As a mother, I vacillate between wanting and not wanting to see my Miss Baby grow up. After seeing pictures from the wedding last weekend, I have tended toward not wanting Miss Baby to grow up just yet.
I have been spending extra time with Miss Baby this week in my feeble attempts to ward off the reality that my little girl is growing up right before my eyes. Therein lies a mother’s dilemma: while she is most proud of how far her little one has come along, she is most reluctant to see her little one keep growing.
Mothers out there, please let me hear your thoughts on my dilemma.
Have a great weekend. I will see you Monday!
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It’s good to cherish the time as it is and where baby is for sure and not push her along to the next stage…
Yes it is difficult to see your Baby grow up, but enjoy every minute of it. She is learning from you all the time. Just remember not to expect too much at each stage of her life. You have lots of fun adventures to go through with her. Your job is to create wonderful memories for her life. My experience is that it is easier for them to remember the other stuff. LOL. Hugs Bunny
Yes, another of the pangs of motherhood. Once heard someone speaking of the paradoxes we never can quite get a handle on: the specific one he was mentioning that Jesus was fully God and fully man. We try to examine the paradox, analyze it, take it apart and put it back together, and in the process, we miss the whole tension of the paradox which is true.
Yes, we feel both mutually exclusive feelings at one time: please stop growing up, I’m so enjoying you at this age– hile we work all the day long to help them grow up. My DSIL says it would be OK if they could just come back for a visit for a day at whatever age you are yearning for
I haven’t gotten any of them to take me up on that yet.
I think it’s the same with every mother … it sure was with me. There’s no feeling in the world that is greater than holding your baby … rocking her … feeding her … seeing that first smile … hearing that first word … seeing that first tooth, etc. It’s sad to think that your little baby has grown up and no longer needs you in all those ways. And when she marries, it’s a tearful event, like she is leaving you forever. But she doesn’t leave. If you are lucky, she has babies of her own and that means YOU get grand-babies so you can start the cycle all over again (lol)!
Oh Wendy, every single age is an adventure and a miracle. My baby girl is almost 36 with three young boys between the ages of 3 and 7. It seems some days like it happened so very quickly but so it is with everything in life now. I LOVED every stage of her growing into the beautiful woman she is today. The only real heart wrencher for me was when Brian came into her life and I moved back a couple steps. Once I adjusted I now find joy in every minute I get to spend with her just like I did when she was Miss Baby’s age, when she started school, when she spent her first night away from home, etc, etc. Revel in every single day and every single change as they are all miraculous to behold. You have more joy ahead of you than you can ever imagine! Melody in Santa Fe and 3000+ miles from her ‘baby’ girl
Yes– I can remember those days of wanting my little girl to stay that way but we have to let them grow up and we are to cherish everyday that God gives them to us. The worse is yet to come–high school will fly by fast– then she leaves to go to college and you have that empty nest That is when you give her to God to really watch over her b/c you are not there to watch over that little girl anymore as a MAMA. So cherish every day and enjoy your time with her.
What a cute photo. Yes – enjoy while you can – it really goes by in a flash!
At Miss Baby’s age, I always marveled that each day brought something new to their world. I was never one of those moms that cried when the kids started school. Both of them were ready to explore and spread their wings. They always knew I would be in the background for them if they faltered.
Oh at this time it is bitter sweet so just take one day at a time and really enjoy her each day everything else will wait I promise you!
I think the key is to look at it from a heavenly perspective. God wants us to keep growing, to progress, to learn and to change. That is the only way that we can make it back to heaven, is to grow and learn all that we need to each day. My goal is for Creamie to learn all she can each day. And I am so grateful that she is ABLE to grow and change. I love watching her grow up, and I can’t wait to see the girl, the teenager, and the woman that she will be. I believe that when this life ends, we’ll both be a in place where we can continue to grow and learn, and I’ll get to watch that part too, as her mother and her friend. I try to live each day with no regrets as her mother. I don’t always succeed, some days are a lot more TV than others, and a lot less play time together. But if I can sneak in all the good things each day that I will miss later I know I won’t look back on these days and wish I had enjoyed them more. This is a very sweet picture, she looks angelic!
You know I have shared this with you before Wendy. They grow up TOO fast. My little girl, as you are aware, is in SE Asia on a Missions trip this month. Where did the time go?? It just flys. When they are in diapers, you think it will never end. When they are toddlers and are into everything, you think when will it end. When they ask a million questions, you think when will it end? But it does end, and all too quickly. Cherish each moment and season because before you know it, she will be a grown woman and on her own.
I’m also having a hard time watching my babies grow-up, yet my babies are 6 and 12 years-old. I try to prove to them that I love them unconditionally everyday. I guess that I’m doing a pretty good job because they admit that they are still mommy’s babies, and always will be!
