He Has No Idea...And Neither Do I

"How's your son doing with the idea of a new baby?"

"Do you think he's ready?"

"Is he excited?"

"Mommy, I want to hug your belly."

I'm fairly confident that my son thinks that my belly is his little sister.  I may be underestimating him, though, because his friends at school have started to have younger siblings, too, and he sees those babies.  Still...I'm willing to bet that one of his first questions upon meeting his sister will be about the whereabouts of this belly he's come to love.

Other than the belly disappearing and being replaced by a real life, crying, pooping, Mommy-hogging baby, he's in for some other surprises as well. For the last (almost) three years, he's had us aallllllll to himself.  I'm talking parents, grandparents, aunts, dogs...everybody has been able to focus on him, and now he's going to have to share.

My response to the questions about if he's ready to be a big brother, ready to see his mommy consumed by a newborn?

He's going to lose his mind.

Seriously, he will lose his s***. 

I'm incredibly excited and (almost) ready to meet this new little one.  But I'm scared about losing my morning snuggle buddy.  I'm scared that this little chatterbox will resent that his parents' attention is now divided.  I'm scared that he won't listen when we tell him to be gentle.

Still, there's the other side, too. The side that tells me he'll be just like his daddy and adore his sister (at least until she starts talking, but by that point, she'll be much sturdier).  There's the side that tells me he'll learn to snuggle up next to me while I nurse the new tiny human. He'll pile books and Legos and robots and dinosaurs and monster trucks.  He'll squeeze into bed and make it impossible for me to get out to set a sleeping baby back down in her bassinet, and I'll love those moments. 

And he's smile. He'll tell people about his little sister. He'll finally be able to shout a name that isn't "CooCooNaNa." He'll be a proud big brother.

I have no idea what's coming in the next few days.  I've never had a sibling, and my son hasn't yet, either. This is new for both of us.  We'll have to stretch our hearts in so many new ways, but we'll be doing it together...another new adventure for my lion and me.