BIG brothers

It turns out that when you bring a third child home, you end up with TWO older siblings for said third child. And watching those older siblings relish their roles as 'big brothers' to a wee little baby adds to the overload of adorableness that already comes with welcoming a new addition!

Clyde became a big brother the first time around when he was just shy of nineteen months. He loved baby Will but obviously had no real understanding of the whole situation. This time around, he is obsessed. He LOVES baby Jack. Here he is holding Jack right after their initial meeting at the hospital.

Will has actually understood more than I thought he would - we talked a LOT about baby Jack while I was pregnant, and Will quickly accepted that we now point to an actual baby instead of my stomach when we refer to 'baby Jack'. This is their first encounter - sooo sweet!

Of course, as with most things, baby Jack is only able to hold Will's attention for so long - here Will happened to glance at his hand and got distracted by his band-aid :).

Clyde asks to hold Jack constantly. My favorite is when he cuddles up with him and closes his eyes with that darling, goofy smile :).

Will prefers to hold the baby just every now and then. He'll randomly yell "Okay, I hold it!" as if he's giving in to our desperate pleas - it's the same way he says, "Okay, I try it!" when he spies some candy or a treat - usually that hasn't even been offered yet to him :).

Clyde likes to get reeeal close to Jack . . .

Will was excited to help give some order to Jack's hair during a visit to the hospital; he then sweetly moved on to Chuck.

Clyde holding Jack? Check. Will climbing on the couch? Check.

One night Clyde proudly showed me how he put a (rather large) blanket on baby Jack. A few minutes later I came back to check on them and found Clyde fast asleep. Apparently he's taking to heart the advice to 'sleep when the baby sleeps' :).

I sure love watching these three boys interact!