I feel a little extra tender about Addison growing up...but I will put on a brave face for her, and for those that don't care to hear my boo-hooing.
It's crazy how in the blink of an eye, they go from this...
To this!
(Video is of Addison first starting to walk! She just started this last night, so these are her first few wobbly attempts. She'd been doing one or two little steps here and there, but she just took off out of nowhere just in time for her first birthday! Please ignore my highly obnoxious voice, I did not realize how terrible I sound when I'm talking to babies...my apologies.)
We've had some sick/grumpy kids and one homesick mommy. Just as we were about to go stir crazy, Mother Nature helped us out with a snow storm. Just what the doctor ordered!
Addison was napping while the girls went out, and I didn't want to get her all ready to go out there just to get a picture of her in the snow...maybe I should have, but oh well.
But just putting on the snow hat improved her mood!
Ah...thank you Mother Nature for knowing just what we needed to have a little bit of home here with us.
I recently bought Mindy Gledhill's album off iTunes, and LOVE it. This song in particular has almost been haunting me the last couple of days. I had a realization that although I thought I was doing pretty good with all the stresses and change in our lives this past year and a half, I may have been fooling myself. Sure I'm able to still put on a smile and be happy, I have learned and grown a LOT, and my kids stay fed and clothed (even if it's their pajamas all day and eating gogurts and fruit snacks around the clock) but there are days that the stress and loneliness of living away from my family and comfort zone get the best of me.
Listening to this song helped me realize that while I'm focusing on how much I want this phase to just hurry up and be over, I am in turn hurrying my kids and the little moments in life out the door as well.
So I am setting a new goal for myself, to live in the moment, to not let time slip through my fingers without really being present. To enjoy the little things...like watching Addison take three steps in a row tonight, or Claire telling Marty to "show your bum crack at her" to win a wrestling match with Brielle (I don't know where she gets this stuff!) or taking the time to listen to Brielle's "secret present" she wants to get Marty, and looking online together while giggling that Marty has no idea what we're up to.
I REALLY suggest you take a moment and listen to this song...although if you're a mom, you may want a tissue handy. I put the lyrics below the video clip if you want to read along. I also put the brackets around {girl}, because I don't have a little boy...just little girls. :)
My favorite part of the song:
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass
Life's an Hourglass
Little boy {girl}, when you speak
I can't help but kiss your cheeks
I love the way you grab my hands
And tell me all about your plans
Rocket high, comets fly
You and I could hitch a ride
And fly away to Neverland
And give our best to Peter Pan
When you reach for the stars
Don't forget who you are
And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass
Story's read, prayer is said
Close your eyes sleepyhead
While angels linger in your dreams
And hold you in their feathered wings
Just like you, I was small
Not that long ago at all
I wish you all the happiness
That God gives freely if you ask
When you reach for the stars
Don't forget who you are
And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass
