Growing Up

My baby is growing up. She won't be a baby forever. She'll grow into a toddler, start school, become a teenager, head off to college, become an adult and start a family of her own.

When people post "growing" pictures of their children on social media the most popular caption I see is something like this, "Stop growing. I just want you to stay little forever," and I ask the same thing, why? While I love my baby more than I ever thought possible, I really enjoy watching her grow.

I've definitely been enjoying the baby stage more than I originally thought I would. I loved holding her for hours, and one of the best feelings is having a sleeping baby on your chest. I loved watching her become awake more often. Seeing her first smile. Hearing her first laugh. Watching her rollover. But, I’m not sad to see her grow.

Sometimes I do wish she’d stay young and naive. I worry about what the world will be like as she gets older, and it makes me want to shelter her more, but not NOT want her to grow. We’ll do the the best we can as parents to raise her, and pray that she grows in God’s grace and love.

Maybe there will be a day in the future when she’s a sassy teenager and I’ll wish I could go back to the days when all she did was smile and babble, but now I try not to think back, but just love the age she is. I’m soaking up everything she’s learning now; sitting up by herself, learning to crawl, eating food and and I’m excited for all the new things coming up. Sometimes I can’t believe how fast it’s gone and how much she really has grown! But I look forward to each new phase and age.