Freeze Frame

Watching our girls grow as time passes, I am constantly recalculating where I am positioned on the sliding scale of bittersweetness.  Today was a day when I repeatedly caught myself basking in the glory that is a 3-year-old who is maturing out of the terrible-insert-whatever-age-your-child-demonstrates-the-"terribles"-here.  It's funny how at one moment you can feel thankful for the enjoyment, relaxation, and release of some anxiety as your child grows...while simultaneously searching her face for evidence of the little(r) girl who was JUST in front of you.

She's three.  I'm going to be a total wreck when she leaves for college.
Don't even get me started on how quickly seven months has passed with the other one!!!

While I happily anticipate what the future holds for our children, I sadly experience images and memories rapidly become filed as "the past."  I remember coming across a piece written by a woman on the topic of age.  She compared our lives to the trunks of trees; all the rings are still inside there.  In the cases of our children, I think I much prefer to think of the past as just that--that which is still in there.

It's like there's a new roll on those arms every week!

Thankfully, I can still see our baby's face in there :)

We can always hold onto the fact that some things will never change.  Like her love for ice cream.  And that's a good thing.