Babies don't keep

When Katie was born, I had no idea how fast the newborn stage would pass or how much I'd look back and long for just one more day of Katie as my little baby when it was over.

Somehow in the last 16 months, she went from this:

2 1/2 days old {{heart melts}}

To this:

Just a few days shy of 16 months {{heart still melts}}

I really think one of my biggest regrets as a first time mama is that I didn't savor those early days with my precious baby as much as I could have. I was blessed to stay home full time from the day Katie was born, but I was in a hurry for things to get back to normal. I wanted the house clean, I wanted to cook, I wanted to be on a schedule. While these things are all good, very few things are as fine or as fleeting as the blessed opportunity to snuggle with your newborn babe.

It seems like I blinked my eyes a couple times and she went from a helpless, squirmy, all-I-want-is-mama newborn to a "big girl." She runs, she talks, she learns new things every single day, and she even  plays all by herself (sometimes. She still loves to play with mama!).

I am doing my best to take time to cherish every day at home with my sweet girl, because I know these days, too, are fleeting and one day, by God's grace, she really will be all grown up (*tear*). And, when sweet Baby #2 makes his or her appearance in December, I am going to try to worry less about stuff that can wait and focus on really savoring and enjoying having a newborn again (y'all--I can't wait!), because as the oft-quoted poem says,

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.