Time: Friend or Foe?

Time is wonderful and terrible - there's simply no two ways about it.

When you're trying to conceive or are pregnant, time can be simply interminable.  It drags on to the point where you feel you're about to burst.

Time with children goes by in the blink of an eye.

It honestly seems unfair that time reacts this way.

My beautiful girls are growing every single day and fill me with so much love and happiness (and exasperation and frustration).

Katie:
Is giving us a wonderful preview of what the teenage years will look like - minus the hormones.  She definitely has a mind of her own and is too smart for her own good.  She can say things that will make you giggle ("Those aren't dwarves, they're childrens") and make you ache ("You are making my heart break!")  It's still too early to say how much of what she says that she actually understands, but I'm starting to get the feeling that she definitely has bipolar tenancies and needs to be checked out.  But when?  When is it not "a typical four year old" and becomes a "mental health issue?"  I don't want to medicate a four year old (or 5, 6, 7, etc)  She's a wonderfully caring older sister who loves playing with her baby sister and doing things for her.  Her heart is so large and so all-encompassing that there are days I wish I could be more like her.  She can spell her own name and many other words, she can write her own name, she can count upwards of 100 and she has so many other wonderful skills.  In the fall, she'll start Pre-K which is five days a week - half day.  She's so darn excited for it, but my baby is growing up.

Hope:
Is no longer my baby.  She's getting so big.  First of all, she's mobile - and fast.  She can crawl faster than I can get anywhere and she's ready to stand.  She pulls herself up on everything.  She also is the best blower of "raspberries" that I've ever seen; you know mealtime is over when you become splattered in whatever color you were feeding her.  In addition, she's learned how to clap and how to wave "bye-bye."  Every day she learns something new that makes her a bigger and smarter girl...my baby is growing up.

So, in short...my babies are both growing up.  I've tried really hard to enjoy the summer with them.  It's been exasperating, exhausting, and totally awesome.  Two more weeks remain, and I hope to have more wonderful experiences with my buddies.