Growing UP!

Having a baby is always a monumental change in any one's life. No matter what age you are when you have your first baby, it is huge. It changes everything about life. It changes everything about you.

Grace just recently turned 4 years old. She thinks she is so grown up. The week before she turned 4 she would tell me things like,

"Well, when I am 4, I'll be able to climb all the way across the money bars!"

"When I turn 4, I will be able to jump higher!"

"Once I'm 4, I will be so much smarter!"

Apparently, every aspiration that a 3 year old could have, would be accomplished by turning the magic number of 4. Now that she is 4 and I have had time to adjust to the grown-up age, I can say that I think she was right. It seems that our relationship is changing and developing into a real mother-daughter communication. We talk now. She tells me her fears, no matter how big or small I think they are, I listen with intensity. When I think back to just a little over 4 years ago and what my life was like, my heart stops just a little with fear of getting older. But, not just me getting older, my babies getting older. I enjoy the long, overdrawn, and monotonous stories that I hear over and over in the car. I love the mispronunciation of words that I get to try and figure out what is being said. I love the over dramatization of every point of the day. I love their little arms that wrap tightly around my neck and make me feel more important than the President. I love the creative energy they show when they dress themselves. Or the opinions of their imaginative minds.

As I approach the "magic" age of 30, I am quickly realizing that I have so much more to do with my life, that I had better get started. I also am realizing that I have accomplished so much in my quick 30 years of life. The greatest of those accomplishments are my 2 daughters. I think I just might be a grown up now.