Babies Do Grow Up All Too Fast

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When my 85-year-old neighbor first told me “don’t blink – they grow up fast,” I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of those words. Sure, I knew my little newborn peanut would become a grown boy someday, but this turning point seemed incalculable. After all, I did just come home from the hospital – and home to my new life (the old one packed up nine months ago, mind you).

The thought didn’t linger long, as I had pressing new mom matters to wrap my brain around. Plus, this precious boy, Luca, who felt like a feather in my arms, could barely stay awake. Turning into a boy seemed way off in a distant, even foreign future, unbeknown to me.

So I thought.

In coming days Luca stayed awake longer. He soared in weight and length, which would only continue at a very pleasing rate through his first year checkup. His little burrito-wrapped body I once cradled at my chest now stretches beyond the arms of his rocking chair –if and when we sit in it.

His newborn look already is a distant memory, as I now see a firmly built, blue-eyed boy flashing his pearly whites– eight in all.

Every ‘first year’ milestone has come and gone. So has the 1st birthday and cake smash.

first birthday
first birthday

While by no means will my son be leaving the house for college soon, or even grade school, I certainly now understand the meaning of my neighbor’s words: time is fluid –and there is no rewind.

As I reflect on the past year, I feel privileged to have witnessed every first with my son.

There is one important piece of advice I strive to live by. Live in the moment.

I am as guilty as anyone else trying to capture everything on my iPhone or camera. After my son’s first birthday, I realized I was too preoccupied with photographing his cake smash, that I felt like I didn’t experience the moment in its entirety.

I do have photos, but they don’t fill the absence I feel.

Live it. Feel it. Breathe it.

And if possible, don’t blink.