On Becoming Big

October 12^th 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.

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.

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.

Always My Baby