By: Anneliese Lawton
There’s a first and a last time for everything when it comes to parenting.
Like the first time you hold your tiny baby across your chest and the last time you pick up your entire world and place them back down. There’s a first and the last time they’ll call you “mama” and “mommy” before you become their “mom.”
A first and last time you’ll rock them to sleep. A first and last time you’ll shovel food into their mouth while mimicking an airplane. And a first and last time you’ll wave them off on the first day of school.
You’ll change their first and last diaper. You’ll give them their first and last bubble bath. You’ll sneak out of their bedroom after placing them in their crib for the first and last time. Not knowing when that last time is just about to sneak up on you.
Parenting is all about the firsts and the lasts.
It’s about anticipating their firsts – first steps, first words, first giggle, and first tooth while building them up to succeed in our world, all while needing us a little less.
It’s about eventually getting them to their lasts as much as that means we have to let them go. Getting them out of those diapers. Getting them off college. Getting them to walk on their own two feet confident and strong.
My first baby is four – already.
And over the last four years, we’ve celebrated some pretty incredible firsts, but as his chubby baby face turns into the face of a little boy, as his words get clear and his personality booms, I’m learning we’ve had some of our lasts.
The last chest snuggle, the last kitchen sink bubble bath, and the last time he crawled up to my feet, pulling at my pants to be held.
We’re starting to get to some of those lasts that close the chapter on my first baby’s babyhood, bring us to the other side of toddlerhood and into the years of childhood – and I know there are so many incredible firsts to come.
There are many incredible firsts that we still get to celebrate. But, friends, the precious lasts of babyhood come out of nowhere.
They sneak up on you and sometimes without even knowing it… you’ve had a last. So, hold that baby a little bit longer, pick them up – lift with your legs – and hold them oh-so-tight, don’t let anyone tell you they’re too big or too old to climb onto your lap. Because just like there’s a first thing for everything, one day, there will also be a last.
Want to contribute? We want to share YOUR funny, honest experiences with motherhood, pregnancy, birth, parenting, fertility, pain, joy- no subject is too big or too small.