My first baby turned 10

Well, that was a fast decade!

My baby girl... my first baby... just blew out ten candles on her cake. She was wearing lipgloss and earrings.😭
I've never been a super sentimental mom about milestones. When she was a baby, screaming with colic, I just wished for the phase to end. When she was bossing me around as a sassy 3-year-old, I just hoped it would pass soon. I guess since we had another baby when she was 3... and another when she was 7, it just slipped by. I was never sad about her growing up. I was happy to move on to the next stage.
This birthday feels different. I am sentimental about it because she's calling herself a "tween" and all she wanted for her birthday was to have her ears pierced. I've been blessed to have such a sweet, caring, clever and fun girl. I don't want her next phase to be the most difficult of all...
We've all heard stories about the teenage years. Heck, I feel like I was one just a few years ago. I know there will be days she hates me. I know she will slam her door and wish for the day when she can move out of my house. I know I'll wish for that phase to pass too.
I worry a lot about wishing all of these phases away. As they say, the days seem long but the years are short when it comes to motherhood. It's true. How in the world did a decade just pass since my first baby was born?
It's easy and natural to look ahead to the next phase, whether it be worrying it could be worse or hoping it is better. It's harder - much harder - to live in the moment and appreciate the phase you are in right now. I'm working on it.
That means getting on the floor and playing barbies with my 6-year-old instead of cleaning the kitchen (again). It means reading one more bedtime story to my 3-year-old before I get to have my much-needed bubble bath at the end of the day. It's easier said than done, but I know it's important. It's also important to take inventory of these times. Appreciate them, bask in them and never forget them. It's the journey, not the destination.

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