My little baby girl turns 18 this weekend. Yes, 18!
I can't quite get my head around it. This year she will be heading off to college, waving goodbye to us and hopefully returning to fill her bags with some home cooked food and my washing machine with stinking clothes.
I wanted to write this because mostly my followers and readers are either pregnant or have small children and I wanted to remind you of how fast time goes.
It seems like only yesterday that my baby girl took her first steps, said her first words 'Wazzza' and 'Bob' and of course 'Mama'. Her first day at school seems like a small few years ago; she went from that to kissing her Mum 'before' she got to the school gate in case anybody seen her, to being mortified if I turned up in my horrible Mummy raincoat. Then came the first disco where she and her friends headed out in practically identical outfits as 14-year-olds do!
Now it feels like I blinked and although I still see that same girl, the new baby with the gorgeous eyelashes, the one-year-old who took her first steps in my Mums kitchen, the gorgeous Wanda Warm in her primary school play; I also see this incredible young woman. A young woman who I will probably have a glass of champagne at the weekend with!
A young woman who, this year I will wave goodbye to and wonder did I do it right? Did I adequately prepare her for the real world? Will she live on takeaway food? Will she still call me every day? How will I sleep not knowing she's tucked up in her bed? Yes, of course, I want to scoop her up in my arms and keep her here forever but I can't, can I? I have to let her go, and even be excited for her. I am, excited for her but it is tainted with a great big lump in my throat!
So love and savour every single minute of your beautiful babies, the night feeds, those first steps, those first words, your preschoolers, their first days at school and even their first disco because time goes fast and they will be 18 in the blink of an eye!
Happy Birthday Beth x
