Cora's reaction to her new baby brother

Tuesday night, Mom and Dad Bierma picked Cora up from the Chandler's and took her to the hospital to meet Peter. It was about 7:30 pm and it seemed like she was getting tired - must have had a big day, too! She was a little unsure about the whole hospital scene but was very excited to see "Baby brother". She wanted to hold him but after only a few seconds said "I'm all done!" so we didn't have time to snap a picture. She was really interested in checking him out while Grandpa and Grandma held him.

I was in the hospital bed - my tail bone was so sore it was difficult to get out and move much (it's better now, thankfully) - so I asked Cora to come in bed and give me a hug. She had a very worried look on her face, almost looking like she was about to cry, and refused to get on the bed. It made me very sad, but we hugged as much as we could with me staying in bed and her staying on the ground. Then she said to me "Mommy, get out of bed!"

Later while Grandma was holding Peter, Cora was looking at him and said "Where are his hands?" He was all swaddled up so Grandma found one of his hands and showed Cora. But she said "Where is his other hand?" I think she wanted to make sure he was OK! Then she asked "Where are his feet?"

Cora went home with her grandparents for a couple days and when they brought her back home on Thursday she was all ready to be the big sister! She held him nicely, covered him with kisses and giggled at every little sound he made. It was quite precious.

So far Cora is doing so great. She's interested in him and wants to be helpful but isn't overly attentive. She likes to share some toys with him, or give him a baby toy, and she'll ask "Where's my baby?" when she doesn't know where he is. We're still working on getting her used to using his name, instead of just calling him "Baby brother". I think it's been so helpful that Brad has been home all week so between the two of us we're able to attend to both of their needs with out too much hassle.