This little one

She's growing up so quickly. And as much as I am enjoying all the new things she's doing--


--the way we're seeing more and more of her unique and precious personality, the way she loves to eat cheerios, how she's learned to sign "more", how cute it is to watch the technique she uses to get from a lying position to a seated one, how she occasionally leans toward your lips when you ask for a kiss, how she waves (towards herself), how she loves to clap for herself, for her siblings, anytime she hears someone say yay or hooray, how she watches every movement of her brother and sister and desperately wants to do what they're doing, how she holds onto my arm while I'm carrying her on my hip, the way she reaches for Brent when he comes home from work, the way she and Hadleigh talk and play while in the car--


--I am holding onto to this. To her being a baby. My baby.

Ten months hasn't really gone by, has it? So quickly? There's no way she will be one soon. It has passed much. too. quickly. As time always does.

It's funny. When Hadleigh was born, we treasured the moments...but we really looked forward to each milestone...rolling over, teeth, sitting up, feeding her solids, crawling, walking... I remember first feeding Hadleigh rice cereal at 5 months. Hindsight, of course, is that the baby food stage of feeding is the most frustrating...because you really have to plan and think about eating away from home. So Nathanael started cereal at 6 months or so...and well, Madeleine was a bit closer to 7 :) (I was glad to have her pediatrician's approval though!)

I loved seeing Hadleigh's first teeth...I was SO excited...but I quickly realized that the toothless smile I had grown to treasure had been replaced...by an equally (if not more so) cute toothy grin. But each change made me more and more aware of my baby growing up. It has made stop and take notice and treasure the moments that will change when I'm not aware of it. The ones that will catch me by surprise, because I didn't know that the "last time" would be the "last time". I think I'm especially feeling this because I know she's our last little one.

But I think she knows that she's my baby.This picture is one of my favorite parts of the day. Before each nap and bedtime, I snuggle her in her blankie, she holds part of the blanket in her hand and sucks her thumb. She leans her head against my shoulder and breathes easily. Sometimes she talks in her sweet little cooing voice and I talk back to her. Sometimes we look at each other in the mirror which makes us both smile and giggle. But mostly, we just stand there (swaying, of course) and I treasure those moments in my heart.

I think she knows that I still need her to be my baby.