Holy Crap...My Kids are Almost 5!!!

Taken just a couple weeks ago.

I know, I know kids get older, time goes by soooooo fast. But seriously, MY kids are getting older and MY time is going by soooooo fast! This Saturday the girls will be five. Like just months away from kindergarten, losing teeth, dating, driving, graduating. I may be getting a little bit carried away but for some reason I kinda always pictured a perpetual state of "little kidness." Scientific term, no joke. I knew they wouldn't be babies forever (AND THANK GOD FOR THAT!!!!) but I never really imagined the part where they turned into independent, self-sufficient five year olds. As everyone says, they truly do grow up so fast.

I did just get back from a vacation sans children, which has been known to cause post trip infatuation. For example, Ava spilled her milk, not once, but TWICE at dinner the night I got home and I laughed both times. Laughed. Any mom will agree that one spilled milk is annoying, but tolerable, though two spilled milks at one sitting, no less, is enough to drive you insane. Having said that and assessing the weight of post trip infatuation, in the last week I have fallen in love with my kids all over again. And the beautiful thing is that this keeps happening.
 

Ava's first photo. 3/22/09

Sophie's first photo. 3/22/09

I remember wandering through Target pushing my double stroller with babies that could barely hold their own heads. Random passerby's would say things like, "it gets so much better." I didn't believe them because in that moment it was as good as I thought it could possibly get. I was already in heaven. You know what though, they were right. Each year gets SO much better. I fall more and more in love with my girls and I can honestly say that the last five years have been the best five of my life. I'll draw this to an end before I get too sappy, just one final thought. If each year thus far has been so much better than the last, and history is the best predictor of the future, I expect that I have many more fabulous years ahead. I am so incredibly lucky to have my little girls and cannot wait to see what our future together holds. 

What a difference five years can make (Ava, L, Sophie, R.)