Time Flies When You're Watching Too Closely

In most cases, watching the clock tick makes time appear to drag on even longer. Especially if you are somewhere you'd rather not be, right? But when it comes to watching your kid grow up, you don't realize just how quickly time is zipping by no matter how sleep deprived you may be. I've heard it told time and again, your kids are gonna grow up so fast. You're gonna blink and suddenly they'll be graduating college. And I truly believed it. So much so that there are occasions where I make myself slow down and enjoy the moment. One example is putting Caiden down to sleep at night. I realized at some point that rocking with him wasn't going to be a forever thing, and it shouldn't be something I rush thru. I wanted to cherish that time so I don't look back and wonder what was so important that I couldn't spend just an extra 5 or 10 minutes rocking with him.

But here's the thing. When you are spending so much time with someone day in and day out, you don't always notice the effect that the passage of time is having. It's like living with someone who is on a diet. You know they are losing weight, but the people who really notice are the ones who don't see them on a daily basis. As I was posting our latest little family picture last night, I mentioned to B that it had been awhile since we took a picture of the 3 of us. I browsed thru our photo archive and came across this picture from T-Giving.

And wow did it ever suddenly hit me that Caiden is growing up so fast already. And it was only 4 months ago. But for Caiden, that's 1/3 of his whole life so far. Look at him in these photos close up:

I can hardly believe how different he looks. (By the way, I can't stop giggling at the impish little grin and chubby cheeks in the photo from TGiving.) I haven't noticed it in our day to day activities. Even thru all of the photos I post here because I post many of them so close to when they were taken. But there was just something about comparing these two photos against each other that made me step back and realize just how quickly time really is passing and that he really is growing up so fast.

It makes me a little sad to have this knowledge. It was almost like I was living in my own little bubble world, oblivious to the changes taking place in front of my very eyes. Obviously I notice the milestones he's hitting and witnessing all of the neat new things he does. (Most recently, he puts his pig in the back of his little truck and takes it for a ride. A few short months ago, he insisted that nothing could be in the truck bed and would immediately empty out anything you placed there!) But the fact that he is growing up just didn't quite register with me the way it does now.

I know I can't stop time, but at least I can capture as many moments and memories as possible by taking pictures, videos, and writing about it. And more importantly, I can start living in the moment more often, because living your life isn't about where you've been or where you're going. It is where you are right this second.