Baby Brother Aaron

Ally's world was greatly altered on Jan. 2, 2010 when baby Aaron David Hay decided to join the family a week early. Aaron was born at 7:04 a.m. weighing 6 lbs. 14 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches. Just like his sister he screamed for a good 20 minutes and then calmed down to meet the family. Also like his sister, he sleeps rather well. Unlike his sister, Aaron was born with blond hair.

At first Ally was not very interested in her little brother. We introduced the two of them and ally could have cared less. But, after a few days, she is getting used to him and will ask about him when she wakes up, occasionally give him kisses, and offer to share food. She also lets us know anytime that he cries or makes any noise at all, as well as exclaim "look you" when his eyes are open and he is looking at you. She is really good at saying his name, which is good considering we didn't give her anytime to practice as we picked his name the day before he was born.
Ironically, after months of trying to find a name that we both liked, Mike and I both thought of the name Aaron independently. Very early New Years day (3 am) we started the name discussion yet again. Mike mentioned that he had a list of three and as he gave them I heard him say Aaron. Surprisingly, I had thought of the same name a day or two before. (I think I was thinking about the show Lost and how they had done an episode where a character talked about the name Aaron in a very Biblical way.) As soon as Mike said the name I figured that it was meant to be if we both thought of it on our own. We made a joke that baby could come out now that he had a name, he must have listened because my water broke just after midnight on Jan 2.

So, here we are, two small children and a life of chaos. Actually, it hasn't been too bad yet. Ally has grandparents who come and take her on outings and Aaron sleeps most of the day (and night). There have been a few moments when both are crying (because if Aaron cries Ally feels the need to join in), or Ally finds ways to get into everything when I'm dealing with Aaron, and Ally may get to watch a bit more Word World than she was before, but to date I can't really complain too much, I know it could be much worse :)What has helped is that Ally is playing more independently these days. She has quite an imagination and when we let her go she has been entertaining herself for long stretches of time. Last night we could hear her talking in the living room. Mike peeked in to find her sitting on the steps with a pile of books reading them aloud to Bear. It was rather sweet. She has also been reading more to me. I'll try to read to her, but when I am feeding Aaron it is a bit harder, so I ask her to read to me. Her memory is pretty amazing. She can't recite books word for word, but based on the pictures she can tell me a few of the word from each page of her favorite books. Maybe soon she'll be entertaining her little brother with her reading skills!

Giving Brother back before I could snap a picture