Slow down, mommies…

I wrote this on BabyCenter.com, and thought I should share it here.

Why is it that everyone is in such a rush for their little ones to get bigger?  To be more mature for their age?  To be ready for something they just aren’t ready to do yet?

I see so many moms pushing to get their babies to sleep through the night, to take more formula, to hold their heads up.  Bumbo chairs, and self-soothing, cooing and crawling.  They are anxiously awaiting those ‘milestones’, instead of sitting back an enjoying every moment they have with their tiny treasure.  Don’t you see that those milestones the baby is reaching are just markers on the path to growing up?  Each one we get to means another stage of littleness and babyhood is left behind?

In a few short months, every single one of us is going to be looking back at pictures and baby clothes, remarking how we wish they were still so little, how we miss our newborn love.  These new-baby months go by SO quickly.  Yes, you are exhausted, and yes, it is hard… but remind yourself that each red-eyed, sleepy moment with that lovely baby is the only time you’ll EVER have that moment.  You don’t get moments back.  Cherish them. 

Don’t try to make our kids grow up quicker.  We can’t ever make them grow up slower, no matter how hard we try.