Going....going....

Last week Cora climbed out of her crib. She has been climbing into the crib from her chair for a few weeks, but had never tried to climb out until last week. She, of course, fell, but luckily for us we didn't have any Arden-repeats and no arms were broken (phew!). As soon as Cora stopped crying, Preston informed me he was going upstairs to convert Cora's crib into a toddler bed.

I knew it was time. Corbie turns two (TWO!) next week, so she really should be in a toddler bed. But as I sat holding her in my lap while Preston was dismantling the crib, I got a horrible feeling in my stomach as I suddenly realized:

My time as a mom-of-babies is essentially over. Gone.

Corbie is not a baby anymore. I am not quite sure how this happened. I have (of course) been watching her grow every day and knew that she would not be a baby for much longer. But now all at once I look at her and she is already a big girl. How did I not notice that she had crossed over from baby to full-fledged big girl? She speaks in complete sentences. She runs and jumps and tries to ride a tricycle. She wants to sit on the potty (I wish this would rub off on Dax). She begs me to let her walk when we go shopping. And now...she sleeps in a big girl bed.

Here she is just after waking up from her nap yesterday:

I am doing my best not to feel too bad that these wonderful, exhausting, magical baby days are coming to an end. These last five years have been the best years of my life. I really am excited to watch my three beautiful children continue to grow and learn, and I am looking forward to doing new things and going new places with them as they get older. And, it is oh sooo nice to be able to (at least occasionally) sleep all night uninterrupted.

But I am really going to miss that baby smell and those baby snuggles and slobbery kisses!