So now Fallon has been here for a month. And how is Hazel faring many wonder?

Well, let’s just say the girl’s world has been rocked…a lot. Any parent with more than one child can appreciate the shuffling, the shifting of attention followed by (in great retrospect) the acting out for attention that comes from the big sister/brother. Don’t get the little darlings, or me wrong. The brand-new big sister/brother is absolutely thrilled that the baby is here…and is so cute…until the baby seems to get most of the attention…from Mommy and Daddy…from the grandparents…the aunties and uncles…and friends…and (WTH?) total strangers. It’s very easy to feel like maybe this new baby sister and being the big sister to love and guide her (without killing her) is not all it is cracked up to be.

There may or may not be some serious acting out…

There may or may not have been a mountain on the coffee table in the living room fashioned from nothing but baby powder. There is a sudden need for your binky and your favorite blue blanket…all the time. There are definitely tears…lots of tears. Sometimes, even you, the big sister/brother might even start to cry too.

It’s hard.

Then your baby sister starts to cry because she is hungry, bored, wet or whatever and you suddenly forget how hard it is and the resentment you feel because she needs you…her big sister. Everyone notices how much you care and, well, they forget the baby powder mountain and every other frustration or annoyance that you might have or might have not wrought.

As for Hazel, she’s coping and she is thriving. Someday she and her family will look back on these early days of adjusting to Baby Fallon’s arrival with a lot of laughter.

Someday.

For now the kid needs a little TLC and extra attention. I shared with Holly how I stumbled on this realization when she became a big sister. I also reminded her how hard we tried to carve out one on one time with each of them any chance we got. I’m not sure if she or her sisters and brother really appreciate those mind-numbing errands they had to run  with just mom or walks around the block or any other free moment with just that one child and mom but they had a purpose…to give that one child time alone with mom. Perhaps now that she is a mother of more than one child she will or does appreciate all of them.

With the help of my darling daughter #3, Abby, and my darling husband, who looked after Fallon, I was able to give Hazel some Hazel~Mi-ma time after dropping Jodie off to the dance class she teaches in the next town.

A couple hot chocolates with candy-cane sprinkles, silly talk, laughter and funny You Tube videos watched on Mi-ma’s iPad…what more could we both ask for. I won’t always have the chance for one on one time with her…I didn’t always have the chance with any of the five of my own children…I imagine her Mommy and Daddy won’t always have it either. Still times like these are that important…important for both child and parent or child and grandparent.

That one hour with just Hazel was absolutely priceless…if not for anything else but the candy cane sprinkles…OMG, how awesome are those?!

This is this week’s Wordful Wednesday post. Wordful Wednesday is like Wordless Wednesday, only WITH words. It’s for those of us that can’t contain the chatter, but in a good way. Have something to be Wordful About this Wednesday?  Head on over to Seven Clown Circus and Parenting by Dummies to link up and share.