We're not babies anymore, Eight Months!

The girls are eight months old!  How is that possible?! I feel like I can quite literally see them growing overnight. They are squarely kids now: no longer infants anymore, they fall far more into the spectrum of wiggly,  strong willed baby girls instead. Every day feels like ten packed into one, sometimes I have to just stop and take a moment to take all the snapshots of life and file them away for safe keeping in my memory. I know I am bound to forget the details about what their little faces look like when they feel the bathwater splash their cheeks or when they laugh hysterically when I sneeze. These past days have been a constant reminder that this time with them is so fleeting, that it really does pass in a blink of an eye. Everyone says it, and you blow it off, because you're in the trenches, the under-slept, overwhelmed, holy-shit-this-is-hard trenches... when you're in that mode it's difficult to think about how incredible and unique the infant stage really is, until suddenly you're walking around and you see a brand new fresh little squishy baby and it dawns on you that your babies aren't that little at all anymore. They are growing up, and fast.

This month I have to say has been pretty fun, the girls are playing with each other! They make each other laugh, they steal toys, they are starting to have conversations with one another, they swipe each others food from across the high chair tray even though they have the same thing on their own, they seem to be completely undisturbed when one of them (namely Summer) decides to sit on top of the other one, they sympathy cry for the other when they are truly upset, creating a fantastic symphony of screaming! And they both are so in love with Dahlia...quite possibly their favorite thing on the planet!

The days are crazy busy and I find it amazing so much fits jammed into the 12 hours they are awake. We are fine-tuned scheduled machines and, while it doesn't leave much for the spontaneous outing, it has made life infinitely more manageable and has made for some much happier girls. Jon has started taking the girls out for a father-daughter day a few times a month and I have several hours at home ALONE....silence... no babies! [To all the babe-less people out there who read this blog: this is the quite possibly the most amazing gift you could ever give someone with children: silent time, alone, in their own home. Don't just offer to watch the baby... TAKE the baby out of the house! Let them be a couch potato with a mimosa, finish a task from start to end, do anything at all they want to... alone.] Those few hours for me have felt like they've changed my outlook on the entire week. It's a much needed break from motherhood and it's amazing what that time does to refresh my attitude, leaving me longing for baby cuddles by the time they get home.

What can I say? It's been a fantastic month. Everyday is filled with challenges but it's filled with such happiness too. I'm continually reminding myself to shrug off the unimportant stuff and soak up all of joy I can from everyday. It's really a good mindset to have about life in general, but for some reason in parenthood it seems like we spend so much time just trying to get through.. so my goal for this past month has been driven by the final words in "a short guide to a happy life" by Anna Quindlen

"And he just stared out at the ocean and said, "Look at the view, young lady. Look at the view." And every day, in some little way, I try to do what he said. I try to look at the view.....Look at the view. You'll never be disappointed."  

So here I am.. the girls a month older, and I can say, I've done a better job at taking in the daily view.. capturing the still pictures with my eyes, filing them away forever, and reminding myself to just enjoy it.