Mommy’s Big Tummy

A big topic with the girls lately is how we are all related to each other.  Katie especially loves to talk about this…. that Grandma Kathy is Mommy’s Mom, and Uncle Brad is my brother and Aunt Megan is Daddy’s sister.  She doesn’t always remember it all but she tries and she always does remember that her Mommy is Megan, her Daddy is PJ, her sister is Lala and her brother is Baby Jack.

The problem has always been, how to talk about Jack with them.  How to get them to understand ‘where’ he is and why he isn’t physically here, when honestly I’m not sure the answer to either of those questions myself.  How to make him real to them, make him real as their brother and not just some picture on the shelf.  A little while ago I started telling them this story, and now they ask for it almost every day.  I show them pictures of me when I was pregnant, and point out where they each were in my belly, and it’s known as ‘The story of the babies in Mommy’s big tummy…..’

A long time ago, Mommy had three babies in her belly.  Baby Charlotte, Baby Katie, and Baby Jack.  And they were all really happy in Mommy’s tummy, they had big bubbles of water to swim in and their only job was to grow and grow as big as they could.  They floated around in their bubbles and waved to each other, and laughed and kicked and held hands and loved being all together.

Then one day the doctors decided it was time for the babies to come out.  First came Baby Charlotte, then Baby Katie, then Baby Jack.  And they were all still really really small, they were the smallest babies Mommy had ever seen.  So they had to stay in the hospital for a little while to get bigger and stronger and learn how to do things babies do, like breathe and eat and sleep and cry.  

Baby Katie and Baby Charlotte did just that – every day they got bigger and pretty soon they were able to come home and live with Mommy and Daddy and their cat Leroy.  But even though Baby Jack tried as hard as he could to get bigger and stronger, and the doctors tried as hard as they could to help him, he was just too little and too tired.  So instead of coming home with Mommy and Daddy, he got to go live in Heaven with the sun and the moon and the clouds and all the beautiful stars.

And Baby Jack is still up there watching over his family, and especially his sisters Katie and Charlotte who he loves so much.  And every time you see a butterfly or a rainbow or a twinkly star, that’s Jack saying hello to you and telling you, remember when we were all in Mommy’s tummy together?  Because I do.