Big Brother R-Man

Well, there have been lots of changes for R-Man in the last couple of weeks and he has been handling them much better than I ever expected! In fact, I would say that he is probably adjusting to being a big brother better than I have been adjusting to being a mother of two! He is (generally) very gentle with Lion Cub and even helps me by singing to him when I can't get to him right away or am rinsing out a diaper. He tends to still call Lion Cub "the baby" or "my brother," so we are working on getting him to actually call him by his name, but other than that he is accepting him quite well!

R-Man is even okay with Lion Cub nursing all the time- something I thought he would take issue with since he was still so comforted by "the nurses" (even though he hadn't actually "nursed" in over a year!)! His first words as he came into the room after Lion Cub was born were even "Mama needs to nurse the baby!" Hopefully this will only lead to more sharing in the future :-) !

Here are some of my favorite picks of R-Man with Lion Cub over the past few weeks:

Seeing Lion Cub for the first time!

Plugging his ears from Lion Cub's crying.

Upset because we won't let him get in the birth tub!

Holding Lion Cub for the first time.

Helping our midwife check out Lion Cub.

First snuggles about an hour after Lion Cub was born!

Hangin' with Papa & Lion Cub!

A picture that R-Man took of Papa and Lion Cub! Not too Shabby!

Brothers- just chillin'!