It is a beautiful and painful thing ~ our babies do grow up! Each and every day and stage of their life is so enjoyable! We all miss the stages when they pass, but the next phase is exciting. Don’t be sad ~ a new adventure awaits!!
God bless you!! ~Mary
Yep – it’s a dilemma. Just take as many pictures and videos as you can. I’m immensely proud of the men my boys have become, but sometimes I ache for the little boys who used to run to me to grab them up in my arms. I hear grandchildren help out there though….*G*
Oh Wendy it is a dilemma we all face. I am a mother of 4 children 25 – 30 years and now a nanna to 6 and like I tell my children…. embrace each day with your beautiful babies because one day you wake up and they have grown up before your very eyes.
But with this journey, they take you through a maze that is intricate and complex. This journey takes you to places that you never thought you may experience and in the end we come out the end of it all enriched, wiser and more knowledgeable….alot more knowledgeable lol.
I now say that my children owe me a trip the hairdressers on a regular basis, so that I can get my grey roots touched up….. the grey hairs that they gave me lol.
But I wouldnt change any of it for the world, because I am the luckiest woman in the world
xoxoxoxox
Jenny said it right. You do hate to see your babies grow up but they all do. As a mother of 5 I just look back and wonder how they grew up so fast. I also had a wonderful time raising my kids. Now I am enjoying my grandchildren. Such a gift from god. Enjoy for they do grow up so fast. There are days you wonder why you have them then you wonder why you thought that way. What ever you do, do not make her grow up so fast. Let her stay a child for as long as you can. Love her lots and hug her often.
Have a great weekend.
Kim
Get ready to experience those mixed emotions for the next 20 years or so!
I love the young men I have now, but some times I look at photos of their younger selves and sure do miss those little guys.
Just enjoy each stage as it comes, and enjoy the memories and anticipations, too.
Sounds like you need a couple more little ones! You then enjoy each stage but have seen it before and not as surprised the 2nd and 3rd (more) times you go through them. Good times!!! You will need to remember them at some point ahead.
Wendy I know exactly how you feel! My baby now has babies and they too are growing so fast it just makes me want to cry. I have found with the grandbabies I tend to drop everything when they are with me (a lot) and devote all of my attention to them. I wish I had that opportunity when their daddy was growing up.
Wendy,
Savor every moment! They pass so quickly. I’m experiencing this feeling for the second time around with my grandson. He turned 2 last month and he’s not an infant any longer. He’s a little boy! As much as I love him as he is right now, I miss those times when I sat with him in my arms and he wrapped his whole hand around one of my fingers.
I echo exactly what Cindy Helm wrote.
I have three grown children and some days miss having them around but no matter what they are currently doing they are still my babies I I still take pleasure is seeing them accomplish new things. And if you wait long enough they present you with grand babies who worm their way into your heart just like your own kids did. Its all in the circle of life
Before you know it they are moving out for College. It’s amazing how quickly they grow, one minute they’re toodling around, then they are walking confidently and once they start school it seems almost like overnight.
My own “baby” is 17 and will be a senior in HS next year. We are looking at colleges near and far. While I sort of miss the little girl, I’m really enjoying the transition of our relationship from mother/daughter to friends. I’m excited about her future–she is gracious, loving, talented, beautiful, intelligent, opinionated…She makes me so proud.
Wendy just one more thing to say….. a quote my Nanna would tell me when I had my first child, ” A small child will pull at your apron strings and when they get older they will pull at your heart strings” so truly said as I now understand the full circle of her words
Enjoy your weekend Wendy
xoxox
So precious… Enjoy every moment, Wendy!
My sweet “baby” is 22 and graduated from Wellesley College on Friday. She gave a speech at the Baccalaureate Ceremony on Thursday and I sat in the audience sobbing with pride, but missing the little girl that played “The Little Red Hen” in kindergarten. I didn’t feel the whoosh of time as I watched her grow each day, but each year on her birthday or Christmas I would be startled at how much she had grown and changed. I look back and treasure each of those memories, but I am amazed at the incredible woman she has become and enjoying our adult relationship.
Oh, Wendy, I know what you mean! Mine is 22 now. Where did THAT time go?! You know what I did? I got a puppy o:)
I am with you all the way. My little preemie daughter is now 39, and boy do I feell old. Even my preemie grandsons, 6 and 14 are doing the same. Alec 14, is 6 ft.
Wish I had some wisdom to pass along, but I can commiserate right along with you. My baby is 19 months old and logically, he should be my last. I’ve hit 40 and the body is going downhill fast, hubby has had a bout w/ cancer and baby’s siblings, ages 4 and 6 keep me busy too, not to mention my quilting has picked up momentum.
But then that sweet baby snuggles into my shoulder and I want to freeze time or have another one!!!!!!