Cue the Waterworks

My baby is turning one in one and half weeks. How did that happen? Woah.

 I went through a bunch of her clothes this past week to weed out some for a clothing swap and thats when the gushing came. The blubbery mom move I was so sure I'd never do. I dragged Ben into it and late at night we sat holding her little newborn clothes in our arms remembering how little our baby girl used to be. (P.S. Ben gushing over baby clothes is my most favorite recent memory. He loves his girl.) We talked about the past year. "Remember how she used to sleep on us?" "How easy it was?" "Oh! so little! So dreamy!" Then we quickly corrected ourselves. It was not easy. nor dreamy. We almost have forgotten. Almost. Not entirely. Those 6 weeks 3 months of sleep deprivation were the most exhausting of our lives. But...she was so so little. And off I go again. I've crossed the threshold people, I'm now one of those annoying moms who coos over newborns and talks about how wonderful it was-Every new mom hates those ladies. Because its not easy. It doesn't feel wonderful. But we so easily forget.

But every mom who remembers will say it gets easier. Quicker than I ever thought. Our baby girl kept growing and she started showing her little personality bit by bit. Thats when parenting for Ben got fun. (The whole baby blob thing wasn't really his favorite part.)  "Her first smile/laugh/coo?"  Ben fell in love. We both have gotten more and more pumped that you're our kid.

So, late at night we sat back and marveled at what a ham our baby girl turned out to be. How many comments people have made to us "She's the happiest baby I've ever met," "she's so silly!" "Is she always this cheery?" being stopped on the street as our girl hands out those smiles and chatter for free. We gushed about our little Eowyn. Pride and Joy oozed out of our faces. We almost went in and woke you up just to squeeze you.

In those early weeks I craved normalcy. Well, baby e, we finally reached it. You are our new normal. We got a whole lot more out of this deal than we ever expected. Your dad and I see each other in new lights and love each other more because of you. Getting to raise your little soul for a whole year has caused us to look to Jesus more (because we have no clue what we're doing but Jesus does.) Getting to raise you has caused us to laugh easier, have more grace towards each other and praise God for babies.  Our introduction to parenting has been awesome because of you.

You've taught us the power of perspective, the power of our words and tones and touch and the power of grace. All in under a year.

1 1/2 weeks and we got ourselves a one year old. Excited about what God's gonna teach us next.

Now excuse me while I go try to squeeze a child who thinks hugs are a joke. "Haha Mommy, Funny. Let me go now"  Child. Just. Snuggle. With. Me.

We're workin on it.