Time In A Bottle

JJ rocks the 'hawk.

When I sit and rock JJ to sleep at night, I think about all of the things yet to come – all the firsts that are just waiting to happen.  I wonder how my life would be even more different when JJ has a little brother or sister.  I’m really looking forward to teaching him things – how to ride a bike, how to cook, how to play games….

But then he falls asleep.  After that kid drifts off into dream land, I always hold him tighter and say to myself “Savor this moment…  Savor this moment…. Savor this moment….” He nuzzles and gets really comfy; I almost don’t want to put him in the crib and go do all of the things that were put off from yesterday.  In fact, I don’t EVER want to put him down.  I wish I could save all of these moments and bottle them up and take them out whenever I want.  Like when he throws a temper tantrum when I try to change his diaper.  Or when I really miss him while I’m at work.  Or the day he leaves for college.

If the shoe fits, chew on it.

No one told me how life would be once he got a little older.  JJ is a crawling, eating, talking, crying, laughing MACHINE.  That kid has more things to do and more places to go than the President.  The most difficult thing right now is the realization that he’s about to turn a year old – and I’m trying to figure out how it happened.  I can physically see him growing and I get a little frightened once I realize how fast it’s happening.  He’s taken his first steps, he’s babbling all over the place, discovering new things…. It’s a flash of light that will be over in a second.  I don’t know how I feel about all of that.

A gentleman that I work with recently told me that your life is like a roll of toilet paper.   As it gets older and older,  it unrolls faster and faster.  It's the cold hard truth:  We all dread getting older but as it starts to happen, we feel like we're on a roller coaster and can't get off.  That ride is so much faster and scarier when you have a kid.  I imagine that it will probably be even faster as he continues to grow.

Trying out our new car seat in the store!

To all my friends who are pregnant or have newborns:  No matter how much you want to scream when you’re up for the tenth time at night, savor the moment.   When you’re frantically rubbing poop out of your hair, savor the moment.  When your little miracle is sleeping in your arms and the entire world could crumble and you could care less… savor the moment.   All of that will be even more precious later.  I promise.