Sisters

I was curious to see how the three girls would respond to Aspen, and it has been interesting.  I was mostly worried about how it would be with Bristol since she is a little wild and crazy at times and acts very two-year-oldish.  (I was not prepared for her behavior even though it is perfectly normal.  Jade was very calm as a two year old and never really seemed to have the "terrible twos").  Well, Brooke likes Aspen but isn't too interested in her.  Once in a while, she asks to hold her, and she'll hold her if I ask her.  Other than that, she doesn't pay Aspen a lot of attention.  She is more preoccupied with her interests (reading, drawing, playing), and she has actually been playing with Bristol a fair amount also.  That has been very helpful at times.

Jade, on the other hand, has been very interested in Aspen.  She wants to hold her all the time.  If Aspen wakes-up, Jade will go and get her if we're not there first.  She also wants to pick out Aspen's clothes for the day and her pajamas at night.  Her interest isn't surprising, though; I remember that she was very interested in Bristol as a baby.

Bristol's response to Aspen has been the most "fun."  When she visited me at the hospital, she at first kept saying baby and giggling.  She soon lost interest, though, and started getting into things.  Then the first night that I was home from the hospital, Bristol woke-up at midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep.  It is pretty rare for her to wake-up at night when we are at home.  So we put her in our bed, and she was interested in the baby and not sleep.  This lasted on and off for about two hours until finally I had Trent put her back in her crib.  She wasn't happy about that and cried for about ten minutes, but then she went back to sleep.  The Monday after Aspen was born, Bristol decided she wasn't going to wear clothes anymore, including diapers.  She can be pretty strong-willed so she spent most of the day naked.  Thankfully, within a few days, we got her back to wearing diapers and clothes on a regular basis.  I am not sure if this behavior was just because she is two or if it was her way of dealing with a new baby in the house.  Either way, it was very frustrating for us.  Anyway, a few days later, Trent, Brooke and Jade went to Nevada to see family, and he left Bristol with me.  That was a big mistake.  I was trying to take care of a less than two week old baby, and Bristol was left with no one to play with since Brooke and Jade were both gone.  She was getting into everything, and I was getting very upset.  Other than taking care of Aspen, I was also hoping to get some things done.  However, I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen so I resigned myself to taking care of Aspen and just trying to entertain Bristol.  Things were a lot better after that, but I was kind of irritated that I didn't get to relax or accomplish much during those few days.  Since then, things have improved with Bristol.  She often asks to hold Aspen and will give her hugs and kisses.  Sometimes, though, Bristol will randomly hit her, pull on her, or try to pick her up.  I think she does that mostly because she enjoys our reaction.  When Aspen gets older, it will be nice for both of them because they'll have each other to play with.  Right now, Bristol and Jade play together quite nicely for most of the day while Brooke is at school so Aspen and Bristol will be able to do the same when the two oldest are both in school.