It's been 5 weeks since Nathan was born and so much has changed in our lives.  Big brother Ethan has surprised me by showing very little jealousy over the arrival of his new brother.  There are several things we did to avoid jealousy altogether.

• Give older siblings
  the time and attention they need.  Ethan was used to getting all of Mom's and Dad's attention before his brother's arrival.  Athough things have changed, we have tried to make sure that Ethan gets quality time with both Mom and Dad.  He still has his morning and afternoon routines with his dad and he seems to be happy about that.
• Be inclusive.  As soon as Ethan could walk, we had him bring us his diaper when it was time to get changed.  Now that Baby Brother has arrived, we ask Ethan to get HIS diaper as well and to throw out the old diaper after we have changed Nathan.  This is working like a charm because Ethan likes to be involved and included in whatever we are doing.  Even better, now I don't have to move as much.  LOL.  It's every lazy woman's dream.
• Don't try to suppress feelings.  Every once in a while Ethan will get very frustrated that things aren't going his way or that he has to have patience and wait for Mom to attend his needs.  When an older sibling starts to act up or to act out, it is tempting to jump to judgment.  Sometimes a big brother just needs to vent about how hard life is now that competition for the parent's time has arrived and that is OK.
• Encourage the older sibling(s) to claim the baby.  Nathan is Ethan's baby and no one in this house questions that.  Ethan spends lots of time holding his "Baby Brudder" and talking to him.  He just learned how to get his brother to smile and now there is no separating the two. 
  

These are just a few ideas that we used to help Ethan adjust to having a new baby in the house.  What kind of things have you done?