Saturday, June 13, 2009

Bye-Bye Baby

It's the end of an era here in our home. I no longer have a baby in the house.

Grace was born in June of 2005, and was still in diapers and sleeping in a crib when Matt was born just 20 months later. So in some form or another, I've had a baby for the past 4 years. But no more.

Now I have twin bedding for Matt, and I am getting ready to buy a twin bed to go with it. :-) (Yes, I am THAT mom--the one with a 2 1/2-year-old still in a crib. But even though his nickname is Destruct-O-Matt, he hasn't ever climbed out of his crib, so I have been enjoying the fact that I know where he is when it is nap time or bed time. :-) ) I am collecting paint swatches to repaint his room. I am planning to sell the crib at our garage sale next weekend. (Don't worry, we have another crib, so we haven't completely ruled out the possibility of a third child. ;-) ) No longer will we have a nursery in our home. This is especially sad for me because we were trying to get pregnant when we moved into the house, so we chose carpet and paint with a baby's room in mind.

And as if that weren't enough, Matt woke up yesterday and decided he was ready to use the potty! He sat on it 3 or 4 times yesterday, then several times again today--with a moderate amount of success! I even bought him "Thomas the Tank Engine" underwear at Wal-Mart today. Yes, this is GREAT news. I can't imagine being a diaper-free home! But it's also another sign that we are moving out of the baby phase.

And you know what else? I have stopped buying baby wash! At the aforementioned Wal-Mart trip, I bought plain old Suave shampoo, conditioner, and body wash for my kids. No longer will they come out of the tub with that Johnson's scent. (Of course, now they'll smell like strawberries--that's not too shabby either.)

I miss having a baby. I miss snuggling (neither of my kids are snugglers) and feeding them cereal and the little baby rompers and baby giggles and teeny toes.

But you know what? I love having a toddler and a preschooler. I love watching my kids really play together. I am thoroughly enjoying Matt's verbal development as he has moved from signing to single words to two-word combos and now full sentences. Grace's preschool jokes crac me up. Her reading amazes me. Their conversations and questions and comments touch my heart.

So bye-bye, Baby. It's been fun, but now it's time to look forward to new days and phases--to a "big boy bed" and swimming lessons, to preschool and soccer, to lots more growing for all of us. :-) And maybe, just maybe, there will be another baby phase in my future, but for tonight, I'm enjoying the end of an era.

3 comments:

Weed said...

I miss the baby stage, too, but am enjoying each new phase Rachel enters. And just like Matt, she was in her crib until just a week or so before her third birthday (and would've happily stayed there longer, but we thought we were going to need the crib for baby #2, so we moved her to a bed, but that was before the miscarriage). Hope Matt enjoys his new big boy bed as much as Rachel loves hers!

Hope said...

Hi! Oh so fun to meet another MOPS mom! I was a small group leader last year and will be a new co-coordinator for our group this upcoming year. So as I was reading your post it was like looking in the mirror. My 2 1/2 year old (umm..yup still in her crib) just this weekend is really thinking about using the potty. And I just bought her regular suave shampoo this past week. This is my third and last child. It is bittersweet to see her grow up but I do know the fun that is ahead (my oldest are 12 and 8) and I promise while it is very different it is also a lot of fun. Blessings to your family and very nice to meet you!
Always, Hope

Courtney said...

What a bittersweet time. I am trying to wrap my head around my "baby" being 3 in a couple of weeks. We are done and 3 just seems like such a big age. I said that with Taylor and had a 9 month old at the time. Time flies and brings new and exciting things. I have to admit though when planning fun activities it's nice not to have to worry about a baby and keeping up with their schedule too.