Fable takes a load off after a long day of pumpkin patching
Fable outgrew her first article of clothing this weekend. She also outgrew her newborn diapers. For a split second I was unsure as to how this could happen so fast. Then I looked up, away from Fable's no-longer-newborn-sized-vastness, into Archer's giant blinking eyes and she was tiny again.
Having a second child means you are constantly reminded that babies too soon become upright walking humans, individuals, children with minds of their own, runaway trains.
Because of Archer I know that neck muscles eventually support little heads that eventually think unique thoughts, make decisions...
...Hmmmm. Which pumpkin should I choose?
I watch both of my children through the same lovesick eyes. Back and forth from one to the other and am stricken daily by how fast everything becomes something else. How fast everyone becomes someone else. How before you can even recover from one milestone, another takes its place.
So long, newborn diapers. So long...
And it stings a little knowing that clutching a baby to one's chest is a temporary comfort. A joy that will soon be substituted with another. The feeling of little fingers, the powdery smell, the little breathing sounds different and then forgotten.
Of course every age is wonderful and there is no greater joy than watching a child become his own rock star, it's just, babies. God, do I love having a baby. A tiny little cuddling, cooing, blinking, hand-sucking baby.
Of course every age is wonderful and there is no greater joy than watching a child become his own rock star, it's just, babies. God, do I love having a baby. A tiny little cuddling, cooing, blinking, hand-sucking baby.
I don't remember Archer growing out of his newborn clothes and diapers this fast. Then again, I don't remember much of Archer's infancy. Somehow I am unable to remember Archer at any age but the one he is right now, peering out from the face of a pumpkin.
When Archer was a baby I remember thinking "God! I can't wait for him to get a little bit older... for him to talk, to walk, to sit up on his own... to grow into the cute 6 month onesie with the lobster on it... " With Fable I am perfectly happy to wait. In fact, I'd love it if she could stay bite size for at least a decade. I love that she sleeps on my chest at night. I crave her coos, her smell... I don't want her to ever NOT be a baby. I want to gaze into her eyes for hours on end even though they are still quite unable to focus properly.
It is impossible to escape cliches when talking about children, babies especially, even moreso when they have older siblings clutching invisible clocks in their quickly growing hands.
Because of Archer I know that neck muscles eventually support little heads that eventually think unique thoughts, make decisions...
...Hmmmm. Which pumpkin should I choose?I watch both of my children through the same lovesick eyes. Back and forth from one to the other and am stricken daily by how fast everything becomes something else. How fast everyone becomes someone else. How before you can even recover from one milestone, another takes its place.
So long, newborn diapers. So long...
GGC
45 comments:
Hey you were in my neighborhood and you didn't call?! What were you afraid I might nibble her delicious little toes off or something?
It feels like yesterday Eli was that tiny. Now he is 14 months old and already telling me "No mama" when I ask for a kiss. I used to think people with zillions of kids were crazy. But I get it now. It is the addiction to that phase of sweet tiny-ness that makes me think I could be one of those carzy ladies with 17 kids!
She makes me want another one *so* badly.
I feel you completely. Alex just outgrew his first outfit. Now it is a newborn one, not 0-3 months, but still. He can also, at a little over three weeks, support his own head for a good amount of time. Me, I'd be perfectly happy for him to stay bite size for a while. You put it so well.
I can barely look at my little guy's early videos without breaking into sobs. I'm lucky to have had a daughter to relive those baby days. But now that she's a toddler, what do I do? I can't imagine not having that little bundle fall asleep on my chest. Maybe a puppy...
Side note-- You better sign that baby up for modeling. Seriously. She has THE most beautiful face (sorry to my two kids)...
Awwww. I love how amped you are about your second born- I often joke that us second-borns are you know, shadows in the First Born Glory. But you make that seem crazy. Enjoy her, she (and Archer!) is beautiful.
I was just thinking this about my son. I can't believe he will be 2!! I don't want him to get any older.....
Every word, so true. Despite this, I still find myself craning my neck eagerly watching for each new development.
My tiny little thing didn't outgrow her N diapers for like 4 weeks.
what a wonderful post. I find myself waiting for my girls to grow and be able to communicate verbally with me, that I havent really taken a step back to enjoy the age that they are. Your children are beautiful.
