He's a walker!!

Ohhhh goodness. L took his first steps on April 30 when he was only 9 months old, and he's done nothing but improve on those first uncertain, wobbly efforts since then. He's all over the place now, and it's getting difficult to keep up. I think we've officially entered toddler-hood :|

The essence of Bittersweet

The word "bittersweet" was invented by a mother. She looked at her children and thought "my babies are growing up." I know this because it happened to me. L keeps taking steps, and Little C has started standing unassisted. It's incredibly sad and so exciting. I've never felt so torn about anything in my life. 

Yesterday, we were playing in the floor and my step-mom said "do you see him??" which prompted me to move so I could. Much to my dismay, I looked and saw L STANDING on the handle of our recliner. STANDING. He held the armrest for leverage and climbed up until he was standing on the handle and his shoulders were even with the armrest. I was stunned. And of course, mother-of-the-year that I am, I grabbed the camera to catch a picture before I got him down. Can't lose moments like that ;)  


On the way home from church this week, the boys were in the middle of an intense jabbering discussion peppered with high-pitched squeals. I was laughing to myself when it became almost silent in the back seat. I turned back to look, and this is what I saw:

Precious doesn't even begin to cover it. I think I actually felt my heart start melting. They rarely have "time" to be sweet and cuddly lately - there are 500 things they would rather do instead. 

When did my sweet, snuggly infants turn into too-busy-to-be-held almost-toddlers??  And why wasn't there more of a transition stage? I swear just last week they still wanted to be held and loved on, and now, it's a wrestling match just to get to kiss them on their sweet little heads. I feel like I've missed so much of their first 10 months even though I've seen them every day since they were born. Maybe I'm just sentimental today, or maybe I'm finally realizing that their first birthday is coming like a freight-train and I'm powerless to slow it down. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: I miss my tiny, 5lb infants and the precious baby snuggles so much, but I wouldn't trade what we have now for anything in the world. It's so very sad to know they've already changed so much yet so exciting to watch them grow and learn. Bittersweet in the truest sense of the word.