This Time Last Year...

I'm interrupting our road trip updates with a little trip down memory lane today...I'm feeling nostalgic and marveling at how quickly time slips through our fingers, even when these days seem unending or hard.  I was with a friend yesterday who has a newborn and is in that all-consuming stage of breast-feeding, naps, diaper changes, and laundry.  Seeing her with her precious little daughter brought me right back to where I was, only a year ago.  

I didn't realize at the time just how little Ava herself was!  She seemed so old to us, but look at her.  She was just a baby herself.  Is it weird that I totally miss those jammies on her??  I could almost cry thinking about her in them, in so many ways that seems like yesterday.

And then there is this little guy.  A year ago we were wrapped up in Carter's world, marveling at the new things we were seeing in him and trying to emerge into the "real world" despite being holed up at home in baby land, haha!

Last Christmas was Carty's first Christmas and I was all about making sure we took all the pictures and bought the keepsake ornaments, while trying to remember every detail of that precious season.

We were truly just learning how to parent two kids and how to give them both what they needed.  It was overwhelming and exhausting, but more than that it was a season that was simple and sweet. 

Ava was interested in what Carter was doing, which usually involved nothing more than just lying around...

...but she was also growing in her independence and taking care of her own babies too.

Carter was all about being snuggled and held as much as possible and Daddy was all about making that happen.

My days held mostly this...nursing, burping and changing Carter.  I see this picture and remember thinking how glad I would be when that stage was over, when the diaper changes weren't constant and meal time didn't always involve me, but now I look at it, one year later and I realize how much I miss it.  And how fast it really did go.

Last year our babies were truly, babies.

This little peanut is such a big girl now,  it almost takes my breath away to see her sometimes.  Gone is her baby face and little bob...Now we have scowls and eye rolls and ponytails :) 

And this sweet sleeper with the brown mohawk is now an active little, blonde boy who growls at us when he's mad and does his best to climb all over everything!  

Don't get me wrong, I love this stage we're in now.  In many ways it's full of joy and new milestones and things that make us laugh and burst with pride.  But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that when I look back on these pictures from last Christmas, I do so with a little bit of an ache in my heart.  Those were precious days and I don't regret how we handled them, I do think we did a good job of trying to enjoy them and document them as much as possible.  However, I now understand when older friends tell us they'd trade the empty rooms and busy schedule for the simple days.  As long as they could be and as physically demanding as they were, they were wonderful in so many ways.  Days of looking at two tiny faces and being full of joy and gratitude to the Lord for the miracles He gave us to nurture and love.  

"You are good and what You do is good..." Psalm 119:68

Thanks for letting me flashback today.  I think I needed that :)