Dear Big Sister

Dear Olive,

You're about to become a big sister; a role you've been preparing for for months.  If all goes as planned your little brother will be arriving TODAY! 

I have no doubt you'll be excellent at it and your little brother will soon become your best buddy.  You are already so excited to see little boy things coming into the house and are eager to play with them.  You talk about baby brudder often and will pick up cars and boy toys saying they are for baby Fletcher.  You've learned your brother's name and like to talk to him in my belly.  You even name your boy dolls baby brudder.  He doesn't realize how lucky he is to have you yet, but it won't take him long to figure it out.  I can't wait to introduce you to Fletcher.

I want you to know a few things before we add a brother to our family.

You're always going to be our special, first born daughter.  Your role as our oldest is a title you'll forever hold and you've been such a blessing to us.  We weren't sure what to expect as new parents and were nervous about what life would be like with a baby.  You exceeded every expectation and we are over the moon for you.  You're smart, funny, silly, adventurous and brave.

You made us parents and were the first person to call us mama and dada.  We've adored being your parents and have adored you ever since we learned you were joining our family.  We'll always treasure going through all of your "firsts" together.  Hopefully we've learned some things along the way and life with a new baby will be an easy transition.

We've moved around a lot since you were born and we have one more move before we can truly settle into our new life in Terre Haute.  It might seem scary at first, but since you've already called 4 other places home, we think you'll do great in our new house.  You'll have your own room, your own backyard and plenty of room to play - it's going to be wonderful.

Some things are going to change around our house.

Changes can be hard, but this one is going to be a good change.  Our family got so much better when we added you and it'll be the same with Fletcher.  He'll need lots of snuggles, he'll think you're hilarious and it won't be long before he's ready to play with you.

You won't be the only one who needs our attention, but we're good at sharing.  We're going to work really hard to balance, share and be fair to make sure that you and your brother both feel loved.  It'll take some time for us to figure out our new normal, but we promise to work hard to build a great family.  You're such a good communicator that I'm excited to have your help with a new baby.  You've been practicing with your baby dolls and it'll be fun to put all of your new skills to good work with your brother.  He'll love having your help and I'll love showing you how to be gentle and care for him.

Your role may be changing, but ours is not.  We will always be there for you and always be your biggest fans, cheerleaders and encouragers.  You're our #1 girl and we think you're pretty wonderful.

You are the apple of our eye and it's a joy to see you learn new things.  You're clever, funny and we love seeing you make new friends.  We hope that your little brother will be one of your best friends and can't wait to figure out life as a family of four.

We are still going to travel, do fun things and go on adventures with you.  Please be patient as it'll likely take us a little longer to get where we're going and require a few extra steps.  You'll get to introduce Fletcher to our family, to the beach, to car trips and to our friends.  We just hope he's as good of a traveler as you've always been.  Maybe you could give him a few pointers??

We've loved having you to ourselves for almost three whole years, but we feel confident that the best is yet to come for our family of four.  We will celebrate Fletcher's birthday in a few weeks and then your birthday is next. 

We're so excited for your future and excited to see how you grow into your new role.  We are confident that you'll be the best big sister ever and are so proud of you.

Love, Mama & Dada

BIG SISTER GIFT:

I put together a Big Sister gift for Olive to open at the hospital from Fletcher.

I read that it's fun way to make the big sibling feel special and a fun thing to tell them the gift is from their new little brother.  So I picked up a few things that I knew Olive would love and that would entertain her when she came to visit at the hospital.  I didn't spend a ton and have been collecting stuff for a while.

-Doctor costume so she can give the baby a check up

-A set of Disney Junior books with her favorite cartoon characters

-Big sister books

-Melissa & Doug lacing cards

-Her favorite snacks

I picked up this copy of Forever My Little Girl: Loving Your Daughter for Now and for Always by Karen Kingsbury.  The illustrations are so sweet and the story is even sweeter.  It follows a little girl as she grows up.  The storyline includes Bible verses, prayers and darling dialogue that makes you feel sentimental about every stage of life with your child.  It's a great read and a fun book to give to your daughter at any age.  You could start reading it with her when she's little or give it to her as a graduation give to help show her how much she's been loved for her whole life.  I got a little teary eyed reading it and thinking how quickly my daughter will grow.  I love the reminder that she'll forever be my little girl.
*I was gifted this book from BookLookBloggers in exchange for an honest review of it.

She's also gotten some fun BIG SISTER packages in the mail:
My friend Meg sent Olive a great assortment of new things she can play with on her own when the baby comes.  She was thrilled to see all this fun stuff.  I let her pick one thing to open now and then put the rest in a basket for her to pick from when we're in the midst of those newborn days.

If you're interested in linking up for Tuesday Talk head over to Beth's blog to link up today:
Our Pretty Little Girls