Honey, you are getting a sidekick!

From the happy trio to the ecstatic foursome soon!

For me and the husband, its been mostly a case of 'been there, done that' and we hardly noticed that I was pregnant till the baby bump became quite obvious. The only bone of contention for me has been preparing Navya to be the 'big sister' soon. She certainly isn't playing the part very well since she has already started taking over everything that we decide is for the forthcoming 'chota baby'. From the sleeping bag to the blanket to the tiny booties to the rattles, she now wants everything that she has outgrown in the past 2 years.

Nevertheless the effort is on to prepare her. So what exactly is it that I am doing to make her a big sister to her awaited sibling? Here's a rundown on some of my recent efforts:

1. I ordered 5 books on the arrival of a second baby, handling a sibling, preparing your first child for a sibling, welcoming a baby in the house and every possible title that would put to rest her uneasiness about the baby. She decided to ignore all 5 books.
2. A frantic rush to toilet train her started with the onset of 2013. From rushing her to the potty seat every now and then to getting my pajamas dirty with kiddy poo-poo, I am weathering it all. The cold hasn't helped much and it seems extremely unlikely that she will be toilet trained completely by the time the little one comes. On the brighter side, they can sit on a double potty seat perhaps!
3. Asking her to kiss the baby bump is perhaps the sweetest attempt from her end. She does manage a kiss for the baby bump once a week but that perhaps is more because of her fascination towards bare skin than anything else.
4. Her Mamu-Mami gifting her a cute doll of an infant was a stroke of a genius. Complete with a pram, a baby carrier, feeding bottles and a high chair. This baby kit has certainly given her some insight into the things to come.
5. Diapering the barbies and the teddies and the doggies has been another task we have been up to. To acquaint her with how the baby will mess her bed, I regularly show her why a little baby is diapered. While the Barbie is too lean, it is generally her total contingent of soft toys that finish of the diapers that come at Rs.15 a piece.
6. We now have names for all her dolls and soft toys. From Julie to Agastya to Celina to Joey, we have random names for everything that looks similar to anything that has legs and a face. Sometimes the clay models we make are also christened to inform her that the new baby will also have a name.
7. The most important thing that we have miserably failed in is getting her to sleep in her bed. She continues to sleep in our bed and unless we hit gold in the next month, it is either 4 people on one bed or Mohit hits the guest room.

So while it is 7 months down and 2 more to go, the panic button has just been pressed. Everything I didn't realise in the past 28 weeks is now rushing to me. From a baby shower to maternity shoot to overeating and pampering, now I want to do it all. Trying to live the 9 months of pregnancy in the 2 that are pending now...And yes, of course preparing Navya to have her very own sidekick...That is the main agenda as of now. Tips Welcome!