Today is an exciting day for Annabella.

I am on my way home from work; I will pick her up at Nana Gracie's house, and then she and I will go to the hospital, where my wife (and Annabella's mommy) is currently recovering from having our second daughter, who was born yesterday evening.

I am happy to say that everything went very well.  Both Mommy and baby Haizlie Nikole are doing great; I could not have asked for better news! 

Haizlee Nikole is absolutely beautiful: she looks a lot like Anna, with light, curly blonde locks, and big blue eyes.  Her big sister, meanwhile, favors me.  In fact, Anna calls her "Daddy's Mini-Me".  Ten fingers, ten toes, absolutely bursting with health.  I am definitely one proud papa!  What a Valentine's gift that I've been given: a brand new baby girl, and a healthy one, at that!

God is so good!!

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We, meaning Annabella and myself, are at the hospital.  We just got here.  I can tell Annabella is excited: she knows that Mommy is here, and she will see not only her, but her brand new sister, to boot!  I know it's hard for her to keep calm, but I tell her that people here are sick or need to rest, so they can get better; and that calms her down, if only for a little while.

I don't blame Annabella for being excited, though: this is a big moment in her life; it's all she's talked about for the past several months: the baby.  The baby.  Nothing but the baby.

I just hope that the two of them can become the best of friends once Haizlie gets a little older and big sister is able to teach her about the big, bright, wonderful world.  I know they will; I can feel it in my gut, as I write this down.

We are now at Mommy's hospital room.  I tell my older daughter that Mommy may be sleeping or not feeling too well, so we have to be quiet and use our indoor voices.  We then go in; as I expected, Anna is sleeping softly in her hospital bed.  She looks pretty relaxed; maybe it's the medicine in the IV that's helping. 

Little Annabella looks at Mommy, a look of worry clearly visible on her young face.  I give her a hug and reassure her that Mommy will probably be going home in a few days, but right now she's very tired and needs to get as much rest as possible.

She then asks me the proverbial question:  "Where's my little sister?"

As if the nurse could hear her, she then appears, holding a pink blanketed little bundle in her arms, a smile wreathing her dark face.  She then hands me the baby and stands beside us as I gently uncover the infant, where Annabella then gets her very first glimpse at her baby sister.  It is a defining moment in both our lives, one that we will likely never forget for a very long time to come.

I then talk to Annabella about Haizlie and tell her that she is to help Mommy out (me, as well) and that she has a lot of responsibility to do, but we would both be there to help with the baby every step of the way, especially after Mommy starts feeling more like herself again.

I know that Annabella will be a terrific big sister once she gets used to the fact that she is now no longer the youngest child; there will probably be tears or temper tantrums as our older child realizes this, but as I said, both Anna and myself will be there to guide her and give her as much love as we can possibly muster.