Prepping Naiya to Become a Big Sister (Isn’t Easy!)
I'm officially 33 weeks pregnant today and I'm already bigger than I was when I delivered Naiya. Needless to say, I feel like a giant whale who is ready to pop at any moment (but somehow, I still have so much more time to go)!
Since it's been a while since I've been able to post an update for you, sharing the latest and greatest with on my pregnancy journey, family life and how we're prepping Naiya to become a big sister.
The Bumpdate:
I meant to share these pictures with you weeks ago but as I posted here, I've been really sick this pregnancy and I haven't had the chance. My 24-hour morning sickness continues but I'm able to pseudo-function throughout most of the day thanks to the two medications I'm still on. For anyone else who has gone through crazy vomiting and nausea right up until the birth of their babies, I completely commiserate.
It's so debilitating and takes up all of your energy. I can't believe this is my second time going through it and I'm so excited that there's a light at the end of the tunnel now that our baby is due so soon!
Excited to post these photos now because I so love looking back at them. We shot these this spring after our second ultrasound with baby #2 and the excitement on Naiya's face is just too much! The poor thing doesn't really know what's about to come even though we keep trying to explain it to her.
I'm pretty sure she thinks all bellies are called "babies" since I always point to mine and say "mommy has a baby in here." She points to her belly right after and always says "baby." This whole big sister thing is a #workinprogress.
I'm already starting to feel all the bittersweet emotions--cuddling her even more than usual, wondering how she'll take the news that she's about to be one of two. When I hold her, I often can't imagine that a new baby will soon be wrapped in my arms too and I worry it will be a really hard transition for her. I feel like she'll be brokenhearted seeing me holding a smaller baby and I'm already bracing myself for waterworks (from us both)!
We Officially Have A Preschooler
Speaking of transitions for Naiya, she also started preschool a couple weeks ago. Talk about all the tears for this prego mama (even though Naiya did really well)! Not sure if was the extra hormones but dropping her off that first day was definitely NOT easy! I went full ugly-cry in the bathroom stall.
We decided to start Naiya off at two years old instead of three because she seemed so ready. We also thought a few hours of school per day would be such a great new routine for her with the new baby coming.
Thankfully, it already feels like we've made the right decision because Naiya seems so happy! We still have some tears at drop-off in the mornings but overall, Naiya is being a total rockstar. She's two going on twelve and I can totally imagine that I'm going to blink and she'll be graduating college in a second. This is all going too quickly already!
How Did You Prepare Your Kids For A New Baby?
Thanks so much for reading through an abridged version of the latest on our end! More to come soon too.
With about six weeks to go in this pregnancy, if anyone has advice in terms of how best able to prepare your older child/children for the transition to becoming big siblings, I'd love to know! I need all the help I can get!
Photography: Forrest Leo