A New Stage of Life

If you are wondering why this photo shows me pregnant, I'm not. I just wanted to make that clear before I got into the rest of my blog post. The photo was taken almost five years ago when I was pregnant with our oldest daughter. Can you believe how little my oldest was? In five years, he is now almost as tall as me!

Anyway, our family has entered a new stage of life. Well, I guess it is not really new, but a big change. Okay, not big, but it seems big. Well, not big, but different.

You know how life has different stages. There is the stage when you are newlyweds and have no kids. Then, there is the brand new parent stage. Oh, and later, all the kids are grown and you are in the grandparent stage. (I think my parents are having a lot of fun in this stage!) Well, this week, we made a big step in our stages of life. We took our baby crib down....And we are never putting it up again.

I know for some of you this may not be a huge change, but to me it was. To me, this means my baby has now grown into a little girl. To me, this means that there will be no more late night feedings for babies. To me, this is a huge change in my stages of life. I knew this day would come someday, but I guess it just hit me this week.

When our oldest was little, other parents would come up to me and say, "Enjoy him while he is little. It doesn't last long." Being a first time parent, I enjoyed him, but looking back I think I could have enjoyed him more. When we had our fourth child, we knew we were done having kids. We knew she would be our very last baby. We have enjoyed every minute with her. She has been our little baby, but she is now a little girl.

Over time, we have given away all the other baby stuff:

• All the baby boy clothes left our house the day after we found out we were having a girl.
• Later, all the baby toys were sold at a yard sale, or given to charity.
• The baby swing and high chair were given to a friend last year for her baby.
• As my daughter has outgrown them, the baby girl clothes have all gone to my sister-in-law for her daughter. 

The crib is the last to go. I know it doesn't sound like a huge change. But, it seems like a huge change. A big girl bed is a big thing when you are two. (And, when you are a mom and your baby is growing up.) I'm sad this week, and it is going to take some getting used to. I guess I just get to look forward to the grandparent stage in the future! Oh, and holding other peoples babies.

I thought I would posts some photos of the girls in the crib when they were little. 

This is my 4 year old when she was little. Check out the curly hair on top of her head!

This is my baby, when she was only a few months old. I loved the crib bedding!

And last, this photo of my two-year-old was taken just last month. She was sleeping so peacefully. I'm glad I

got this photo.