"Incavator"

Sophie is a nurturer.  She has been baby crazy since before she could say baby.  Her first doll at age one was baby Stella who she would rock and pat and put to bed endlessly.  She is completely thrilled with her little sister Sadie, who is basically all of her wishes come true.  While Greg and I have been visiting the real NICU,  Sophie has created her own little ward in the basement.  The babies are in their "incavators" and take turns being on the change table (a.k.a. the operating table) for various procedures.  I am surprised at what she has picked up from our discussions.  These babies get injections, have their blood pressure taken, diapers changed, I.V. lines and feeding tubes inserted.  Big cousin Kendra, who has been our superstar sitter lately, has helped her write each babies name on a kleenex bandage wrapped around their heads.  Sometimes it is so quiet down there that I think she is up to some kind of mischief, so I peek in on her and she is rocking a baby and singing it a sweet little song.  The girl loves babies.  If she doesn't have a doll on hand, she will sometimes pretend she is holding an imaginary baby.  Last week she carried pretend baby Levi (her newest cousin) around constantly.  It is so interesting for us to watch how she has been impacted by her new sibling, and encouraging too.  We have taught her how to say Pediatrician and Neonatologist and realistically, either career choice would allow her to take care of us in our old age.  We'd better keep putting money into her RESP's!

Seriously though, it would be hard to love this tender, sweet, gentle girl more than we do.  She is a very special little person and we just adore her.

The babies in the Bearspaw NICU

Sadie was doing well today and is now edging ever closer to the 1kilo mark with her current weigh-in of 953g.  It seems they have figured out the right amount of calories to add to her milk and have increased her feeds as well.

I think that waiting for this sweet little bird to join us in the new nest is going to be like waiting for Christmas.