Sunday afternoon was spent doing the usual routine of wandering outside (The snow! It’s melting!) and puttering around the house. After supper we were making school lunches and I pulled Graham’s weekly newsletter out of his backpack to see what was going on. His teacher asked if we could send a baby photo to school as the kids are all going to try and guess which baby photo belongs to which kid.
I hauled out the albums that hold his baby photos and the kids and I flipped through the pages. There was a lot of oooh-ing and ahhh-ing about cute Baby Graham. He thought this one would be perfect to bring to school:
We put his albums away and headed downstairs to watch AFV (Or “the funny show” as my kids call it) which is another thing we tend to do as a family on Sunday nights.
Once the kids were in bed I went over to the bookshelves that hold all of our photo albums and started poring through the pages. I carted a few albums down to the office and scanned some of the many (MANY) photos I have taken of my children when they were but wee babies.
Baby Graham:
Look at those chubby cheeks! NOM NOM NOM.
Baby Nathan:
He’s been a heart breaker since Day One. (I also keep forgetting that his green eyes were once blue.)
Baby Emily:
Those eyes! (Also. She really WAS bald.)
As I turned the pages I found myself getting sentimental and misty. Matthew and I have talked a lot lately about how we love the stages the kids are at right now. Babies are HARD. While the emotional struggles are more frequent as the kids get older, there are also so many positives about where our kids are at. They are smart, they are funny, you can have ACTUAL CONVERSATIONS with them. While there may be moments in a day where my children frustrate me, there are many more times where they say or do something so hilarious that I cannot help but burst out laughing. My kids are pretty spectacular little people.
However. As I sit and look through the photos of my babies when they were, well, babies I cannot help but mourn a little. They were such neat little beings from the very moment they came into the world. They were also the most adorable babies that this planet has ever seen.
It sounds so unbelievably cliche, but looking through these photos hit home with me that time really does go way too fast. Before I know it my kids will be in high school, learning to drive, moving away. While I may joke about the freedom I am looking forward too when my nest is empty, the thought of that occurrence sounds so horribly sad and awful as I sit here and ponder it. I want to freeze them where they are right now; to just stay here for a while.
I may have over a decade until we watch them drive away but I know that it is going to feel like it came in an instant. Today I am feeling like I don’t know if I will ever be ready for them to go.
Aw! It seems to me, from these photos, that your childrens’ personalities came out very early. Especially in Nathan. And I agree, I think that the time is and will continue to go by WAY too fast.
You do make very beautiful babies
Mrs. Wilson’s last blog post..blah diddy blah blah
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Oh, your kids are so cute!
I have a shoutout for miss Emily too, I was also a baldy. I didn’t have any hair until I was 3.
I have 1 boy and he is almost 7! I don’t know where the time goes. I still think of him as a little guy, but soon he will be taller than me. Sadly my husband doesn’t want to have any more kids.
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Since I recently posted on this-you know that I agree-time flies by too fast. Giggles-has job training on Sat & Sun-I can’t believe she is going to be working & saving for her car!
Excuse me while I run away screaming in denial.
Domestic Extraordinaire’s last blog post..Haiku Friday: My child is too old edition
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They are so sweet! You can take comfort in the fact that you are one of those people who really revels in each precious moment you all have together.
On a slightly unrelated note, I’m planning to move my photos into a new set of more modern photo albums and I wondered if you have any recommendations? Where do you buy your albums?
Assertagirl’s last blog post..Into every life a little OCD must fall.
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I’ve been using Shutterfly for albums and prints. I have heard good things about Blurb though – I plan to try them for my next album
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I know what you mean! My daughter just turned 4 and I don’t know where the time has gone. My husband and I are now trying to decide if we want to have any more…. Your post has me thinking really hard!!!!!
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It’s truely amazing how the moments disappear. Glad to hear you’re hanging onto them so tightly.
Ashley’s last blog post..Baby’s Breast Chance
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WOW, so they all always were THAT happy! Pretty babies!
Camels & Chocolate’s last blog post..The Sole Reason I Hold Onto My Junk Account
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They were (and still are) all so cute! Emily’s eyes are like magic sapphires in those photos! Beauty.
Amanda Brown’s last blog post..Make It Nappy
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i’d recognize those babies anywhere. they haven’t changed ONE BIT! adorable then, adorable now
ali’s last blog post..weekendables
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I miss my babies too but only the cuteness…not the lack of sleep and the utter exhaustion. Time does go too quickly, way too quickly.
Kami’s last blog post..Because it’s so cold outside, cold no longer adequately describes it
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It may be a cliche, but it is SO true. It seems like just a year or two ago that our three were your kids ages, but somehow our oldest just celebrated his 18th birthday, and in about six months he will be leaving home for university. I find I am misting up on a regular basis these days, knowing that our time with five of us under the same roof is coming to an end. And I am NOT feeling prepared or ready for it.
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Time has been sprinting lately. And when I hang out with my nephew I feel it more acutely. How is he growing up so fast?! The other day he asked me how my movie was. He remembered from the night before that me and my mom were going to see a movie. It floored me.
Sizzle’s last blog post..Don’t Mind Me
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After you survive the teen years, you may not be so sad to see them drive down the driveway with their suitcase in the back.
Laurie’s last blog post..Oh What a Year!
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I’m still (mostly) in the baby phase, but just recently blogged about this, too, that time is moving WAAAAAY to fast for me, and my little baby is becoming a toddler at a much to rapid pace for me. This is a good reminder for me to slow way down whenever possible and just enjoy the moment.
Kami’s last blog post..A Sunny Sunday Morning Kitchen
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I can sure relate to this post. Both of our kids are planning to leave home in September (yes, at the same time) to attend colleges out of province. You may have to mop me up off the floor! It’s kinda freaking me out, just thinking abgout it!
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I TOTALLY get this. As my two are 12 and 9 I have thought that for a loooong time.
So, while part of me is freaking out beyond reason going ‘WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO” with this impending baby I’m having, I am so excited to have a little one again.
(Btw-these photos? Just help add to my SQUEE! level. You make some seriously cute little people, Angella)
Loralee’s last blog post..Sideblog: Eco-friendly Etsy Shop
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They’re all so cute! They do look like siblings a little more when you see them around similar ages too =)
I’m sure when the time comes, you’ll be more ready to let them fly into the world than you think now.
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Those are some precious, precious babies! It is certainly hard to think about them leaving someday, that is true. But then hopefully someday you’ll have just as gorgeous grandchildren to enjoy too! : )
Elaine’s last blog post..I Heart Faces – Messy Face
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It is certainly bittersweet, watching them grow up. Like you, I definitely prefer the stages my boys are at now, at ages 4 and almost 7. The baby stage WAS hard. But I feel a twinge of sadness when I look back at their baby pics. I did especially love the 6-9 month stage – SOOO cute!
Hannah’s last blog post..U are ?
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They all have the same adorable nose, even though Nathan looks so much more like his daddy!
OM NOM NOM is RIGHT!
Meg’s last blog post..Relief
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I can so feel this.. They grow up to fast. Bless them always (and us, too) <3
Secret Agent Mama/Mishelle’s last blog post..All That and the Kitchen Sink
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Oof. I feel exactly the same way.
Trenches of Mommyhood’s last blog post..Pepperidge Farms/Fishful Thinking
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I’m thinking Graham’s classmates will easily identify his baby picture.
witchypoo’s last blog post..Whelmed
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Beautiful babies, and what amazing photography!
Listen, before you know it, the babies they are going to bring to you to look after will be growing up.
Or so I have found it.
Mary Gilmour’s last blog post..First?
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