Shared Mornings

Big Brothers and Baby Sisters

Vincent adores her. Each morning without fail he comes into our bedroom and the question is always the same; "Where's Annabel?" He then comes into the room where she is usually in the bed with me nursing and he'll climb up to wait patiently to kiss her and pat her gently on the head.

After we come downstairs and eat breakfast he will motion for me to place Annabel on the blanket and then he will run to gather his toys which he brings back to her. Then he'll sit down and play for the next hour, handing her various things and trying to make her smile. It's a joy to watch.

I knew my children would be close but I can tell you with all sincerity that I can see this huge bond between my two youngest. They always seem to seek one another out and it amazes me just how gentle a 3 year old little boy can be with a 10 month old baby.

I had to share this picture I just snapped, she has 4 teeth now!! I can hardly believe how big she is.

When did I become the expert??

This morning as I was running my ass off chasing children (too bad it doesn't appear enough to keep the junk in my trunk at bay) the phone rang. I weaved through my children to answer it.

"Hellloo?"

"Jaime? Oh my god, Justice just fell out of the bed what do I do??" I recognize my sisters voice.

"Where is she?"

"She's right here," she answers. "I'm holding her."

"She's not crying??"

"No, she did when it happened."

"When did it happen?"

"Maybe 30 minutes ago. I was sleeping with her on the bed and she rolled out of it. She fell between the dresser and the bed. She's got a tiny bump about the size of a dime on the side of her head. Do you think she's ok? Should I call the doctor? Can I drive up there and let you take a look at her?"

"You didn't call the doctor??"

"No...her pupils are fine..."

"Why?" I'm beyond myself. "If she fell and you are worried why not call the doctor??"

"Can't they take her away from me?" I hear the fear in her voice and remind myself she's not new to this but her oldest child is now 8 and it's been awhile for her.

"Listen to me. They won't take her from you. It was an accident. You fell asleep and this kind of thing happens all the time. But if you think she could be hurt, NEVER...EVER...wait to call the doctor. In fact, call him now. I'm sure she is fine, if it happened 30 minutes ago but you can never be to sure."

"Ok, I'll call him now," she promises.

"Call me and let me know what's going on when you can please. Ok?"

"Ok."

We hang up.

10:30pm The phone rings.

"Hello?"

In the background I hear Justice screaming like crazy.

"Jaime? Justice just threw up and she won't stop crying. Do you think it's from hitting her head earlier?"

"Did you call the doctor?"

"Yes I did, the nurse said to keep an eye on her. But should we take her to the hospital?" The baby is still squalling.

"Call the doctor again."

"I just did," I hear the baby settling down. "She threw up on me, I don't know what is wrong. I know she doesn't feel that great because she has that ear infection. We made sure to go and get a bed guard so she won't fall out again and she was fine but now she's crying."

"She has an ear infection?" My sister is a pack a day smoker, her fiance smokes 2 packs per day.

"Yeah, they gave her an antibiotic and she was on it a week and it didn't clear it up so they put her on a new one."

"Please tell me you and Craig are not smoking around her. If you are smoking you have to change your clothing, smoke causes ear infections in babies."

"We do not smoke around her." Her voice is harsh and I can tell I've pissed her off. They probably already got this from the pediatrician.

"Ok, well...maybe the new antibiotic is upsetting her tummy..."

"But we gave that to her early this morning!"

This conversation goes on for several minutes before I convince her that she needs to call her doctor. We hang up the phone and as I type this she never did call me back.

This is one of the more frustrating things about my relationship with my sister. I love my nieces and I worry about them. I used to make myself sick with worry over Zoe when I had to stop babysitting her. But I learned to distance myself because there was nothing I could do and all the worrying in the world wouldn't change anything.

I know bad things happen to the best of people. I also know that Justice falling off the bed was an accident. But hearing that baby scream from her throbbing ears full of infection and knowing they've been told (by me repeatedly) that cigarette smoke causes it...it pisses me off.

On a positive note, after today I'm finally on the summer scoreboard!

Summer Scoreboard:

Kids=2
Mom=1

Easter Pictures

Annabel and Justice, this picture is special to me for some reason. They look so sweet together.

I really love this picture too. My sister and I and our baby girls.

And this picture takes the cake, even if Zoe is making faces and Arwen's face is covered. My own sister with her daughters and me with mine.

And lastly, the hunt at Joannes. She has the most gorgeous view. Her house sits on the top of a bluff, it's hard to catch on film.

Sisters

We didn't find out what Annabel was going to be until the day she was born but Arwen knew. She told us time and again she was having a sister this time and she was right.

Watching the two of them together reminds me of my own little sister. I hope they continue to share such a tight bond.