I’ve started a new job that has me working slightly different hours, so the kids get home before I do.

Sometimes,  I forget how big my kids are now. I looked at Raegan during dinner tonight, and I didn’t see a baby – I saw a little girl. My breath was taken from me for a minute as I saw her with her hair getting longer, and her face thinning out, and two years just flashed by me in an instant looking at her.

Raegan, just before her first birthday

And then I looked at Ella, who was giggling and eating her dinner, and when she caught me looking at her said, “Hi, Mama!” Gone are her chubby cheeks, yet her infectious smile remains.

Ella, after turning one

One of the things the girls love is music. They love to sing songs, and have their favourites. Ella demands that we sing happy birthday now. Nothing shows me how fast they’re growing up as much as listening to them sing along to every word to all the songs I sing them.

Tonight, as I was cuddling Raegan and getting ready to say goodnight, I sang them the song I made up for Braeden when he was a baby, and Raegan sang along with me, cheek resting on my shoulder, and it was such a special moment, such a sweet reminder of how my babies aren’t really babies anymore, but will always be to their mama.