These are the Days.

As Ellie's been growing, I've been thinking that every new age is the best, most fun age yet.  Per usual, here I am singing the same tune at almost sixteen months.  It seems like time has flown by since I became a mama.  My sister and I were just talking about how different so many things in my life are from the time Ellie was born.  With each new age comes new challenges and new things to enjoy.  These days, somewhat predictable sleeping times balance out the occasional daily temper tantrum.  Hour long snuggle sessions holding a sleeping six pound baby in my arms have long been replaced by tiny toddler hugs + kisses.  Spit-up stains turned into smeared bananas and mac + cheese.  There are many less dirty diapers and hours up in the middle of the night.  Many more "please don't do that"'s and fights to put on a clean diaper... or just about anything. ;)



Ellie picks up on everything we do these days and it's easy to forget that I have to act how I want her to act.  I'm no longer just a baby-holding milk machine (or so it definitely felt like at the time).  I kiss boo-boos and teach her where her belly is.  I'm a cheerleader, playmate and best friend to my little girl - and she is certainly my bestie, too.  We share secrets, smiles and an infinite love for our kitty cats - or "ki ki ki ki ki", as Ellie refers to them when she's not calling everyone and their mother "mama".  We stand in front of the fridge together and I pull out different things until I get a smile and reach instead of a shaking her head no and "what are you thinking even asking if I wanted that?" look at lunchtime.  She loves to dance and has some really strong opinions about her footwear - glittery gold flats tend to win the shoe battle these days.  Ellie does her makeup in the mornings after her bath.  She sets up beauty shop on her bedroom floor and I try not to cringe as she not-so-carefully applies her favorite shade of hot pink lipstick.  She wants to do what I'm doing, and as much as I could sometimes use a second to go to the bathroom alone, I have to admit that it feels pretty good to be wanted like that.  These days, I give Ellie affection and she gives it right back.  I don't think that's something you could possibly imagine how amazing it feels until you experience it for yourself with your own babies.



With each day comes new things to look forward to.  It seems like Ellie learns new things all the time and it makes my eyes want to explode with all the hearts in the world watching her.  It isn't all rainbows and sunshine, of course.  She has a tendency to push my buttons worse than her daddy does (didn't even know that one was possible) and not-so-occasionally slap me across the face when she gets upset.  There have always been challenges as Ellie has grown - namely the whole lack of sleep and worrying about every single thing possible related to our baby girl kind of things.  While sleep certainly has gotten better, I still find myself creeping on the baby monitor or tip-toeing into her room at 1 a.m. to cover her back up with the blanket that she kicked off.  And worrying?  I am 200% sure that worrying about your babies never goes away.  The difference is that I am not so concerned she's getting enough to eat these days, but more so concerned she's going to fall and break a limb when I leave the living room for thirty seconds and come back to find her jumping on the back of the couch.  Buttons have been pushed all along this journey so far, the difference now is that she knows what she's doing when she's pushing them most of the time... and that is a completely other how do we even know how to properly discipline our child story. ;)

It's definitely a constant struggle between "please don't grow up" and "I can't wait until we get to do this or that together" moments.  Being Ellie's mom has been more fun and more work than I could have ever imagined.  A child's milestones are a parent's victory too and it's been such an amazing ride seeing all that we've experienced and accomplished so far.  I can't wait to see what's in store for my little girlfriend + I, but am trying to soak up all of this (almost) sixteen month cuteness while it's here - these are certainly the days!