In the Blink of an Eye — Homegrown + Lovely

I knew the time would fly by. When we first brought Blake home, I tried to be aware of the fact that the weeks and months would soon blur together. It's hard to say if that happened because every day was on repeat, or if time truly is passing in the blink of an eye. But the one thing I do know, is that our tiny baby girl is now seven months old. She's closer to being a year old than the day of her birth. And all of a sudden, things are happening too fast.

Don't get me wrong. I love the stage we are in together. She responds with a smile to almost everything we do. And that perfect smile lights up her entire face.

Most meltdowns can be solved rather quickly, just by picking her up. The one thing that calms her is us and there is something so amazing about that. She feels safe and secure being in our arms, and the fact that she now recognizes that is quite gratifying.

She is dabbling in solid food. Most days the smashed up sweet potatoes go down just fine. I think one of her favorite things to do now is drink from a grown up glass. I'm not sure if the cold water or milk feels good hitting her teething gums or if she just likes the change, but she can sit forever with a glass slightly tipped to her mouth.

She can sit on her own, and is quite proud of that feat. She loves our dog, and her eyes light up when Maddie walks over. Hating tummy time is a thing of the past. She can now roll with ease from front to back and back to front.

The babbling has commenced. Instead of just singing, she now chats with lots of mamamas and babababas. And yes, I will take credit that the 'mama' came before 'dada,' much to my husbands dismay.

She loves to practice walking when we hold her hands. She protests if we go out of sight. Car rides still put her to sleep, and she loves splashing around in the bath.

However, all this fun growth has helped her recognize a growing independence. She now pushes away when she is done eating. If she doesn't want to be held close, she will try to wriggle away. Gone are the times when she would sleep against us with ease. On the rare occasion that it does happen, I can hardly bring myself to lay her down. She seems to have a serious case of FOMO and sleep is the last thing on her mind. FOMO is 'fear of missing out' in case you didn't know. She takes after her mom in that regard.

Our sweet babe is so fun and her personality is really shining through. I'm grateful every single day for her health and her wonderful little soul. I can't imagine life without her in it anymore. The thought of it literally squeezes the breath out of my chest. I realizd all moms 'know' this in their heads, but this is a gentle reminder to recognize it in your heart too.... Our babies aren't babies forever. Every day they are one step closer to becoming independent young adults.

So take in each moment that you can. Whether it's the quiet space after waking from a nap, the fun and laughter of playing a new game or the frazzling moments during a meltdown. Tomorrow is a new day with a new set of experiences and the ones from today will quietly get banked to memory (and hopefully a couple pictures if you're lucky). We'll never get this time back and I don't want to live with any regret that I let too many distractions steal some of those memories. We only have one today.