Kicked by the baby

Riley is really excited about the new baby. Almost everyday she comes up with a new name for him – some better then others. Most are real names, some are just totally made up words. She’s pretty much abandoned her top choices (Becky and Taylor). Whenever anyone asks though she replies, “We’re still thinking about it.”

She’s been trying to feel the baby move, but she gets impatient and always seems to move her hand away just before he kicks. The other day we were taking a nap together though and she was right up against my belly when the baby kicked hard. She jumped up, kind of shocked, then started laughing. A few minutes later he kicked her again. She asked if he could hear her talking, and I said yes… so she turned around and cupped her hands on my belly and whispered, “Shhh baby, it’s time to sleep…”

What I’m most happy about is she’s already taken ownership of the baby, which I’m hoping means she’ll feel like an important big sister, rather then a jealous sibling when he’s born. Whenever she talks about him she says “My baby…” and she takes every opportunity to raise my shirt and show off the belly to anyone and everyone – even strangers on the airplane. It’s a little embarrassing, but I let her do it because I don’t want to dampen her enthusiasm at all.

She came to one of my doctor’s appointments to see the baby on ultrasound. Dr. Johnson was awesome about showing her everything and printed out a picture for her to take home. We didn’t really have any questions that day so he asked Riley if she had questions… she wanted to know how big the baby’s hand was. He took her hand and said it was about the size of her palm. Riley gave a full report about the visit and Dr. Johnson (the doctor for mommies) at daycare that afternoon.

Apparently she talks about the baby at daycare a lot. She actually was the one to announce that I’m pregnant pretty early on. The kids were all sitting around for story time and Riley stood up and announced, “Mommy has a baby in her belly!” When I came to pick her up that evening, Lucy (the daycare teacher) had a big grin on her face and said, “Riley shared some news with us today…”

The rest of the kids are excited too. They always come running over and want to rub the belly and ask questions. Some of the kids put baby dolls under their shirts and pretend to be pregnant too.

The baby is already getting showered in hugs and kisses from Riley (through the belly of course), I love it. I’m due July 23rd, about 6 weeks to go. I think Riley’s going to be a little shocked when she realizes how much babies cry, but hopefully this excitement will continue when she finally gets to met him…

12 weeks:

18 weeks: