You know the saying “The days are long but the years are short”? Ya, about that…
It honestly feels like yesterday I was bringing my first child, our beautiful daughter, home from the hospital. She was everything I had ever dreamt about! For starters, she was a she! I had always wanted a daughter, ever since I was young enough to dream about having my own children. She had big blue eyes, just like her momma! And she was so chill yet so alert and alive. I can remember the doctors and nurses commenting on how alert she was immediately after she was born.
Not much has changed since. She is so alive with energy and always the life of the party. She loves fiercely and embraces every situation with such excitement. And she is the child who requires the least amount of sleep in our home!
And by the end of this week, she will be six years old. SIX YEARS OLD. Like woah, let’s just take a minute to pause the heck out of life and assess this situation.
I can remember when I was pregnant with my daughter, I would dream of the days where we could go to the salon and get our nails done together. Or when she would be old enough to start believing in fairytales and we could take her to DisneyWorld and she would believe in all the magic that is there. I can remember dreaming about her playing with Barbies and going shopping together for the latest trends.
And somehow, right in the middle of all that dreaming, life happened and here we are and she is now turning SIX! And we’ve done ALL of those things that I can remember dreaming about.
To say that my life has been so richly blessed with my first born daughter would be an understatement. She is truly everything I prayed for and more. So much more.
But to think that my first born is turning six this week honestly gives me anxiety and makes me a little sad. My baby is no longer a baby anymore. She can’t fly for free, can’t get into the zoo free nor eat at the buffet for free anymore. The other day she was lumped into the 5 – 15 year old category and I just about had a stroke. My little firstborn was in the same age bracket as a 15 year old! Insert a crying face emoji right here. And it’s not because she can’t get things for free anymore (although that was nice) but it’s because it confirms just how fast she’s growing up!
She lost her first tooth about a month ago and I can remember feeling so much excitement and sadness all at the same time. My baby is growing up. Two weeks later, another tooth fell out and we are now full blown into her adult teeth growing in and yet I can still remember the day I saw her first tooth break through her gums at four months old.
I can remember when she was a newborn being anxious for her to learn how to walk. Then I couldn’t wait until she learned how to talk. Then I wanted her to be old enough to take her to the movies. And this week, I find myself all of a sudden wanting for time to stand still so I can really soak in every precious moment that has happened with her. To stop and celebrate every milestone that she achieved.
There were moments I can remember rocking her to sleep and my arms were burning from having held her so long and today I wish for nothing more than to have my arms burn once again so that she could fall asleep in them.
But that’s the thing about time…it just keeps moving. And so I guess while working out my inner thoughts and feelings here, all I can think is to encourage you (and myself) to enjoy the moments as they come. To not long for future moments…because those WILL inevitably come. She will walk soon enough and then that walk will turn into a run and then that run will turn kicks and soon enough you will be signing her up for her first soccer ball season. The baby babble will come and it will turn into his first word, which will then turn into 10 words, 20 words, 100 words and before you know, he will be stringing full sentences together.
So let’s commit to enjoying the moments. Even when the days are long. So long. The years are seriously short. I’m sure it won’t feel like long before I’m writing another post similar to this for when she hits the double digits. I don’t want to wish away the next four years…longing for new experiences. I simply want to enjoy THIS moment and cherish this sixth year of being her momma.
Love & Blessings,
