Forever 23

Little Pirate Girl. Argh! Grahams!

At one point in my pregnancy with Piercy Joye, I was filling out some patient update paperwork at my obstetrician's office when I found myself at the obligatory "Date of Birth" fill-in-the-blank, and immediately thereafter at the "Age" fill-in-the-blank.  Well guess what? If you managed to make your way through medical school I sure as shooting' hope you know how to figure out my age by way of my birthday, because as far as my pregnant brain is concerned, I'm still 23.  How hard do you think that poor receptionist laughed when she saw my obvious scratch-out?!  Whoops.

What can I say? 23 was a good year for me.  Greg and I were engaged, we both ran our first Ironman, we married, we honeymooned, we welcomed our sweet June Bugger into our lives, we travelled.  For some reason, I can't get over this age marker, and even still, when my age comes up (less often these days with baby in tow), I have to remind myself that I am still, in fact, not 23. 

With my inability to count so glaringly obvious (and not limited to miscounting by years or yards in the pool), it may come as a humongous surprise that I can regularly tell you within a half of a month the age of our darling girl.  She's skipping her way right through her ninth month, and it's terrifying to me how fast this is all happening. I cannot to tell you how or why, but the last two months have truthfully slipped through my hands.  I know I'm not the only one thinking this.  Many of my mommy friends have expressed this same emotion. Many times I will find myself rocking Sweet P on my chest long after she has fallen asleep, just so that I can feel her little self for a moment longer, as I know she'll have surely grown three feet and begun being interested in boys by morning. What is it about these recent weeks? One of my dearest friends, a mommy to three beautiful babies, reminded me lately as I was sharing with her my yearning to savor every single moment, that each of these tiny moments we have with our babies are gifts we are given.

Yes.

So while I've been savoring, relishing in, cherishing, adoring, loving the fleeting time of little-ness with Little Miss, you can be surely assured that we are thankful, especially in this season, for our many gifts.

We love you so, Sweet Piercy Joye!

Blackberry Faced Baby Girl!