make her bed, put clothes in the dresser drawers and moved toys into her new closet. She’s still sleeping in her crib in the nursery for now, but we hope to make the transition soon.

• Show her stuff for the baby. I’ve just started going through my bins of baby girl clothes and will show Gracyn stuff she used to wear. I mention that these clothes are now for “sister” and she seems to understand to a degree, agreeing that they are for “baby.” The infant carseat is currently sitting on our dining room floor and she’s pushed it around the room and played in and around it a few times. She knows it’s for the baby and that her “big girl” car seat is in the van.

Once the baby is born, we plan on getting her a “big sister” gift from her new sibling, although I haven’t figured out what that will be just yet. We will make it a big deal for her to come see mommy and the baby in the hospital and make a point to spend some one-on-one time with her once we’re home. I’m expecting her to regress a little bit as we’re getting settled – acting out for attention and that sort of thing – but I’m confident it will be short-lived.

I could be way off here, seeing as how we’ve never had a second child before – but I feel like we have a pretty good start on preparing Gracyn to be the best big sister she can be. Do you have any suggestions? Am I missing anything major? Things we should try now or once the baby is born? I would love some insight from all of you wonderful mamas!