Monday, June 22, 2009

A vision of things to come?!

On Saturday, we packed up the car and drove to Cobourg to visit my new niece, Rachael. Born only two days after Petra, we hadn't had a chance to meet her and say congratulations to her parents. I was a little leery of bringing our tiny tornado into the mix so we coached him a little on how to be gentle and quiet with tiny babies.

The visit started predictably enough with Hayden and his cousin Aurora screaming round in giant loops from the living room through the kitchen and back again. Both completely oblivious to the baby and to parental warnings, they had a blast reconnecting.

What surprised me was how mobile and pain-free Virginia was after her c-section delivery! You'd never know that she was only a few weeks post-partum - she looked fabulous and was moving around the house without even a slight grimace. Seems that my labour nightmare was actually a god-send for her!

After lunch, we all settled in the living room to chat. Hayden, having worn himself out doing laps of the main floor, plunked himself beside me to inspect baby Rachael. "I want to hold her," he pronounced. I looked to Virginia to gage her reaction and she nodded with a smile (must be a second-time mother)!

Well didn't Hayden sit for nearly half an hour cuddling Rachael and "protecting" her from her big sister, Aurora. He gently kissed and stroked her head, patted her belly, pointed out all her tiny features to me, and encouraged me to touch her feet.

Seeing Hayden in this calm, gentle state just melted me and gave me hope for when our little bundle arrives in September. I can only hope that he feels the same tender love and protectiveness for his own little brother or sister. Tornado turned summer breeze....

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