BIG Sister!

 Hello everyone! So sorry for my prolonged absence but it has been pretty exciting around here!  As you might have guessed from my blog title, I became a big sister since  I last blogged.  But we'll get to that soon. It's hard to remember what life was like before my baby brother came into this world but we'll try!  On this day I wore my dance shirt because it was "wear blue" day at school.  When I came downstairs after rest time I was dressed in a tiara, heels, and a necklace.  I told Mommy I was missing just one thing...a dress.  She helped me get my Sleeping Beauty dress on and I wore it the rest of the day.  We pretended to have a royal ball.  It was all great fun! 

 In further pretend play, I made a "crib" on the couch and I played baby.  Mommy did note that babies can't use pillows or big blankets.  But without them my "crib" was just a couch.

 My friend Marah came over for dinner one night while her parents went out to dinner.  She is going to be a big sister any day now.  We usually play pretty well together but this particular night I decided that I didn't want to share anything and got it in my head that anytime she touched one of my toys that she was going to take it home with her.  My irrational behavior led to a prolonged timeout in my room until I could be a good friend again.  The last 15 minutes she was here we played together the best. 

The rest of our time was spent getting ready for baby brother.  Grandma came up to stay with us "just in case" baby brother decided to come in the middle of the night.  It was a good thing she did because on day 2 of Grandma staying here it was time for baby brother!  Daddy had left for small group. Mommy decided she wasn't really feeling up to going so she stayed home with Grandma and me.  Mommy was making me macaroni and cheese for supper while I was playing with Grandma when all of a sudden her water broke.  So Mommy called Daddy to come home and they headed off to the hospital.  At 12:20 a.m. my baby brother was born!  Andrew Steven was 8 pounds, 5 oz and 21 inches long.

 I didn't find out about my baby brother until the morning time since I was sleeping soundly.  Mommy and Daddy called me and told me I was a BIG SISTER!  I said, "I'll be there right away!"  Mommy said I'd have to wait until it was time for Grandma to bring me.  I was really excited to go to the "office" (hospital) to see my baby brother.  We had just been to my 4 year old checkup at my doctor's office which is connected to the hospital.  From my exam room we could see the hospital and Mommy had just explained to me that was where the baby would be born.  So I knew exactly where to go!  To the office!

 It was love at first sight! 

 I was absolutely thrilled to be able to hold the baby....FINALLY! I waited so long for a baby brother.

 I helped baby Andrew open his present from me....the beloved jack in the box.  Any time baby Andrew cries I break out the jack in the box.  My parents say he will probably be having nightmares about the jack-in-the-box song!! 

 I love him!!  I really didn't want to leave.  I thought everyone would be coming home with me.  I didn't realize that babies and mommies need to stay in the hospital for a couple days.  That was a big disappointment!

 

 

 The next day Grandpa and Uncle Steve joined us and we all went back to the hospital.  I brought with my camera to take a few photos.  Uncle Steve also took a few (1,000) pictures.

 More holding!

 

 More holding!

Our family of 4!  Mommy, Daddy, Andrew and ME!

 

 We made Andrew a welcome sign.  I think he appreciated all the colors and the overall effort!

Mommy and Daddy have been trying hard to have special time for me in this new transition.  Daddy and I spent some good quality time with the princess play doh set one morning.  I think we all stayed in our jammies until 11 am!

 

 Daddy picked me up from preschool on Tuesday and surprised me with a trip to the Children's Museum. Mommy and Andrew stayed home.  They have a new Dora and Diego exhibit that is awesome!  This is me on the Pirate Piggies Pirate Ship looking for treasure.

 Spending some quality time in Isa's Flowery Garden.  Note that I have pretty much every single flower there.  Daddy made me share..........

 Posing with my pals Dora and Boots!

 

 Diego and Baby Jaguar

 The Diego exhibit had an Animal Rescue Center where you could give animals an xray and then get a diagnosis and a treatment. I loved helping all the animals!

 This is me climbing Jaguar mountain.  It was tricky but I made it!

I really surprised Daddy by wanting to pet this baby rat.  Usually I would be scared of that sort of thing, or really need to be talked into doing it.  The rat was very soft and nice.

 

This was me doing a puppet show in the "Amazing Castle".  All in all it was a fun afternoon at the museum.  Mommy and Andrew took a nap at home.  Mommy said that was really fun for her. 

What else is new?

• Here are my stats from my 4 year old check up.  41 pounds, 41 1/4 inches tall! Mommy said that was really easy to remember that at 4, I weighed 41 pounds and was 41 inches.  That put me in the 85th percentile for weight and 80th for height so just perfectly proportioned!
• I did really well at my checkup. I was very chatty with my doctor.  I was very concerned that there were going to be shots so I made sure to ask both the nurse and the doctor if they had any shots with them.  They both said no, much to my relief. 
• I am being a really good helper to Mommy and Daddy with the baby.  I'm very good at fetching various things.  I will ask, "Is that something a big sister would do?" and they always say yes. 
• About an hour after Mommy, Daddy and Andrew got home from the hospital I said to Mommy " Your tummy is shrinking!"  Mommy said it was because there was no longer a baby inside.  I said I wanted a baby sister to grow in there now.  Mommy said maybe sometime but definitely not right now.
• As a side note, Mommy was glad that I noticed her tummy was shrinking
• So far I have done pretty well with my baby brother. I haven't acted jealous. I've been having a few "attitude problems" but that has been kind of an ongoing issue lately even prior to baby Andrew. 

And some important information!  Baby Andrew will be blogging at andrewstevenvance.blogspot.com  Because we both will be blogging, our plan is to take turns each week.  So if you want to know everything that is going on with us, you'll have to check out both blogs!  Mommy said it would be too hard to update both each week so we will be taking turns. Andrew's blog is set up but not really started yet.  Hopefully this weekend sometime!