04/20/2025
No one warns you about how emotional it is to watch your first baby grow up.
Everyone talks about the last baby.
How fast they grow.
How hard it is to say goodbye to the baby years.
But no one prepares you for what it feels like to watch your firstborn outgrow them.
No one talks about how bittersweet it is to watch the one who made you a mama slowly become the “big kid.”
The one who used to fit in the crook of your arm is now walking around and wanting to help with their siblings.
The one who used to babble nonsense is now asking big questions about life.
The one who used to run to you with scraped knees is now trying to be brave all on their own.
It sneaks up on you—
How their baby cheeks start to disappear.
How their shoes look too big to be theirs.
How their little voice becomes more sure.
How one day, you realize… the baby you rocked at 2 a.m. is now the child who falls asleep on their own.
And it wrecks you a little.
Because you realize you were so busy learning how to be a mom—how to do everything right, how to keep up, how to care for everyone—that you didn’t notice time quietly stealing those tiny moments away.
And now you’d give anything to go back.
To that first baby giggle.
That first “mama.”
That first time they reached up for you without hesitation.
Everyone says the last baby grows up the fastest.
But when you look at your last… and then you look at your first…
You realize just how much time has passed.
And that’s what breaks your heart wide open.
So this is your reminder—
Don’t just soak in the last.
Soak in the first, too.
Because they’re growing up right in front of you.