When did my babies get so big?!

[GreenPartyVoter]

I swear I just brought them home from the hospital a few months ago! *lol*

[Left Is Write]

1. I know the feeling.

I just made a scrapbook for my mother for her birthday, and I included pictures of all three kids as babies. It really doesn't seem possible that they've grown so fast (one will be 18 next month; the other two are 5½ and 3½).

How old are your kids? They sure are cute.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Ian is 7 and Brandon is 5 and did you really say

that your kids are 18, 5, and 3? :) How'd that gap happen?

[Left Is Write]

5. The gap happened because...

I didn't meet my husband until my daughter was ten. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. That would do it. :^) I knew someone else who had a gap. She had

2 older boys, and when she was taking her oldest one to college she had her daughter strapped on in a Snuggli. She was a menopause baby. :)

[Bok_Tukalo]

2. While you weren't looking

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Yeah, I spend a lot of time not looking, too :^( Which is why

when I put them to bed I realize how much time I wasted during the day not playing with them, and wind up snuggling and tickling and playing until later than they ought to be up. *lol*

[lildreamer316]

7. How absolutely adorable!

They are precious!Good luck
--signed, the mother of and 18 month old little boy.....

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Thank you. I miss them being toddlers.. That was a fun age. *g*

[tjwmason]

9. What gorgeous chiLdren

You must be such a proud Mummy.
:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I am indeed :^) (They are as bright and sweet as they are cute!)

[laylah]

10. What sweet babies!

My oldest turned 24 on the 8th, my "baby" 21 yesterday. *sigh* Yes, it does seem like only "yesterday", even now.

Jenn

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. My mother told me even when I brought mine home from the hospital

that when they cried she still got "that feeling" that she needed to feed them. I guess that never really goes away. :)

Congrats on seeing yours into adulthood. Some days I worry mine aren't gonna make it. *lol*

[Spacemom]

11. It goes by way too fast

My "babies" are 9 and 4 now. They seem to grow up when you're not looking. :loveya:

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. If we lived closer our kids could play together. *g* They are fun ages

I mean I miss them when they were babies and tots, but I am loving them at this age too.

Funny how that works. :)

[Theres-a]

12. They're adorable

GrovelRat

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Thank you. :^) Nice grovel rat. *l*

[Theres-a]

23. It's actually fleabert's

I'm just promoting .This is my grovelrat,squeaky.

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. My SIL had a grovel rat named Buddy. Now they just have an

extremely large cat. (No, she didn't eat Buddy.)

[dbt]

13. It's an odd, bidirectional time distortion that only happens to parents.

At the same moment, days are as long as months (think teething) and years go by like days. It was, simultaneously, 23 years and just last week that my son's butt was so small that it would fit into my hand.

BTW, if you have any gray hairs, pull one out and put it under a miscroscope. You will find one of your children's names neatly engraved upon it!

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. I have many badly disguised grey hairs, and there

is no doubt that my kids' names are on a lot of them *l*

Those first 6 months take forever with small fry. I think it's because we are awake the entire time! *lol*

[all.of.me]

14. i think it happens while you are trying to figure out

how to raise them!

i'll understand parenting with 20/20 hindsight. in the meantime, they have gotten to be 11 & 15.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. I am dreading the teen years. I like them small because

they are always with you. Teen years they don't want to be with you and thus you worry when they are off with their pals doing who knows what. (Just thinking back on the weird stuff my lil bro did as a teen. Like playing tag war games at night wearing black clothes.. and running across roads while doing it.)

[CornField]

15. You know, I use to get all melancholy about them leaving infanthood

and then toddlerhood and then childhood. The truth is, however, that teenagerhood (LOL!) is my favorite so far. I love being able to have debates on current events, visit museums and discuss art, and watching for all those "light bulb" moments on philosophical levels.

Don't get me wrong, I still love those moments when my little guy comes to cuddle in my lap when he's warm with sleep. I just don't dread the growing so much anymore. To watch them grow, inside and out, is one of the most blessed and sacred things I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Well, that's true. The light bulb moments will still be there even if

the cuddling won't be. :)

[happyphantom]

25. tell me about it

I can't believe she's starting Kindergarten next year

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. What a beauty! :^D Bran is not at all keen to go to school. He

wants to stay home with mommy. *g*

[Magrittes Pipe]

26. That'll teach you to feed them.

;)

Cute kids. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. *lol* thanks!

[hunter]

27. I used to think changing diapers, cleaning up spills, etc., was hard work.

When my kids were small, taking care of them was a 24/7 job.

Now that they are teenagers it is much more than that. If I couldn't rely on my wife, my extended family, the schools, and our community I would be stark raving insane.

I had no idea the storms I dragged my own parents through when I was a teenager. Now I'm beginning to have some idea.

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Yeah. Funny how payback always comes from the next generation. *L*

Are you parents rubbing it in at all?

[hunter]

33. Yes.

My dad doesn't say anything, he just looks at me and his grandkids and smiles, but my mom always bursts into gleeful wicked laughter and tells embarassing stories whenever I dare complain.

I'm lucky, my kids don't come home from school in very black moods and punch holes in the drywall like I used to do. My dad always made me patch the holes, sometimes over and over again until they were patched perfectly and invisibly.

By the time I moved away to college I was so good at patching drywall I got a job refurbishing student apartments, and this paid for a large part of my schooling. Thanks to my dad, I never had to take out a student loan.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Well, that is intriguing! What a wonderful full circle with the drywall.

For me, it's always been my dad who liked to watch my youngest one tear up my house and say "Hmm just like his mother". (and he is, too. Even looks just like me. *g*)

[Debbi801]

28. Very sweet. I love pictures of sleeping children...

They look so peaceful. My parents used to take pictures of us that way, too.

It is amazing how quickly they grow up.

Debbi

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. Thank you. I thought the flash would wake 'em up for sure, but

obviously not.

I love to watch my guys sleep. I even pat their faces and hold their hands. They sleep right through it. *g*

[SW FL Dem]

35. I know the feeling!

Your kids are adorable. You are right, each year goes by a little faster than the previous one.

My "little" boy just had a physical for high school sports next year. He's 5'8" and 170 pounds (solid muscle) and he's only 14.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Thanks. Ian, the top one there, is already almost up to my shoulder, so

I suspect he will be looking me in the eye before long. *l* (And he's only 7!)