Baylor is Officially an "Almost Teen"

Can you believe it? 12 years old! I know, I can't either. How does that happen, you wonder? Well, let me tell you-- somehow they keep getting bigger every year! Even when we don't get older...they still do! ;) The new baby has made me an emotional wreck. I was trying to smell all the kids the other night to soak it in and remember what they smelled like and looked like on this day. I know that won't work, and I won't remember, but on the bright side, they let me get close enough to cuddle and smell them! Happy Birthday, Baylor!

 

Birthday dinner at Ichibon!

 

 

His bedroom door!

Sweet Memories

Mommies and grandmas and aunts and maybe some daddies, too, do you remember those first weeks of newborn life? I'm trying to store memories, but I know this will be a very hard task for me. I rarely remember details like that. I barely remember when Adeline was that little. And Baylor? I remember even less! Having a newborn in the house again, however, brings back many of those memories and I want to hang on to them.

Do you remember that tiny baby breaths when they are snuggled close to your face? Or the way they limp themselves into a little ball of yumminess at your neck when you put them on your shoulder? Do you remember sitting in a chair rocking that tiny bundle and closing your eyes thinking to yourself  'I could sit here forever'...then in the very next thought,'This will end so fast'. Today my baby is 6 weeks old. She cooed some today and smiled a couple of times when I talked to her. I responded with such mixed emotions. She's no longer a newborn. Those precious first few weeks that I want to hold on to so badly are gone. Those are the weeks we want to replay over and over. And I was a lucky one. I had those first few weeks 3 times. Some people only have it once, some never. We are so lucky that those precious early weeks are replaced with smiles, and then coos,  laughs, lots of milestones, adoration from a child that believes you are the most important person in the world, games of peek-a-boo, "dada", and "mama"! Because, of course, what else would distract us so much that we don't notice those fleeting, sweet moments being replaced? I know why, my friends. It's God's way of distracting us so our babies can grow up.