I think it’s especially wonderful because you are having this baby for all the right reasons. And that you know that and will respect the girlie’s wishes to be as involved/ uninvolved as she wants to be with helping your with baby etc. Although I’m sure she will be RIGHT in there.

Ous are almost 5 years apart as you know. And the Lboy has been really great up until recently … he is still a wonderful child, but I suspect he feels a little out of the loop as his little Diva sister gets cuter and more demanding of our attention. It has surprised us because we didn’t think this would be an issue as it never was from day one… but lately buttons are being pushed to the limit. So our challenge now is to make sure he gets the attention he needs, because he is still our little boy.

So after that novel, congrats again, and I hope to see you this summer so I can admire your loveliness in those hot maternity fashions ;)

xoxo

I’ll have to go to TO sometime soon so we can go shopping together! I LOVE the stuff you’ve got on your Wish List!! You are gonna look awesome in those outfits! You are one stylin’ mama! XOXO

We are big fans of wide age gaps between sibs at our house. It didn’t quite work out that way for dh and I but we have plenty of nieces and nephews with wide age gaps. We have thirty five or so between us, so we’ve observed plenty ;) My dh has eight years between him and his youngest of eight sibs.

This will be a wonderful experience for your kidlet, she’ll be able to be fully present and participating in her sib’s arrival and that will be a huge bonding experience.

Wishing you a healthy and comfortable pregnancy!

Wendy, ITA. I will only expect the girl to help with the baby, now and in the future, as she wishes too. I really don’t think it is her responsibility to take care of my child, and wont automatically expect it from her. I do think that once the baby cmes she will probably want to help (bring diapers, entertain baby, feed bottle if this one actually takes a bottle-the girl never did) and that’ll be great, but I wont push it and if/when it grows old for her, so be it. As a teenager, I will of course offer her the opportunity to baby-sit for extra allowance…but it will not be an automatic expectation (except in an emergency…not like “cannot find a sitter” emergency but like “have to go to the hospital and there is no one to stay with the little one” emergency).

As for a big (subjective, as I don’t see 6 yrs old that big of a space)spacing between kids, my only advice is to not make the older sibling your built in babysitter. I understand that my mom’s situation was different from yours (she was divorced mother with a 6 yr old and newborn), but it is easy to let the older one watch the baby for a second while you do something. It may sound weird to some, but I was left in charge of my brother more than I wish and my stepmom did it with the older of her 2 girls (8 years apart) and I don’t think it helped any of our relationships. But then again, everyone is different.

Good luck. Your girl and new baby are very lucky.

I, also, like your answer to the gender question. When we asked to know the sex of our first baby our dr told us that he did the turnup test. When the baby is born he turn them up to see the gender. He was not a fan of knowing the gender before it was born.