Long Days. Short Years

A wise woman passed on these words to me a few days ago.  She was marveling at how she could not believe that Mikayla was going to be one.  She has told me plenty of times that these years, when your kids are really little, fly by.  Though some days seem so long you are sure they will never end, they inevitably do.  Long days. Short years. Those two sentences could not be more true.  This past year with Mikayla, we have definitely had our fair (sometimes a little unfair share) of very very long days.  We battled, we were persistent, and we made it.  Of course we did, I never doubted that we wouldn’t make it.  However, what I never expected to happen was to have the year, in itself, fly by faster then the speed of light. 

I have memories of life before Mikayla, but I have forgotten what it feels like to love just one child.  She has made me question my role as a mother and my theories on raising babies more times that I can count.  She has given me permanent dark circles under my eyes.  She has made me sag in a few more places then I was sagging before.  I wouldn’t hand back any of those gifts.  She also has made me so much stronger then I ever thought I needed to be.  I’ve had to pull myself up by my bootstraps, exhausted both mentally and physically, and continued on. I had to look harder, ignore disbelievers, and fight for her to feel better.  As a family of four we did it.  We survived and thrived during Mikayla’s first year.  We have many more hurdles to jump, and mountains to climb, as any family does, but arm in arm we will be ok and we will make it.

Today we will blow up a bunch of balloons, cut some cake, and open a few presents to celebrate the end of Mikayla’s first year, but more importantly the beginning of the next year.  She will change this year from a baby who crawls on all fours, to a toddlin’ talkin’ machine, over the next.  A fun ride, I am sure.  I cannot wait to see how it goes :)