Our whole family is very excited about our baby who is still growing inside mommy’s tummy. He/she is so well loved right now and the love will even be more pronounced once he/she is born. I’ve been getting lots of requests from the children to kiss the baby inside my tummy. My eldest often asks, “Mommy, after I’m done eating, can I kiss the baby in your tummy?” Naturally, the rest of the children want to have a turn too. I’m so happy that they’re excited about having a baby.

The children’s love for the unborn baby got me thinking. Where did they get the idea to love this unseen baby? None of the children ever attended a “New Sibling” class to learn how to love the new baby. I believe children learn from their parents. If the parents have the attitude of welcoming another baby into the family, then the children will see the new baby as a blessing. If the parents have the mentality that “two is enough” or that “children are just a lot of hassle and work,” then the children don’t see themselves as someone mommy and daddy treasure. Consequently, any subsequent child the parents have isn’t viewed as a blessing. When my eldest said, “Mommy, I want to kiss your baby in your tummy,” I said to him that it’s not my baby, it’s our baby. This baby is a member of our family.

Our eldest son decided to do some drawing in his “quiet time” (when the younger ones nap) today.

Here’s what he presented to me:

What was it?  It was his rendering of the whiteboard in our family/school room!

I felt like I just got run over by a big truck as my pregnancy symptoms have kicked up a couple of notches. I hardly had any energy to do anything so I sent the kids to play in the backyard while I sat in a camping chair supervising them.

With the eldest as the leader, all four of them worked together as a team to “cook” a big pot of stew that’s made up of sand, leaves, and fallen fruits. My eldest assured me that the soup was very healthy as it contained lots of different vegetables. As I sat there half-comatose and half-watching the kids, I reveled in the fact that the kids were playing so well together and what a blessing it was that they have each other. Even though having more children translates to more work in the short term, the blessing of having siblings outweighs the work involved. My children are each other’s companions and friends. Our sincere hope and goal toward which we labor as parents of these children is to see them remain one another’s favorite confidantes, support network and lifelong friends.