Not too much to report

I think I'm a bit behind here, but I have very little to talk about right now, and wonder at the idea of posting just for the sake of posting.

So instead, a quick round up of what I know (that you may or may not):

If you live in another part of the world/country, you may not know it, but Massachusetts and the surrounding areas? Are kind of drowning. Although I consider the sun to be an enemy of sorts (with my FM, comes sun sensitivity), it is awfully strange not to have seen any sign of it for more than a week. And the sound of rain on the windows, which usually is comforting, has moved past annoying. And schools have been closed on account of the rain. My grandmother, who's worked in the public schools here for more than 60 years, doesn't ever remember that happening before. Ever.


Thankfully, my family lives in areas where they've been mostly unaffected by the flooding (the hills of our city have to come in handy sometime), but I've missed a doctor's appointment already b/c there was just no way to get there.

Which adds a little bit of extra worry to my next tidbit - the fact that we are still waiting for my first niece to be born.

Most of the bets in the baby pool have already passed, and yet, no sign of baby. At yesterday's checkup, Mum & babe were both doing fine, and "can go at any time." The actual due date has been moved around so much, that no one's really sure if baby girl is late or just taking her time. I wouldn't mind so much if my SIL didn't seem so uncomfortable.

Here's a belly picture from two weeks ago....

Trust me when I say that it is much bigger now. And, while she looks incredibly cute pregnant, you can see how uncomfortable my poor SIL is.

But babykins is determined to take her time, and we're all just going to have to deal with that.

Having the hardest time dealing with that, is her older brother. Age 6, and previous only child. The bigger Mum's belly gets, the more frantic and agressive my nephew becomes. His buzzing is driving a lot of us very crazy, and even my fabled patience is starting to wear a bit thin.

And I have all the child development knowledge and experience that his father doesn't.
I know how hard a transition this is going to be for him, and have made some changes in my interactions with him(& suggestions for changes to others), but still.

Last week, he told us that we were "old & boring & mean" and he wasn't coming back the next day (we watch him afterschool).

I was "unfair" for making him eat his dinner & refusing to allow him to have dessert when he still chose not to do so.
My sister was "horrible mean" because she tried to talk to me about something that didn't include him.

I tried so hard to stay calm, but wound up telling him that, since he couldn't say anything nice to any of us, he should not say anything at all.

It was going home time, and I told him to get his shoes and coat. Of course, there was another round of how mean we all were. My mom said I practically shoved them both out the door, saying I hoped he'd bring a better attitude with him the next day.

I didn't exactly lose my temper, but I wasn't exactly keeping my cool either.

I'm trying very hard to keep in mind that this kid's entire life is changing & he doesn't know how to deal with it. We're reading lots of big brother books, and focusing on the things that will be the same & the things that will be different for him, but the waiting is grating on his nerves (more so than anyone else's - but SIL, that is) & he wants to "GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!!!"

Can't exactly blame him.

And tomorrow's his day in the baby pool, so he may just get his wish - and a couple of bucks to go with it, if he's really lucky.

Any suggestions for how to best help big brother? Most of the books talk about older siblings that are 2-4 years older than the new arrival, & 6 is a whole different place, developmentally. I'd love to hear any ideas or experiences you could share.

Keep your fingers crossed for baby girl, cuz they still don't have a name picked out, either.