this moment...

You know those moments where you sit, amazed and overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the blessings you've been given? Yeah. I've had many of those since becoming a mommy a little over 14 months ago, but they've really been hitting me hard lately as I watch Jaqs learn something new just about every day. I {obviously} know that she's not the first toddler to draw with sidewalk chalk or spout off new words that I didn't even know she knew or work intently to put on her shoes, but she is the first toddler I've watched do these things through the eyes of a mother. The unbiased eyes of a mother, of course ;)

I'm so thankful for this girl and all of her little quirks and unique traits, and I'm also thankful that God has been pointing them out to me even more so lately as if to say, "soak this up, it'll be gone sooner than you know." Because that's the thing about kids...they just keep changing, growing, evolving. I want to absorb every aspect of Jaqs' little being right now...in THIS moment and never forget it.

I never want to forget the way she gives us the biggest, cheesiest grins I could ever imagine, the way she says "bore" after anything we do she likes or thinks is funny, or the way she grunts and groans like an 80 year old man when doing things like climbing on the bed or putting a lid on something; the way she crams so much food in her mouth she can't even chew. I never want to forget that she puts the phone behind her head to "talk", the way she says "HI DAD!" every time he walks in the door, or the way she says "MMMM!!" every time she tries to feed me something of hers she doesn't want.

Every age has been my favorite so far, but this 14 month old is really rocking my world right now and might actually be my favorite ;) She's my pride, my joy, my constant sunshine. We delight in her like we never knew possible, and look forward to all the fun ahead!

Love you to the moon, Peas!