My heart catches in my throat just about every time I look at Otter these days.  She is two weeks away from turning two!!  Even more amazing, big brother NIght Owl is turning six a couple of days before her birthday, Charger just turned four, and Puma is marching along to her ninth birthday.  She has already started counting down until her 16th birthday so she can drive.

S.T.O.P. growing!!!!  Please.

I think it is hitting me harder, because just about now would be the time I would be pregnant if we were still growing our family.  I am still processing the idea that I will never be pregnant again; I will never be a part of that miracle of creation.  It’s a big one for me because it was an amazing experience – the pregnancy, the movements, the births…the babies.

And yet, I am thrilled to see them grow.  We are out of the baby phase – we have four children now.  They are all learning, growing, exploring new skills and new vocabulary.  I am watching Puma’s writing take off and seeing her internalize and use her math skills in all kinds of applications; Night Owl is really learning to read; Charger is so excited to be doing school this year; and Otter – she just loves life.

Her new favorite thing is stacking things up and jumping off.  May God have mercy on us and send us his Angels to help us.  Really.  I want to protect her and yet I know she has to figure out this hard surface thing on her own.  I hope and pray she doesn’t break anything, and in the meantime, I try to sneak in a pillow here and there to break the fall.  We encourage her to stack things with us so that we do them on the tumbling mats and there is some supervision and protection while she explores her boundaries.

I treasure our nights when we are back to just our snuggly children, and I can still cradle them like when they were my babies.  We can finally say we almost have a bedtime routine.  We take our Juice Plus+ and fish oils, everyone brushes their teeth, and then we read out loud before the kiddos pick out “the movie”.  Lately, we barely even make it to the movie – you guessed it…Night Owl is the only one who is still awake.  Yeah for less screen time for most of them.

I have noticed that I don’t sing to the children as much as I used to sing to Puma when she was a baby.  I am trying to be mindful to do more singing.  Can you help me out?  What are some of your favorite lullabies or night songs?