They told me…it goes so fast.

The days are long, but the years are short.

Enjoy every moment, they said.

Don’t blink!

And I did my best. With YOU, especially. The youngest. Our littlest one.

My baby.

I wasn’t perfect at it, but I did my best to enjoy your littleness and every bit of those baby days with you.

Even right in the middle of those precious moments I thought, ‘I’m going to miss this.’

Nobody even had to tell me, little one. I already knew.

And now I can’t believe it…but somehow, I am done with kicks and flutters on the inside.

With nursing and milky smiles and middle of the night feedings.

With first teeth and first steps and first birthdays.

Now when I carry you up to bed, your long legs brush against my thighs.

They were right.

It did go by so fast.

I guess somewhere along the way I must’ve blinked, sweetheart.

Because here you are…THREE.

You say something hilarious every five minutes.

You insist on doing things ‘all by myself.’

You love to boss our dog around.

And want to ‘help’ me with everything I do.

Today I looked in the backyard to find you’d dragged a chair over to the swingset and were attempting to scale the pole to the top.

When you saw my face peeking out the back door, this brilliant smile spread across your face, “Momma, look what I can do!!!”

I clapped and cheered and hollered back, “Wow, look at you!!”

And that’s the thing, honey…

They forgot to tell me about that.

They didn’t mention how beautiful it is to watch you…becoming YOU!

You were mine for a while. And I absolutely loved that time.

But now I have the incredible privilege of watching you become YOU.

As you grow, I hope you look up every now and again.

You’ll see me standing off somewhere on the sideline.

I’ll be clapping and cheering. Soaking it in. Enjoying every moment (or all I can). So grateful to be a part of it all.

And whenever you need your Momma, I’ll be there. I’ll be sure to holler out…

“Wow, look at you!!” in my proudest mommy voice.

Because I promise, sweetheart, I promise no matter how old you get or how big you grow…

You’ll always, Always, ALWAYS be my baby.