Right Before Our Eyes.

Four years ago today we learned we were going to be parents. I walked out of the bathroom with that pregnancy test after getting ready to head to work on that Saturday morning. The day we had literally been waiting years for had come. I remember her first sonogram, her first kick and the day that we met her for the first time and I was blown away but the tiny human.  We were enamored by the sweet life we created together.

Here we are four years from the day we learned she was coming and she’s growing fast and in the most subtle day to day kind of ways. It’s the little things like how our dog Millie is now “Millie” instead of “Miney” that has she been for last year and a half since we got her. It’s how long her hair has grown and the day to day responsibilities she grabs and the questions she asks. She’s such a little girl yet she’s wise beyond her years. The next big thing on our radar of learning accomplishments is reading. She’s known her alphabet, her shapes, colors, and numbers through twenty for a long while now. She can recite her favorite books from memory and regularly blows us away with her vocabulary. She’s growing into her own little person, modeling the way we love her during her imaginative play and thriving in ways I think I expected to occur a bit later on. I took the photos in this post four months ago and she’s already grown and changed since then. 

I feel like it’s so easy for me to quickly recall the big achievements of her little brother because he’s hitting the big milestones of  standing and more, that she hit so long ago that it’s easy to look at her day to day achievements as more of an “expected”.  Her sweet little personality is blossoming right before our eyes though. She’s smart and inquisitive. She’s strong-willed and sassy. She’s sensitive and she’s shy when we put her on the spot. She’s loud and she’s funny. She adapted to the role of being a big sister last year better than we imagined she would.  Even in her wildest moments she’s got a gentle spirit that loves and cares for others well. She’s outgoing on her own terms and shy when she’s put on the spot. She’s determined. She’s fiercely independent and wants to do things on her own, yet in so many moments she still wants us right there with her. 

As I sat there yesterday on the chair as she cuddled me as her brother napped needing some extra mommy time that these moments are fleeting because she’s growing so fast. So fast. It’s the day to day moments that I’m reminded how much of a thief time is and how the now is now. Tomorrow she’s be a little bit more grown up and she’ll have yet another moment that leaves us awestruck and the young girl is becoming right before our eyes. How lucky are we that this sweet girl was hand picked by God to be ours. Four years ago though, we had no idea how truly awesome the journey of parenthood would be. So today, on this St. Patrick’s day I’m just gratefully a little nostalgic about how lucky we are to live this life together as a family – all four of us.