Saturday, January 2, 2010

One for the Enquirer

I have yet to take any pictures of my gargantuan 4-month pregnant belly, but suffice it to say that the day I found out I was pregnant, none of my pants fit anymore. The ol' body goes down the tubes a lot quicker the second time around.

That said, it has been hard to hide our little secret around people who see us all the time, so a lot of our church friends and MOPS friends and work friends are already in the loop. And Alex, observant child that he is, has looked at me on several occasions and lovingly uttered the words, "Mommy, your belly's gettin' BIG". So we've discussed with him the whole concept of mommy having a baby in her belly, the idea of him having a little brother or sister and us having a new baby around the house. He loves to look at pictures of me when I was pregnant with him and talk about how he was in my belly when he was a baby.

People have asked whether he "gets it", and I'd have to say the answer is somewhere between "sort of" and "not really". For example, when he eats a big lunch and his stomach pooches out, I'll ask him, "Alex, what's in your belly?" to which he replies, "A baby!". I then explain to him that the only way he has a baby in his stomach is if he ate one.

He does concede to the fact that Mommy also has a baby in her belly, and he will sometimes talk to the baby or sing to it - he has already determined that the baby's favorite song is "Baa Baa Black Sheep". If he thinks the baby might be thirsty, he will lift my shirt and try to give the baby a drink from his sippy cup by holding it up to my belly button. The other night, I was tickling him and asked him where his belly button was. He pointed it out, and I asked him if he knew why he had a belly button, thinking he would say no, then I would explain that that's how he ate when he was inside my belly, etc., etc. Instead, he looked at me and said, "That's where my baby comes out!"

So I think it's safe to say that it will take some adjusting when a screaming newborn takes over our home. Hopefully it won't be too traumatic for any of us, not that we can do much about it anyway. We are in the process of reorganizing our house to accommodate an additional human, a process that will include lots of arguing, a bank-breaking trip to IKEA, and some serious room shuffling that includes - GASP - turning Alex's playroom into the office. Not to fear - he will move to the big room that now comprises our guest room/office, and we have big plans to deck it out in full-fledged train-themed fabulousness, just to butter him up a bit before the bottom drops out.

2 comments:

Alison said...

Congratulations! I did not know this news! Alex will be a great big brother.

momboe said...

ooohhhh....do I hear an opportunity for a mural???hhhhmmm????