Reflections

I can’t believe how much time flies! I look at Colton now and I just can’t believe how much he has grown and changed over the past 3 months. Our niece Kaylee turned one this past week and it seems like just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms at the hospital wishing that I could one day be holding my own baby… Little did I know that my wish would come true almost exactly 9 months later! I have dreamed about being a mommy since I was a little girl. Being the oldest sibling with 2 little brothers and having both parents working… I definitely got my fair share of babysitting duties. It was so exciting watching my two brothers grow up, taking care of them, and showing them the ropes. I loved them so much that I always wanted to be the best role model that I could be. At a very young age my parents recognized that we were all blessed with natural athletic ability. Looking back I can’t believe how difficult it must have been carting 3 kids around to all of our sport practices! Not to mention all of the school functions, slumber parties, etc… and I never once heard them complain. I remember when my Dad would get home from work we would all run to the door and yell “Yay! Daddy’s home!” and even though he worked all day he would run upstairs to put his swim trunks on and say “last one in the pool is a rotten egg!” and we would all squeal in delight that he was home to play with us. He was so supportive of us and I could see his eyes light up whenever we walked into the room. My mom worked… a lot to say the least. Some nights I couldn’t go to sleep until I heard the pitter patter of her high heels walking through the door, but even though she worked countless hours… she would still stay up to all hours of the night helping us finish our school projects that we were scrambling to finish. I look back often and reflect on all of the fun memories that we all shared and what an amazing family that I have. Now that I am a mom and I have a family of my own it has really become apparent as to how great my parents were/are. In an effort to emulate some of their teachings, I asked myself what was their secret recipe for creating such a tight nucleus in our family? And one thing stands out very clear to me after all these years and it really is quite simple. My parents were never too tired to be parents. I wanted to write this in my blog as a reminder to myself to always stay cognitive of this simple little ingredient. Garrett and I are so fortunate to both have such wonderful families and it has been so much fun watching the family trees grow new branches and leaves. All these reflective thoughts stemmed after I received a birthday invitation for Miss Kaylee’s one year birthday bash. The invitation had a collage of pictures of Kaylee throughout the 12 months and I got choked up to see how fast she has grown and that she is walking now! As much as I want Colton to stay this age forever… I am so excited for all of the fun years to come. J