First Steps

It's been about 6 weeks since Emma Kate started walking while holding onto something.

She loves her shopping cart. (So does baby.)

Yesterday, March 20, at about 5:45 pm my baby girl took her first steps unassisted, right in front of me sitting on the floor! Daddy, Uncle Scott, and Aunt Shawna were witnesses to this exciting milestone.

Let me tell you, I am not typically a weepy person...I didn't cry at my wedding, when Dominic started Kindergarten, or when Connor started Pre-School.

I didn't cry when Dominic or Connor started to walk.

Yesterday...I cried.

I don't mean teary-eyed. I CRIED.

I know I don't need to justify why I cried over this, but it DID catch me by surprise, so I started thinking about it...

One. I was the proudest momma ever at that moment.

Two. My last baby took her first steps. I will never experience that moment ever again.

I am 100% confident in our decision to not have anymore children. That being said...I cherish these young years with the kids so much. I loved being pregnant...ok for the most part. I loved the newborn stages, though difficult they definitely were! And I LOVE experiencing all of these "firsts" with the kids.

I find that in this past year (and it continues) as I watch Emma Kate, whether she is sleeping, playing, eating...whatever...I close my eyes and try to embed that image in my mind forever. I find that I am trying to grasp hold onto time and stop it. I don't ever want to forget these moments and the time goes so quickly.

For so long I had wondered what my purpose is in life, what I want to "be when I grow up." If I can love the Lord, be a good wife, and love these kids with my whole heart and soul...nothing else matters. Nothing else in this world...

Everything else goes away when I see those first steps.

Or when Connor looks at me and says, "You are the best Mom in the whole world!"

Or when Dominic comes downstairs in his Track Suit with that look of pride that says, "I would never admit this outloud, but I feel like I am changing and I am proud of who I am becoming."

If those kids grow up knowing nothing else, I pray that they know their mother's endless love for them.

Congratulations Emma Kate. Mommy is so, so proud.