Big Brother Class

On Saturday, we were scheduled to take Nathan to a sibling class at the hospital where Charlotte will be born. I've been looking forward to taking him to this class for a while and lucked out on the date...the next one wasn't going to be held until AFTER the baby is born. It started at 9:00, and Wayne and I wanted to have plenty of time to get there and find our room, so we wanted to leave the house at 8:15. Well, due to my "pregnancy brain" we almost missed it! Wayne has been sick, and I was supposed to wake him up at 7:50 that morning.

Nathan and I got ready, had breakfast, watched a movie, and were taking our sweet time. At 8:40, Wayne ran into the kitchen and said, "Ashley! It's 8:40!" I said, "You're up 10 minutes early, what's the big deal?" Wayne just stared at me like I was crazy, and then it hit me...the class starts in 20 minutes! I kept thinking I needed to wake Wayne up at 8:50, not 7:50. I am a complete idiot! I started crying and was so mad at myself, but Wayne threw on his clothes, and we were in the car in 5 minutes. We only went a little over the speed limit :) I can't believe it, but we were there at 9:10 and didn't miss anything! At least we know that in an emergency, we can get to the hospital in 20 minutes...if we got stopped, I was going to pretend like I was having contractions!


Nathan and "Baby Charlotte." It took him a little while to warm up to the idea of playing with a doll with these other kids, but he soon got really into it!


All of the kids got to decorate a sign to hang on the bassinet of the baby when she's in the hospital. He also glued his picture onto it, so when he sees Charlotte in the hospital nursery, he'll know that's HIS baby :)


Here he is showing his artwork to Daddy...he was very impressed!


Nathan gave Charlotte a bath and washed her with a washcloth...

Then he sawed...I mean brushed her hair :) I think I'll just give him a soft brush instead of a comb...he might have cut that poor baby doll's head.

And finally, he changed her diaper.

Then he cuddled with her while we watched a movie about babies and siblings. He really was very interested in everything the nurse showed him, and volunteered often to tell everyone that Baby Sister Charlotte was in Mommy's tummy.

At the end of the class, we went on a tour of the hospital and Nathan got to see where I would have the baby. He jumped up on this bed with one of his friends and said, "Charlotte is in my tummy!" He was so cute on the tour, and wanted to be the leader with the nurse. He didn't really care where we were, just as long as he was at the front of the line!

And then we looked at the babies in the nursery. Even though the morning started out in a stressful way, I think the class was really beneficial for Nathan. Charlotte will be here in 2 weeks, and I think this was a good way of getting him ready for it. It also made it really REAL for me! I can't believe I'm about to have a new baby!