Our BIG Big Brother

As far as grandparents go, my parents are pretty lucky. Since William was born, they've never lived farther than seven miles from us, plus we go to the same church, so they've pretty much always seen him at least once a week (and usually more--although they've done a great job of not randomly stopping by, which I'm grateful for). So it always makes me laugh when they proclaim how much they've missed him and how much he's grown on the rare occasions that they've gone longer than a week since last seeing him.

Well, folks, I'm here to admit that it's time for me to eat my own words. Between being in the hospital and nursing (what felt like) 24/7 for the first few days--plus William being out of the house for some playdates--I hardly spent any time with William during the first week of Garrett's life. When I finally had the opportunity to help with his bedtime routine at the end of last week, I was completely shocked by how much he had changed. Everything about him seemed "older"--his face was longer and losing the baby roundness, his legs stretched for what seemed like miles and felt way more muscular than I remembered, and even his demeanor appeared to be changing into something that said "I'm too cool for cuddles and other baby things". I almost cried a little.

I kid you not, I got all this out of one diaper change. Can anyone say raging postpartum hormores? Plus I had been spending so much time with Garrett that I was probably subconsciously comparing the two--and of course William would seem ginormous in comparison.

Mild panic attacks aside, I can honestly say that William has been doing great as a big brother. Granted, he's mostly disinterested in Garrett, but I suppose that's better than being overly interested and in the way. He does like to help "calm" Garrett when he is fussing by giving him his pacifier, although he can be a little forceful with the endeavor. And he's apparently concerned that Mom and Dad are going to forget Garrett in the car; he refuses to walk too far from the car (even if it's just into the house) until someone has gotten Garrett out. We'll see how much William's opinion of his baby brother changes next week when Darrell goes back to work and we can no longer play man-to-man defense. Fingers crossed for a smooth transition--although I'm trying not to worry too much about that and just enjoying this calm before the storm!

Storytime with my boys (sorry about the black--I'm too lazy to figure out how to get rid of it)