It’s amazing how differently you approach parenting a third child from a first. Parenting the first is such a steep learning curve. You check the video monitor at the quietest cough. Every diaper blow-out warrants a photo text to daddy and full play-by-play recap of how you dealt with it. You hem and haw over what to get for the perfect first birthday gift… The third, you hand to a stranger in the airport security line while you collapse her Snap n’ Go and carseat. You grab the blowout baby with one arm while on the phone with a friend, hold her like a wriggling puppy in running tub water, and have her reclothed in less than five minutes. You grab a $7 stuffed animal from Target when shopping for diapers, and wrap it so she has a gift to unwrap on her 1st birthday (but there was some thought – a raccoon to go with her woodland-themed party!).
That cheesy saying, “the days are long but the years are short” has never resonated so much with me as now… This has been a heck of a year — Charlie and I agree that this was probably our most intense, nonstop year. We had our third baby, house hunted and went under contract on a new build, school shopped for CJ, wrapped up OT for him, did LO’s DocBand treatment, discovered CJ’s severe tree nut allergy and started ongoing treatments, staged and sold our old house, bought and moved into our new one, started CJ’s new school… The days were long.
Yet somehow, her first birthday came and went.
Littlest One is as chill as you’d expect, and just the sweetest and happiest little girl. She certainly knows how to go with the flow, given the hectic nature of her first year. She also seems to know how much I need, want, and cherish her cuddles. When I pick her up, she rests her head on my shoulder, nuzzles in, and gently holds onto my hair.
There is so much I could write, but my heart is so full, and I want to leave it at that. She’s just the quintessential baby — happy, smiley, babbling, crawling, and full of love. She’s the sweetest blessing we could have ever asked for. She makes our family feel complete.
And in case you’re wondering why the shots are all now outside the crib… Littlest One does NOT like being in the crib when it’s not nap or nighttime!!d
Jan 25, 2018
© Kate hollings photography