A year already??

One year ago, I was five days from my due date. I constantly thought my water broke and that I would go into labor at any second. Of course, she was actually born nine days after that, so I had no reason to worry about an early arrival.

One year later? I'm stereotypically floored by how fast it all went. I look at my daughter and I think I still have a tiny baby.

Two weeks old here.

Time is so strange. My grandma turned 79 on July 29, and I asked her when she started to feel like a grown up. She had twins just months after she turned 20, so I thought surely she has felt old forever! Grandma laughed at me and said she still doesn't feel like a grown up. Her favorite memories are of going to the nickel "picture show" in Chicago. She said that whenever she has a great day or sees something hilarious, her first thought sometimes is, "Oh, I can't wait to tell mom that." Her mom died 35 years ago.

Here is my baby today.

11 months old.

It doesn't matter that I still feel like she's a newborn, that I still feel like a kid myself sometimes. Time proverbially marches on and my kid can eat a whole banana, whole avocados now.

We're so blessed that she's healthy and strong and smart. I know this but I take it for granted too. I want to hold her next to me forever, but I know that these years passing will shock me and she will be screaming at me to leave her alone before I even realize what's happening.

For now, I'm going to enjoy her peace and her need and I'm going to revel in her moments as they astonish me daily.