#Sisterz

So Elsa LOOOOOOOVES Ava.  :)

For the entire 6 months of my pregnancy that we weren't keeping it a secret... Elsa has been excited for Ava's birth in increasing degrees.  Naturally, at first she had no clue what was going on, since she was still somewhat a baby herself and also since I looked no different.  But as my belly grew and Elsa's understanding grew along with it, she began to show more and more signs that she "got it."  I think it helped a ton that Elsa recently took an interest in reading her baby book.  She wanted to read it nearly every day during the last few months of my pregnancy, so it was a perfect opportunity to compare.  "See?  Here YOU are the day Mommy pushed you out of my tummy at the hospital.  That's what it's going to be like with Baby Ava." etc.  We told her all the time how Baby Ava would be born at the hospital just like she was.  We prepared her that when it was time for Baby Ava to be born, she'd go play with Pop and Casey (those are her shortened names for Papa Casey and Mama Casey), and then come visit Baby Ava and hold her at the hospital.  We also reminded her pretty frequently that Baby Ava would probably cry a lot and that that was OK.  We would just give Elsa things to practice saying/doing, like saying, "It's okay" when Ava cries, or hugging her and kissing her to make her feel better.  We also got a lot of good practice opportunities with new babies at church.  There have been a few born recently and when we were around them, Elsa would always ask to hold them.  (A good sign, I thought!)  Most of their mommies were sweet enough to allow it, so we'd hold the babies and practice saying "It's okaaaay" if they got upset, etc.   I could tell already that she was going to love having a sister, because she would just shower those babies with endless hugs, kisses and sweet pats.

I've certainly had my doubts too though.  Elsa has been (no question) the center of my attention every day for her entire life.  And I would have it no other way.  We have had the sweetest two years imaginable together.  I love being her Mommy and watching her learn, grow, and play everyday.  So I figured there'd be a fair amount of jealousy along with the infatuation.  So far so good though...

As I said in Ava's birth story, I was blessed to have about 45 minutes alone with Elsa the morning I went into labor.  I was having semi-painful contractions, so we were waiting for Suzanne and Chris to arrive at the house before heading to the hospital.  It was a good chance to be with Elsa and prepare her for the day.  I told her it was time for me to go to the hospital and have Baby Ava.  She seemed totally on board with that plan, since we'd discussed it about a hundred times.  She was excited that Mama Casey was headed to our house to play with her... and excited that she'd get to go hold Baby Ava at the hospital soon.

So, fast forward to that evening.  Ava was born shortly before 3pm, and we spent the next 3 hours leisurely hanging out in our labor & delivery room before moving to the recovery hall.  Warren, Suzanne, & Elsa went to Zaxby's for dinner and arrived to see us around 6.  And, as predicted, Elsa was eager to climb onto the bed with me and hold her baby sister.  She immediately started caressing her soft little cheeks and kissing them (and her lips, and head, and everywhere.)  We asked, "Who is this?" and she said, "That's Baby Ava" :)... and she even would say things like, "She's so cuuuuute."  (How does she know that?)  Also a couple times she said funny things like, "I'm being gentle, Pop."  (And truthfully, she was very good about being gentle with Ava.  I wasn't worried at all on that front.)

She wanted to hold Ava nonstop.  It was sooo sweet.  After we transferred all our stuff into the recovery room, she sat with me again and held her again, and again just showered her with affection.  At one point, she said, "Casey, will you hold Baby Ava?"  We laughed at that one!  And then as soon as Suzanne took Ava, Elsa wanted to get down immediately and go sit by Suzanne so that she could be right there by Ava.

A few other cute moments:

Elsa spent the weekend in Searcy with her grandparents so that Chris and I could get settled in at home with Ava.  But we Face-timed with her Saturday night. :)  She was kissing the phone nonstop and cupping her hands together asking to hold Ava through the screen. Haha!  And when they brought her home to us Sunday, she ran up the sidewalk talking about "going to Baby Ava's house."  Again, she was excited to hold her.  And of course she was thrilled when we let her give Ava her bottle.  Mama Casey got that on video.

And the next few days have pretty much been more of the same.  Elsa gets very excited when I tell her it's time to go get Ava up from her nap or feed her a bottle.  She loves holding her, kissing her, holding her hand, and touching her skin.  She's always prepared to say, "It's okaaaaay" when Ava cries.  She points out everything Ava does, "She sticked out her tongue!  She burped!"  Sometimes it's really funny watching her try to plant a kiss somewhere specific on Ava, since Ava is usually flopping her head this way and that or rooting off to the side.  Elsa tries to turn Ava's head in for a kiss, and Ava just goes rooting for her hand.  Her little neck is stronger than it looks, so she doesn't always make it easy on Elsa!

One negative note: Elsa did actually have an accident in her panties today... don't they always say toddlers do that when they get a new sibling?  But I'm not too worried.  I think it had much less to do with jealousy or regression and much more to do with her being too excited/distracted to go potty in the bathroom.

I took a really cute video of them together last night when Elsa first got here... :)  I know I'll be glad to have that.