Annie has baby fever. When she’s not asking me repeatedly to tell her stories about when she was a baby, she’s looking at pictures and videos of herself and Madeline. And when she’s not doing that, she’s pretending to give birth to her dolls. Which…yay for imagination? But then she handed me a Minnie Mouse plush and said, “Mama, Georgie and I had a baby, see!” I’m too young to be a grandma. At least she and Georgie are in a committed relationship.

Yesterday my best friend Tara had her fourth and final baby. This time she and her husband elected to find out the baby’s sex at birth, so I was at the hospital bright and early to meet The Acrobat’s future playmate. I was certain Tara was having a boy, but out popped Baby Cait.

holding sweet baby Cait

Baby Cait is going to get all of Annie’s adorable tiny girlie clothes. It makes it much easier to pack up those things knowing they are going to a precious little baby that I already love so much.

I texted Mike the above picture, and he showed it to Annie. After some initial confusion (“Is that my brother?”), Annie was beside herself. “Can I meet her? Can I see her foot? Does she like the sun? Does she want me to give her a bottle? Can I kiss her? Can she talk to my brother? Can I play with Georgie?”

She then spent the next twenty minutes with her head on or near my stomach, telling her brother all about Baby Cait, the baby in her belly (!!!), gymnastics, and the book she’d just “read.”

Annie listening for her baby brother

Last week she had a bit of a crying jag at bed time, begging us to put her in a crib. I just told her over and over again that she will always be my girl, always be my baby, and nothing will ever change that. And while I expect more nights like that over the next few months (and after The Acrobat arrives), I do think it will help her tremendously that a lot of her friends are getting new siblings right now. And her friends that aren’t getting new siblings think it’s very cool that she is, which is helping her realize this is something special. On Saturday night we had dinner with friends, and their almost-five-year-old daughter hugged and kissed my belly several times. Annie’s belly-affection has unsurprisingly gone up significantly since then.

When I watched Tara’s older kids lay eyes on their new sister for the first time, I got butterflies in my stomach. I can’t wait until Annie sees her brother. I can’t wait to plop Baby Cait and The Acrobat down on a blanket together while their siblings run around them. This little Acrobat needs to get here safely. I have baby fever, too.