October 12th was a big day in our family. After
many, many years of begging us and praying to God for a baby Azalee’s dream
came true. She became a big sister. To say she was excited would be a major
understatement. The look on her face the first time she saw her baby sister was
one of sheer joy. As we promised her, she was the third person to hold Arabella
after she was born – only after mommy and daddy. And she was the one who
announced her name to everyone in the room. She felt so important and special and
included – just the way we wanted her to feel! She was on cloud nine! It was
perfect, and I was hopeful that her excitement would not be replaced by
jealousy.
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| Sisters Meeting for the First Time |
When we came home from the hospital I really began to worry
about how she would handle this new way of life. After all, for the past five
years she was the ONLY grandchild on my side of the family and our ONLY child.
We have been pretty inseparable since the day she was born. The child won’t
even spend the night with grandparents. However, she adapted to her new role as
big sister like a champ. She is oh so helpful…no really. I don’t know how I
made it without a big sister to help me when she was born! She is so sweet and
loving to her little sister, and seeing them together makes my heart happy. I
am hopeful that they will grow up and share a wonderful friendship. Sure there
have been moments where she has lamented the fact that we don’t get to spend as
much time together, and there was that one time when she cried and said, “I
just need to have you to myself for a while mommy.” (That was pretty gut
wrenching.) But for the most part she has adjusted very well and is doing
awesome. I have tried really hard to spend as much time with her as possible,
and I am trying to do things as close as possible to the way I did them before
Arabella joined our family.
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| My Mini Me |
One of the things that was a daily routine for us was bath
time. Azalee has been taking showers for several months now, but I always help
her wash her hair, and sometimes I even help her wash her body. She is almost
six, and she is definitely capable of taking a shower all by herself. I know
that she really doesn’t need my help, but I also know it won’t be long before
she will not want my help. So I always help her if she asks. Tonight she
decided she wanted to take a sit down bath instead of a shower. Of course I
agreed, and I ended up giving her a bath as if she were a toddler. She LOVED
it. We played all the silly bath games we used to play before she started
taking showers every night. I haven’t heard her giggle and squeal and laugh so
much in a long time! We definitely made some great memories tonight!
However, during bath time I couldn’t help but notice how big
she is getting. She is almost too long to lie down in the tub anymore!!! The
strange thing about Azalee becoming a big sister is that it has caused me to
realize just how fast she is growing and how big she is getting. I distinctly
remember the first time I tucked her in after Arabella was born. After holding
her little sister so often during the day it was much more obvious that my
first baby was not a baby anymore. I remember looking at her face, her hands,
and her arms and thinking, “When did she get so big?” It was almost as if
becoming a big sister actually made her bigger. Obviously she didn’t grow
suddenly on the day of her sister’s birth, but I know one thing for sure -- no
matter how much she grows and how big she gets she will always, always, always
be my baby.
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| Always My Baby |
