When I was eight months pregnant with Evan we had a small bar-b-que at our house with my parents, my sister-in-law, niece and a few of my parent's friends whom I've known all of my life.
One of my parents friends taught my niece to say, "I'm only little once" as a response to being told no when she wanted to do something, like sleep in bed with her mom when my brother is away on fires :). It was, of course, very cute.
Then the other night Aaron came in our room to check on me and Evan after I had gotten him to sleep. I was holding Evan much like I did for the first time when I was in recovery after his birth and Aaron echoed that exact saying, "they're only little once".
Suddenly I found myself reflecting on all the moments in the last four months where I've told myself "if we can just get through this part we can do this: the c-section recovery, the breastfeeding struggles, the infections, the colic, the refusal to be put down, the only sleep when held phase, the unexplained tremors when feeding that landed us at Children's for an afternoon, the dairy allergy, the bloody diapers, the acid reflux (oh the acid reflux!)...... and suddenly I felt sad because they really are only little once.
As challenging as those times were, they were also the times when Evan was the littlest he will have ever been. There may have been more tears than smiles then, but when I think about those challenging times all I can do is smile because we are doing this.
We might be parents to a child who has to be held upright for his first hour of sleep to prevent acid from burning his throat (and the banshee screams that accompany it) but we are also parents to a child who loves us unconditionally already, who is days away from laughing and rolling over and eating solid foods and sleeping through the night (ok that one might be dayssss away).
And if you're a parent, you are doing it too. You are doing a good job. I'm telling you because sometimes we just need to hear that. Good job to you and you and you.
Night friends.
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