Babies Growing

With looming first birthdays and talk of Grace going to kindy next year, things have really been hitting home lately that my babies are growing up...

Grace all of a sudden seems so much older.  As I watch her tearing about in the backyard with those long legs of hers, I often forget she's only three.  She is desperate to do everything independently - from getting dressed, to drying herself after a bath to opening doors and checking the letterbox.  I can't tell you how many times a day I hear the words, "I can do it by myself Mummy".   

Sophie... well she's desperate to copy anything and everything her big sister does.  She pulls herself up to standing at every opportunity.  You can see where I discovered her playing over the weekend in the photo above... at Grace's toy kitchen.  Over the space of just a week, she's started walking along the furniture and even been brave enough to let go a few times.  She is eager to walk (and I must admit, I'm eager for her to walk too as she is getting mighty heavy for my slight frame and I think I'm developing tendonitis in my elbow as a result of all the lifting).

It was two weeks ago however, after returning home from our holiday down south that I really felt as though my baby was gradually becoming less of a baby.  It was in Denmark that she dropped the two o'clock in the morning feed she's had every night since she was born.  And while I'd been hanging out for her to 'sleep through the night' for SO long and while I'm feeling SO much better finally getting a decent night's slumber after ten months, this milestone really is proof of my baby moving closer towards toddlerhood.  Facing that fact makes me a tad sad.

As for the feathered 'baby' we have been keeping a close eye on, she's growing bigger and bigger each day too.  It is so precious being able to watch her and the mother bird from our kitchen ever since we witnessed her hatching from her egg last week.  Even now as I sit here typing on the lounge, I can see the nest clearly with the little baby's head peering out over the top of the foliage. The photo above is of 'feeding time' (which from what I've observed is done 'beak to beak').   If you look closely, you can see the thin, fragile bones on the baby's wing which aren't yet fully feathered. Truly amazing stuff.  

Fortunately, my 'babies' are a LONG way off 'leaving the nest' and so while all this growing up saddens me slightly, I'm grateful and ever so excited about the many fun years we have ahead of us to look forward to spending with our girls... I am thankful every day for being blessed enough to be their Mama...