Everyone says your life changes when you have a baby, and I'd be lying if I said that wasn't true. It does change, but in our case it has changed for the better. When Grace was born, we both filled a hole in our hearts we didn't know was there. What has changed the most in life is the concept of time. From the moment you discover you're pregnant you begin counting time in weeks and months. It's almost as if you stop counting days but just skip right to weeks.
Then just like that 40 (give or take a couple) weeks goes by and you're now counting days for the first week or so, then you start counting weeks and months. And you quickly realize how fleeting the quiet moments of each day are, and how fast time goes by. Everyone you know and even the random people in the grocery store will tell you how fast time goes, but you don't truly realize just how fast until you're staring at your EIGHT MONTH OLD asleep in her crib.
The days are long and the years are short. And those first few weeks at home were some of the hardest yet most wonderful of my life, and they literally flew by. I just don't know how we got here so quickly, how I'm already planning our daughters first birthday or how we've already started putting toys away that Grace is "too big for."
Because I already feel like I've forgotten parts of the first few weeks and months, I'm making a list of the things about Grace I don't want to forget. Before I know it she'll be 1, then 2, then 10. So here goes.
I don't want to forget:
- When you first came home and hardly opened your right eye so I called you "one eyed willy" for a couple of weeks.
- How seeing you with your Daddy made me love him even more.
- The way you stare at your Daddy in awe and light up every time you see him walk into the room
- Your big belly laugh when we play peek-a-boo.
- The giant smile you get whenever you see your Grandma and Papa
- The way you can hardly contain your excitement sometimes and have to burrow into my arms.
- The way you look at your cousins and how much you already love them.
- Your sweet demeanor.
- How you can make a complete stranger smile.
- How much joy your Grandparents had the moment they first held you, and still have every time they see you.
- How much you've taught me about patience.
- The way you cuddle in close when I need it the most.
- How you shake when you see your bottle in the morning, as if you haven't seen one in days.
- Your love for avocado.
- How much you already love books and get so excited to read before bed.
- How skinny your feet are - I swear you’re never going to fit in shoes!
- How long it took you to finally roll over and how much we can’t stop you now.
- How proud of yourself you are each time you figure out something new.
- Your smile in the morning when we get you out of your crib.
- The way you talk and coo in your crib before naps and bedtime.
- How small you were the first time we put in you in the sink for a bath.
- How much you love the color red.
- The grunting noise you make when you're frustrated.
- Your big smiles and endless talking in swim class.
- How you laugh when Lucy gives you kisses.
- How you had zero interest in holding your bottle until you were about 7 months old.
- How singing "When The Saints Go Marching In" can calm you down within seconds.
- How most mornings we chase Lucy around the kitchen and you laugh so hard.
- How you already want to be independent but also want to be close to the action.
- How much you LOVE sleeping in your crib (even if that means refusing a nap anywhere else).
- Your leg rolls and arm chubs.
- The way you stretch you're entire body every morning and let out a giant yawn.
- How you kick your legs at night until you fall asleep, it's even earned you the nickname "Thumper."
- How fast you went from barely crawling to racing around the house.
- How I think I couldn't possibly love you more and then you smile at me or giggle and my heart grows in size.
Some nights I wish I could just hit pause, so on those nights I hold you a little tighter and rock you to sleep. Some days I wish I could have a few more "newborn cuddles" but then I start to see your personality shine through and I realize how fun it is to watch you grow. Everything seems to be going so fast and I know the time of you needing your Momma will come and go, so for now I'm promising my self to enjoy the little moments because they quickly become the big moments.
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