Big Sister Abby

If you recall, prior to Austin's arrival I was very nervous about Abby. I was worried about how she would react to the changes in her life, and how I would handle the lack of one-on-one time. Turns out, everyone was right. I didn't need to worry about her. Abby is a WONDERFUL big sister.

Abby first met Austin in the hospital. Granma and Granpa (Abby doesn't pronounce the "D") brought her in the day after he was born, and she was so excited! She brought flowers and a stuffed animal (apparently both her ideas) and ran right to his cradle. No one else in the room mattered but Austin. After Daddy helped her "hold" him, she was in full big sister mode. In fact, when a nurse came to take Austin for his hearing test, Abby broke down in tears. She did NOT like that someone was taking her little brother away from her.

Two weeks later, she is still enamored with him. Abby loves to help with diaper changes (she gets me clean ones and throws away the dirty ones). When he's finished eating, she loves to help burp him. In addition to patting his back, she'll sit in front of him and hold both of his hands while I burp him. She talks to him and plays patty cake. When he's alert, she loves to shake toys and rattles in front of him. Before bed and naptime, she has to give Austin a kiss goodnight. All in all, she can't get enough of him!

And he LOVES her back. Abby's voice was one of the first he reacted to, turning his head in her direction when she speaks to him. He loves to stare at her.

Like I said, I didn't really need to worry about the sibling connection.

It hasn't been all easy though. Abby has had a little trouble understanding that I can't play with her all the time and we are working on her patience. The fact that she can't have what she wants at the exact moment she wants it is probably the biggest adjustment for her. However, we're working on it. She's slowly gaining some independence and is doing much better than I had expected. We still have the occasional meltdown, but they are becoming shorter and less often.

The only other area we're not thriving, is in my relationship with Abby. Because I'm nursing, my connection with Austin is still very primal*, so I'm very protective of him and my patience with Abby has been a little short. Thankfully, I don't think she's really noticed. I've been very conscious of this and have tried to focus on only her when I can. I've also tried to keep her routine in tact and to do things like bath and bedtime by myself. As a bonus, it's given Dan some quality Austin time each night as well.

It's been two weeks since we've been home from the hospital, and a week and a half since Dan's been back to work. I think we're doing pretty well, considering.

*Having babies makes me appreciate evolution even more. It's amazing the reflexes and instincts that come from both Austin and myself in the last two weeks. Science is amazing!