Hi Mamas,
A new member of our family will be joining us any day now. We've kept Veronica clued into the pregnancy throughout. We've talked to her about her own birth, shown her pictures of herself as a newborn, and read books about being a big sister.

Still, I'm nervous as to how she's going to handle the change. I know we really won't know what to expect until she is home with the baby for a few weeks.

I'd really like to hear your stories and any and all advice you could impart would be fantastic.

Thank you!

My boy was 20 months old when the next baby was born. He did great. A newborn sleeps so much during the day that it was easy enough to give my oldest the a lot of special time.

They've been attached at the hip ever since my youngest started crawling.

Ors are all 2 yr stairsteps and they have all done great. The small amount of jealousy has been directed at me - not the baby.

My ds Gage had just turned 2 when Seth was born in August. I was quite worried before the birth that Gage was going to be jealous and start acting up for us. What we got was the exact opposite. Gage loves Seth so much and can't get enough of him. He's been so sweet and loving to him, and has been so helpful to me as well. It's been so much better than I could've imagined. Now I think Gage would be lost without his little brother. I can't wait until Seth is old enough to play more with Gage (although I'm so not ready for him to grow up yet, as he's my last baby). Good luck! I'm sure everything will be fine. These little people understand so much more than we can imagine!:heart:

Our's are alittle over 2 years apart. And DS did great when DD was born. I made sure to keep him involved with everything. He went to appointments with me, took a "Big brother" class, was there shortly after her birth, etc.

Just try to keep you little one as involved as they want to be!

Good luck!

Originally posted by craftykitty
The small amount of jealousy has been directed at me - not the baby. Nora has had some crankiness about having to share me, but has never once been angry with the baby. We have made sure that Nora has one-on-one time with a parent on a regular basiis. Dh takes her out, or she goes alone with me to the grocery store etc. That really helps, I think.

Sophie was born on Eli's 2nd birthday..Elijah woke up the next morning looked over my shoulder and said "That's a baby!" (Sophie was born at home). He then sort of ignored her for a while..every so often he would kiss her head and say "that's so nice".

This past week we were at a friends house and he noticed that her children were fussing over Sophie...so he went over to sophie, patted her belly and said, "Mine sister"

I think he's a little jealous from time to time, but it's not too bad as he's had plenty of attention from daddy and grandparents throughout the new baby period..I think I'm having more trouble adjusting to two so close together than he is..the one weird thing is he gave up nursing when she was born..he nursed thru the pregnancy and then she came and he nursed a few times and then stopped. He tried again a few days ago and didn't know what to do :) I miss the nursing a bit.
Oh..it is hard having 2 kids in cloth..I switched Eli to all pocket type diapers.

Thank you, Mamas. I'm just a little nervous as Veronica tends to be a little "touchy" and "rough" with people and animals.

For example, every time she sees a baby asleep (in our Kindermusik class or something similar) she'll run up and shake the baby to wake him or her up. She's been told time and time again not to do this and yet...she does it time and time again.

She has been told for the entirety of her life not to pull the cat's tail, and yet...it's an incredible temptaiton for her.

We understand she's just 2.5 and still very much a baby herself, but we are concerned. We try to distract her or help guide her to make better choices but it's difficult to catch her every time.