Big Sister

When I first announced when we were pregnant, one of the first questions I was asked was: Does Maddie know??

The reality is, I think she knew before I did. Weeks before I took a test, I remember her asking me what was in my belly. I never thought anything of it, but in hindsight it still gives me goosebumps. When we first found out, we didn’t tell right away. But it wasn’t long before she noticed that I wasn’t picking her up as much, and that we were being extra cautious of anything bumping my belly- I’m looking at you, Otis.

So we told Maddie, pretty quickly- probably sooner than we would be advised. But it was something we couldn’t wait to tell her and include her in.

We told her by gifting her this sweet book- I Am a Big Sister. We read it to her and asked her if SHE wanted to be a big sister before telling her outright; but she knew the moment we brought out the book. And while she definitely understood the concept from the beginning, it’s been so fun to watch her excitement grow over the past few weeks.

After the initial breaking of the news, there was a long period of apathy on her part. But in the last few weeks there’s been a shift- she tells strangers she’s going to be a big sister and that there’s a baby in mom’s belly, she helped us pick a baby name and already has a nickname for her, she dresses up with her own baby in her belly from time to time and she holds my tummy at night waiting to feel kicks.

I had gotten very comfortable with the idea of having one over the last year or so- as I talk about here- but these sweet moments with Maddie and her little sister in my belly are what always made me hold out some glimmer of hope for baby number two. And there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not so grateful for this gift.

How did you tell your littles they were going to be a big brother/sister??