Big Sister

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Mike and I are just in awe of how Evie has handled everything over the last four days!  She is such a trooper and seems to be fitting into her role of big sister very nicely!

The night I went into labor, things seemed to be progressing so quickly that we were worried about waiting for my cousin to drive all the way to our house (the hospital is halfway between our houses).  So Mike got Evie out of bed at 12:30 in the morning and put her in the car with us as my cousin was going to meet us at the hospital.  She happily rode along in the back seat listening to her favorite songs and fortunately unphased by everything going on!  Once at the hospital she did great with "hanging" with my cousin, Sheri while mommy and daddy were in the labor and delivery room.  Of course there was the occasional wanting to go in with mommy and daddy.....and she knew where we were since she had been in the room with us for a bit!  My cousin captured this wonderful photo of Evie letting her know she wanted to go "there." (down the hallway where we were)

Fortunately it was only about an hour later and Mike was able to go get them and bring them into the room to meet Layla!  I couldn't believe at now about 3:00 in the morning our little sunshine was still awake, but I was glad she was able to come in and meet her new little sister!

When she first saw her she got the biggest smile and kept saying, "baby" and pointing to her!  At one point she got a confused look and put her arms out saying, "Bow?"  We aren't sure if she was wondering why the baby wasn't wearing a bow? (lol.....you would think they come out of mommy's tummy wearing one right?) or if she was expecting the baby to look like mommy's best friend's son Beau.  (Beau is really the only baby Evie has been around....he is now 8 months old and an adorable blonde haired blue eyed boy!)......so yes, our tiny one hour old, dark haired baby girl did look quite different than that expectation!  

It was also obvious Evie was observing every move Layla made.  Every time Layla moved her tongue around or her mouth, Evie imitated it and would giggle and say, "oh baby."  Layla coughed a few times and Evie imitated it also.  She just seemed so fascinated by everything Layla was doing!  It was so cute!

you can kind of see Evie's lips puckered here as she was imitating everything Layla was doing!

The hospital was crazy and apparently the stormy weather during the week was sending everyone into labor, so they didn't have any post partum rooms available.  We ended up spending a longer time in the labor and delivery room.  This was daddy reading a book to his girls.....Evie was sure Layla knew what was happening in the book as well:0)

By 5:00, it was obvious Evie was not going to be able to sleep at the hospital so she and daddy went home for a bit to get her to sleep and Sheri stayed at the hospital with me.  She wasn't sure about leaving at first but we told her they needed to go home and get Kavi (our dog).  She hopped down from daddy's lap walked to the door then said, "Daddy...Kavi.  Mere (Come here) baby.  Bye-bye Kavi"  Translation, come on daddy and baby let's go get Kavi:0)  In other words she was not about to leave Layla at the hospital.  Fortunately daddy was able to convince her it was okay and she did go home and get a little sleep.

Proudly wearing her Big Sister shirt when she returned!

"holding" her sister for the first time!

so in love!

I think she'll keep her!

Playing with her "big sister" present from mommy and daddy!

napping at the hospital....it's hard work being a big sister!

home at last!

So many people warned me/told me, Evie would seem so much more grown up once the baby arrived.....and even though I knew it, you can't fully understand it until it actually happens.  The first time I changed Evie's diaper after changing many of Layla's she seemed sooooooo much bigger than before.  Suddenly her language seemed to have exploded (even though I'm sure it's not much different than last week).  She is always worried about her little sister, especially when she cries.  She wants to share everything with her sister......and of course she is the best helper for mommy already!

We were so worried about how attached she had become to us after the move to Atlanta and how she would handle everything.......and I so happy to see she is okay with us needing to take care of Layla and in fact she is usually more worried about Layla than mommy or daddy!