He woke up in the middle of the night and realized we weren’t home. There was crying and sadness at 2 am and lots of checking the garage and driveway for his daddy’s car and so when we did come back home with a new baby, he wasn’t entirely sure about her.
Today, 6 1/2 months later he says she’s one of his best friends and asks me daily when she will play with him and talk to him. I catch him running up the stairs to show her a toy or randomly tell her something and I see her smile as he wakes up and lies with her every morning. Most recently I overheard him telling her not to cry; “i’ll protect you”he promised.
Their love has been a beautiful journey and it’s such a joy to watch.
I’ll share 5 practical tips on bringing home a new baby:
1) Don’t sweat the small stuff. Life will undoubtedly get busier and you will have to let go of the small things in order to make time for the bigger, more important things. I no longer have time to ensure every hotwheel is in its designated area but that leaves me with extra time to play with my 3 year old.
2) One-on-One time. Ensure that each child is getting quality time every single day. That means no distractions, and putting their need in perspective for that specific period of time. In the beginning I had to mentally schedule it to ensure it was actually happening..now its become much more routine.
3) Don’t judge. Don’t label any regressions your children have as “mean” or “bad”. They can internalize those words and take them personally. This can leave them with feelings of rejection. Instead, look for the root causes of the behaviors you don’t like and act on the things which trigger them.
4) Encourage your children to talk to you. Expressing their feelings is essential to coping with any major life change and yes, adding another member to your family is a major change.
5) Allow older siblings to be involved. Give your children the opportunity to take ownership of their sibling, allow them to express love gently, foster a sense of trust towards them when they are dealing with the new baby and encourage them to talk to the baby. They can also help bringing you wipes, pampers, etc and feeling included in actions pertaining to the new baby.
This Beautiful Life of Ours 
This is lovely. I am so excited to bring another baby into our family hopefully one day in the near future but it’s also such a scary time. Hearing how your son talks and loves your new baby so much fills my heart!
I am new to this site and blogging. If you have any advice from one mama to another it would be much appreciated 😘
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Thank you for stopping by and reading! you will know when the time is right 🙂 watching the interactions between my children is amazing and touching.
tip: hmm, just keep putting out content that you love and are passionate about and interacting with others. thats a sure way to gain readership and followers. 🙂
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😘😘
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Such a touching, heart-warming, and generous post….you have such a lovely, lovely heart…and, it is obvious that that extends to your precious son–and, I have no doubt–his sister and father as well….thank you for sharing 🙂
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as always, thanks for your kindness. i truly appreciate your support!
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So sweet. I love this. Especially the part about his running to show her things.
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Hi I enjoyed reading your blog…some great tips..Although I must share I wrote something similar..please take a look and leave a response if there is anything you would like to say!
https://adreamingdomesticdiva.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/when-the-second-one-comes/
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thank you.i enjoyed your post as well- thank you for sharing.
i’m not sure why this post is only now showing up.
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This is such a lovely post – my stepson is 12 years old than my daughter but I found that giving them some responsibility with their new sibling does make them feel much more involved. Thanks for linking up to #dreamteam xx
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You are so right! They need that sense of responsibility to feel involved and garner that sense of belonging. So glad you stopped by! xx
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