Big Sister Loves Baby

I have been truly enjoying having a child old enough to know what's going on this pregnancy. How fun to share with Heidi the joys of anticipating a new babe and to see pregnancy through her eyes.
She's been making plans as usual and I love hearing her thoughts on all we need to have and do before Baby arrives. It started somewhere around the end of the first trimester. We were washing dishes together when suddenly she burst out, "We're going to have to buy a new sippy cup, Momma!" I was afraid she had broken something at first, but when asked why, she responded, "For the baby." Oh, I guess I wasn't really thinking that far ahead yet. From there the list grew: a new bed, a new high chair, plate, nob (her name for pacifiers which I've never used), blankets, pillow, teddy bear, rattle, and so on, all the essentials for a baby.
She is insistent we are having another little girl. When she first learned of Baby she prayed for a little brother. Then it came out that her plan was to marry him when they grew up. Once she learned that wasn't really an option she immediately began to pray for a girl. She always refers to Baby as a girl and refuses to listen when I tell her God might give us a boy. She quickly reminds me, "But I choose a GIRL baby!" I hope she's paying at least a bit of attention when I tell her it's God who gets to choose, not us.
She's also insistent that she needs to be allowed to name the baby. When last I asked her what she would choose if she were given such a privilege, she confidently replied, "Chunk, if it's a girl. Pond, if it's a boy. But it's a girl, so Chunk." I remind her that Daddy and I named she and Hannah and this baby will get the same treatment, even if we are stuck for girls' names.
One of my favorite things was her discovery that Baby could hear her already, and that sometimes Baby responds by kicking. Now she's talking to my tummy all the time. She loves to "make up different languages" to talk to baby in or just to run up to me and say, "I love you Baby!" Lately she's started sneaking up to me then loudly saying a random word like, "bicycle" or "sewing machine", then giggling and asking, "Did Baby kick you, Momma?" What delights me most is when Heidi decides to sing to Baby. The other day we were cuddling in bed and she sang a precious song so gently to Baby I just had to record it:

Little Baby don't cry
Let the sun come out to play
I will hold you little Baby
When the first stars come out to shine
I will put you in your cradle
I will stroke you
I love you little Baby