Telling Belle

We debated about when to tell Belle. On one hand I wanted to tell her right away. She's our best friend and that alone made it really hard not tell her. She also is very smart and I think has bee suspecting something is up. I didn't want her to feel like we were keeping something from her.

Our hesitation was out of concern for her. What if something happens with this pregnancy? How do we explain mommy suddenly NOT being pregnant? She's so sensitive about such things I didn't want to risk her later being heart broken.

So we were playing it by ear. But after our last doctor appointment with everything still seeming fine we figured we should just get it out there with her.

We decided to tell her on Father's Day. So we were at lunch at Desert Fire (a southwestern restaurant we all like) and I asked Belle, "So honey do you know when January is?" We counted through the months and hit the highlights to come between now and then; summer, fall, possibly Disneyland trip, the holidays, new years. I then told her "Well, sometime shortly after New Years you're going to be a big sister." Brad added that Mommy has a baby in her tummy.

Her reaction was priceless, she looked at us and said, "For real?!" I laughed and said "yes, for real." Then she narrowed her eyes and cocked her head and asked very suspiciously, "How do you know?" We about died laughing and I said "Because I went to the doctor silly!"

So Belle then got instantly excited. She jumped up and asked if she could kiss the belly and if the baby could hear her. I decided not to try and explain to her that no the baby couldn't hear her until sometime in August, and instead said that yes it could. So she kissed my belly and said "hi baby!"

Then the waitress came with our food and Belle got very protective and told the waitress to only bring me good food because I've got a baby in me and to bring me another glass of water to pour down my belly for the baby to drink.

We talked with her about how this is her baby too and she's going to get to help raise it and teach it. That it's a very important job. She seemed excited.

When we got home she ran and got a book (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and read it to my belly.

That night however she did have a momentary worry about sharing us with the baby. I reassured her that all would be fine. I told her that this baby would not take us away from her. That this was another person to love her too. I reminded her of Noah's arrival into our family and how his being born didn't mean less time and love with Melissa and Jeremy, but rather another cute little family member to love as well.

I fretted a little that night over her concerns but by the next morning it was back to being excited about the baby and not a word of worry. I'm sure we will have more moments like that but I think for the most part Belle is really happy.