A little jealousy

A sweet new life was brought into the world 6 days ago. The labor that it took to bring her into the world was hard, painful, and at times unsure. It was scary waiting for each update from my family. How was my sister in law? How was my niece? What were the doctors saying? Were they ok?

Now days later and all of that is in the past. Sure, my sister in law is still recovering from the natural pain of childbirth, but all is well and we are all so in love with our newest addition.

Adalyn Grace, you have been prayed for and loved from the moment we got the surprising news that you existed.

A couple days ago, Hubs, Sweetness, and I went to visit Adalyn. It was the first time that Sweets was going to hold her and she was so excited as we walked over to their apartment. We walked into the apartment and the very first thing that my Sweetness did was ask for some cheetos that she saw on the counter. What an abrupt anti-climax, right? Yeah, I felt it too. I was so excited to see my baby loving on another little baby. I had, unknowingly, built up all of these expectations of how she would act when she saw Adalyn. And then, she just wanted cheetos.

She did ask to hold her eventually and we snapped a picture.

She was a little nervous to give her a kiss, but I think that was more because we were all watching her. Eventually she gave her kisses and she was done holding her. I held Adalyn for a good time as we talked with family. I loved the familiar feeling of that tiny warm body nestled into my arms. Oh, my whole body ached smelling her fresh baby skin and feeling her soft hair.

Sweetness came over to me and asked to hold her again. I let her sit in my lap and hold Adalyn for a little bit until she was ready to get up. She stood up and whispered in my ear, "I want you to put the baby on the ground". I looked at her sweet face and recognized instantly how much her request needed to be answered. I passed Adalyn along and immediately my big, no longer a baby, 3 yr old crawled in my lap and laid in the same position I was holding Adalyn.

She needed to be held and doted over. She needed me to brush her hair out of her face and gaze at her with overwhelming affection. And I did, because she brings that out of me naturally. My usually busy 3 yr old laid in my arms like she did as a cuddly infant for way longer than I ever expected her usual high energy levels to allow her. She was content to just be in my arms as I rocked her and gave her kisses.

We all laughed a little at how jealous she became, but I know she just needed that time with me. I'm believing that one day Sweetness will have younger siblings. There will be some days that I have to give special attention to the baby while she does other things as the more self-sufficient big sister. But for now, we can just sit, and rock, and whisper.

For now and for always, you will be my baby, my dear Sweet Ryot.