No Babies

I feel like, in a blink, I went from having three babies to having no babies.

To say I had three babies, isn't entirely fair because I didn't have three babies -- I had two babies, legitimate babies, and then a two-year-old who, herself was surrounded by babies, and so a very normal, clingy toddler.  There were many times throughout the year that all three children needed something from me at the exact same time, and it felt like I had three babies.

Now... I look at the pictures I took on the day of the Super Bowl... and these are not babies.

First of all, Tracey is so grown up now -- I don't even feel like she is a toddler any more the way she has developed just in the past month.  Her language has exploded, her pretend play has blossomed, and my three children -- because they are in fact children, and not babies, play together well for minutes on end without need of my intervention.  Secondly, although both my twins are not officially "toddling" they are both toddlers.  They are playing independently, they are exhibiting less and less baby behaviors, and more and more toddler behaviors (cue stress of a different kind).

The one picture in particular that just amazes me is this one below where Howard is squirming away, but look at Caroline and Tracey.  Tracey's arm is around her sister, and Caroline is holding Tracey's hand and they're both looking at me and smiling for the camera -- those are two children, not babies.  That is a picture of these two sisters that I am going to take for the rest of my life -- two girls with their arms around each other looking and me and (hopefully) smiling.

I cannot say this past year has flown by... because it really hasn't, but I will say, I love watching my children grown as individuals, grow as siblings, and develop into the children, and people the Lord has created them to be.