I remember crying as I folded up all of Jacks clothes he grew out off. He's a big boy and grows fast so consequently I cry a lot.
P.S. You've inspired me to have another. Not right now but in the next 5 years. And I was pretty adamant about not having another.
P.P.S- I think Jack has a crush on Fable. He was crawling on me as I was reading this and just stopped, thats when I caught him staring at her picture, head lopped to the side all day-dreamy and cooing at her. I said "Who's that Jack?!" and he got all excited and started laughing.
He usually doesn't really care about other babies so that was pretty cool.
This is so beautiful. I am not having quite the same joyful experience with my little one. Maybe because she is my first. I absolutely love and adore her but I am so nervous about everything. I haven't even left the house with her except for doctor's visits and one attempt at a walk. The pumpkin patch looks glorious.
I think you should put Hal's awesome sunglasses on whichever pumpkin you carve and have it be the Daddy pumpkin. There's something about his bald 'do in the sea of pumpkins that amuses me somehow.
On a note related to the actual content of your post, I have literally just blinked and found that my wee babe has turned into a 7th grader who goes to football games on Friday nights and was brave enough to walk in front when I took her and a friend to a haunted house this weekend. (She laughed at all the actors' creepy makeup and said "Thanks!" when one of them got fake blood on her. Awesome.)
Too fast. It's all too fast.
De-lurking to say:
Yes. You are so right. My "baby" is only 13 months old but I feel the sands of time sifting through my fingers at an alarming rate.
See, you were right about the cliches too.
i know. it just gets more potent with each child, that realization of how fast everything goes.
You know, all those beautiful pictures that you post of Fable have made me look forward to my own little girl so much! And yeah, both my husband and I are sucking up your wisdom with big straws (that's why we bought only 2 packs of newborn diapers, btw). Keep posting!
They do grow up way too fast. Every time I see a picture of Fable - I am amazed at how much she looks like my daughter. The picture of her making the "oooh" face could be of Sasha. I swear.
Fabulous photos! Both your kids are adorable. I can't believe Fable is already growing out of her newborn diapers. Wasn't she just born yesterday?! Goodness!! I love that dress she is wearing. She really speaks to my uterus...
i love babies too. everyone asks if i will have another and i say god, i'd LOVE to have a baby but the problem is- they grow up! i would have a baby farm if i could. children growing up is such a hard thing because we celebrate every new milestone and each stage is a different adventure. but i used to actually mourn the loss of my infant. i miss my babies. i miss the little toes and squishy bodies and the way they thought i knew everything. it really is so joyous yet so very sad at the same time.
For me, babies are always something that someone else had. Thank you for sharing how you are feeling about her and your son. Because, while I will never live that experience, I will atleast know what it is like because of this post.
I enjoyed reading this post. Familiar thoughts, so perfectly written down. Thank you.
Just... I know.
I am about to post about how mine has put on FOUR POUNDS and 2.5 inches in just 6 weeks. Scary.
She's so pretty. I can't believe she is so big already though. It seems like it was forever until the newborn clothes didn't fit my son. It was probably 2 months. I remember crying when I put them away though. Now, I give away his old clothes unless it's something really special.:)
i feel the same way, looking at my three year old son and then back again at my 3 month old daughter.
It does go so quickly... in the blink of an eye.
You put it so perfectly. Wish I could write as well.
I love hearing your stories, I just had second child myself and wanted to read about your runaway older son since I hoping and praying I don't have to deal with that myself. Trouble is everytime I click on the link I get redirected to Babblebaby's Aus home page and I can't find links to your blog anywhere there and if I type in babblebaby.com directly it's not what it should be.
I feel this way all the time about my 19-month-old. He's turning into such a little BOY all of a sudden - he runs and talks and tells me know and says whole sentences now like "go see pawpaw pleeeease!" And as wonderful as it is to see the person inside my baby...I feel like I'm losing him in a way.
I cried so hard about parting with his newborn clothes that I cut them into squares and made a quilt out of them. I just couldn't let go of that adorable, soft, tiny pastel stuff.
Sigh.... She is so gorgeous. Just beautiful...
Do I ever know what you're saying. It pretty well articulates my line of thought these days.
