Isabella '06
Leo '09
Sophia '11So I just nursed my little baby to sleep and as I was looking at her sweet face, I was reminded how fast it will go. Earlier tonight, Bella asked me to rock her a bit on the rocking chair before she went to bed. As I rocked her and rubbed her almost 5 year-old back, I was sad that she had gotten so big. I thought how soon it will be that I will no longer be able to see her as my baby. Same thing with Leo tonight. I rocked him in his room and he held me and told me that he loved me. Aren't those the moments motherhood is all about?
When Bella was a baby, I remember co-sleeping with her and nursing her and thinking that it felt like I had been doing it forever. I am sure people pitied me when I said that my 15 month still nursed frequently throughout the night and that I did not get 8 hours of sleep till she was 19 months old. Guess what? Now it is gone. I knew this with Leo and just strictly co-slept with him from day 1. I did not need to feel guilty or that I needed to make excuses for sleeping with him or nursing him into toddler hood. I knew that there would be a day that it would end and that I would wish for the days of my little baby cuddled up with me sleeping or nursing.
With Sophia, I have thought of everything from pregnancy until now as a "This will probably be our last child so remember and savor this" kind of thing. I enjoyed my round, pregnant body. I was okay letting labor start when she was ready and even found a way to savor a long labor. I remember feeling her twist out of me and tried as hard as I could to remember that feeling. I am not in a hurry for her to sleep all night without me(even though she has already come close). I am not in a hurry for nursing to end.
As crazy as 3 kids is to me, I am trying to remind myself to drink my little ones in; to smell them and rub their baby soft skin. Life will get busy with school, lessons, meetings, etc. For now, I will take as much cuddling on the couch or rocking to sleep as I can get.
6 comments:
Love this Sarah! The trick is to remember this in the middle of meltdowns ;)
xoxo
Always good things to remember. We have made it a conscious effort to enjoy whatever stage the kids are in and not wish it away, and overall we've done pretty well. Now that Zion is nine, I definitely feel that occasional panic of "Why did my little girl grow up so fast?" I felt okay with everything until she turned seven, and then it was one year until baptism (which seemed so OLD!) and now it's another year past that, and time doesn't seem to be slowing down.
One thing I really liked about having baby #3 was that I felt it was much easier to take things in stride and not get worked up over very much. Not that you've seen everything after two kids, but you've seen a lot. It's nice to be able to relax a bit and know that nothing lasts forever, no matter how challenging it might be.
Your foresight is spot on... savor away my friend!!!
Very sweet post Sarah.
well now I am crying. Nice post, it's so true.
Well said! I was seriously thinking that same thing today with Olivia. She is so tall and totally independent! It does go by quickly.
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