Gabriel Meets His New Sister

Gabriel turned 3 years old on January 31st. He seemed to understand a baby was in Mama’s belly and was coming to our house soon, as he started making representations of our family with 4 people: Papa, Gabriel, Mama, Baby. Before Arianne was born, he liked to feel her moving and to give her hugs and kisses.

He met her for the first time one day after the C-section. He looked like such a big boy when he came to the hospital carrying his own backpack! He came right in and said, “Little baby!” He wanted to look at her and then he promptly wanted to climb into my lap when he noticed the big belly was gone, however I couldn’t let him due to the pain from the C-section and recovery from pelvic instability.

Holding her at the hospital

We brought her home on Thursday, so now it’s been 5 days with both of them at home. He’s been really excited about her at some points, wanting to hold her, give her kisses, and help get diapers or whatever she needs. Other times he’s really been acting up and being stubborn; he knows I can’t put him in time out when I’m moving so slowly! One day he came home from spending the night with my mom and was yelling, “I don’t want baby!” D then asked him if he wanted the baby to go back to the hospital. I’m pretty sure he sniffled a yes before calming down and taking a nap.

The last two nights I’ve been able to go up and down the stairs slowly, so I’ve gone down to his room at bedtime to have some “Mama time” with him and to read books. He was great on both occasions (bedtime is often a struggle) so we’re going to continue that this week. My mom has also been spending a lot of quality time with him in the afternoons after school. I’m really grateful my mom is here; there is no way I’d be able to handle watching the two kiddos when I’m still recovering from the birth!