I wish I didn't think about it so much, though. There's a certain irony involved when I worry so much about the fleeting nature of newborns that I can't fully enjoy the moments while I've got them.
oh, i cried and cried when my second one grew out of his newborn diapers. i felt (feel) the same way about wanting the second one to stay a baby. i can't believe he's seven months already!
I have a 10 month old and a 3 year old and I couldn't have said it better. Yes...
What a wonderful post and an awesome way to say it all. Thank you ;-)
I have one baby so far- but he is a tall, sturdy, curious sixteen months old and looks less like a baby and more like a boy every day. Thanks to his resemblance to his dad I even see flashes of a man in him sometimes. It's exhilarating, yet frightening. I can't imagine what it'll be like to have another and experience that same time warp, all over again.
kkjayne-- its Babble.com... Just scroll down to the bottom where there are personal blogs and click "Straight From the Bottle"... Should come up. :)
And Binky? Totally.
she has the most adorable little mouth. EVER. I can't even take it.
heart attack from too much cute, seriously.
I once wrote something like the definition of insanity is feeling bad for the clothes that get outgrown, as if they know. As if they have feelings.
It's we who have the feelings. You express them beautifully as always. And your daughter is spectacular.
As a first time father just recently I'm learning that ...what? That everything I was afraid of before having a daughter is everything I'm in love with now.
Babies are cool. very, very cool...
This is just how I'm feeling lately with my girl starting to walk and grow out of her sweet summer clothes...I have to give each piece a moment of reverence before deciding if it stays {for the next one?} or goes to the thrift store.
I feel like pausing and saying "You did your thing, dude, thanks."
To a dress. I'm saying this to a dress.
You blog has been consistently making me bawl like a baby. It also keeps me excited and all spazzed out about upcoming child #2. Three weeks and counting!
I think I bawled like a baby when my daughter outgrew her first article of clothing...
And I still do almost 5 years later.
You summed this feeling up nicely, I think we can all relate!
This is it exactly. It's so comforting to know that other moms are feeling the exact same thing!
I think you just articulated the reason I'm 28 and have 7 siblings ranging from age 30 down to 7, 5 and 3 years old (not to mention the 26, 22 and 19-year-olds in between.) I'm pretty sure my mom is addicted to the wee ones. Can you imagine having a newborn at Fable's college graduation? My parents had one at mine. Then adopted from China a few years later, then again a few years after that... :)
Good golly, though - looking at your photos is making me seriously reconsider my own future plans. The longing and the way you describe such a perfect love is just magic.
So sweet! Someday I hope to relate :) I don't think I realized how big Archer is until I looked at pictures of Fable and scrolled down to see Archer sitting on a pumpkin. Wow! You're a very lucky mommy.
Your words, compelling and perfect as usual. Are, wasted by that little corner of picture #3. that's you right. that little corner of the picture, your smile.
that's the story, right there.
Other moms get all worked up about their babies' first this or that, but for me, it's the lasts that get me, because you don't know when they're happening--one minute you're carrying the baby up the stairs a hundred times a day, then suddenly she's walking up the stairs herself. When was the last time you carried her? Who knows? Did you know when you were putting on that last newborn diaper?
Congrats on your gorgeous baby and even more on your excellent attitude. When I had a newborn and a toddler I was feeling sorry for myself all day long.
Thanks for putting that into words...I feel exactly the same way.
Picture #5 - I swear I have seen that expression somewhere before.
Oh yes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/girlsgonechild/315159836/
Beautiful post that I know so many of us parents can relate to! my 2-year-old angel is becoming so independent and smart, and now we are thinking about the next one and I can't believe how time flies!
BTW, your children are gorgeous!
Geez I just discovered you tonight and already I feel like you might be the Ghost of Past Thoughts! My baby girl is 11 weeks this week and my older baby girl is 2 1/2 so I'm right there with you in regard to holding them close for as long as possible. Even when right now I seriously am at the end of my rope with 2 year old attitudes - seriously I'm the momma!!!! But thanks I feel you ....
Echoing Shannon: You were in our 'hood and didn't call? Or did you? Yeah, I guess I can't really cast the first stone on this one (whoa, see what happens when I don't see you in a while? I paraphrase freakin' JESUS!). I do miss you horribly and am finally just catching up...with blogs, friends and, oh yeah, that third novel and stuff. :-O What's your sched? Play-date soon? PLEEEEASE!!!!! XOXO
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