Winds of change blow through parenthood...

Each of my kids is special and precious in a unique way. The oldest was the "starter baby"...
He was the one whose every day was documented in the baby book and with the camera. Things were sterilized if I even thought he might put it in his mouth. Everything was new and we lived in fear we would irreparably harm him with our ineptitude. He had to blaze each new path and it was always long before we were ready. Consequently we also "knew" it was before he was ready .

Then # 2 came along...
We realized dirt wouldn't kill him. He was much tougher than we thought. We relaxed and enjoyed the stages and committed them to memory, but not necessarily to paper. In some ways I think this one got the best of what I had to offer as a parent. I wasn't nearly as paranoid. I trusted myself more and because I didn't have the time to devote my whole day and my whole life to entertaining him, he learned to be self-reliant and flexible. These were traits our first & last born didn't have to worry about developing since indeed, the world revolved around them.

Then baby brought up the rear... She was a bonus baby that I had been told time and again I couldn't & wouldn't have. She didn't get the sterilized pacifiers like her oldest brother got - she was allowed to cry herself to sleep long before he ever did. She wasn't pushed to achieve the next thing as much as her oldest brother was. Number 2 measured his progress by what Number 1 did so he was always in a hurry on his own accord. We weren't in a hurry for her to grow up. We did things for her that she could have done (and probably should have done) for herself. We didn't correct the baby talk, we didn't mind the rocking and the carrying because we knew it was the last.

Three kids who got three different mothers. It is a testimony to God's grace that somehow they managed to grow into three different, but precious adults who are on the cusp of their own life journey. I'm so very thankful that God made up the lack in me because in spite of all my goofs, these three are just pretty doggone amazing. I'm so grateful I was privileged enough to be in on the ground floor of their lives!!