No more baby in the house.

When Tyler turned six I saw it as a transition towards him becoming a big boy. Time to encourage his independence and think through my instincts. As a mom it's my instinct to protect and shelter, and it's time to fight that. It's time to push him towards Daddy and the adventure of boyhood even more. It is something I need to read more about (sorry mom, I know you hate when I read too much parenting advice!) and understand. Especially since he's surrounded by girls all day! Girls. That brings me to the purpose of the post....my girls. We had some friends over last week to enjoy a whole weekend of basketball and fellowship. All of us, big Ohio State fans, I decided to pull out the kids' Ohio State gear. Tyler has a sweatshirt, Grace has a pink jersey shirt that still fits, and Esther has grown into Grace's old cheer leading outfit. So I assembled them (coughing and all) and caught a pic. Just as it does every day, it hit me that Esther is no longer a baby. She's a toddler. She's amazing and in some ways it seems she's always been here. I wonder at how I ever allowed myself so much agony over the decision to have her. They will always be my babies... and I will always love them more than they will ever know, but there certainly, is no longer a baby in the house.