Are you sure it's been 10 months?

There is no way that 10 months have flown by this quickly. At this time last year, I had just started painting your pink walls and measuring the space between each green polka-dot. We set up your crib and made sure everything was perfect for when you would come into our world. I had finally begun to feel like I was past the "I love being pregnant" stage, and I was so ready for you to actually be here. Time was moving very slowly. I really thought your day would never come, and my ribs could take no more of your already strong legs:). I'm not quite in such a hurry anymore, but time has decided to move fast on its own. I really want to push pause, or even go back to when you were brand new. You are like a real little person now, pulling up on everything with those same strong legs and knowing you are the queen in any scene. Sometimes when I try to reach out and grab a memory from just a few months ago, I can't. I am just trying to drink in each second of your smiles, faces, new words and sounds, watching you play, and helping you take steps. Your favorites right now are: falling asleep in your swing, mac and cheese, dancing to music, shaking your head no, mocking other babies when they cry or other people when they cough, looking at books, your little guitar, playing with things you aren't supposed to play with, chewing on your shoes, and your bathtime duckies. Your least right now favorites are: when mama asks you to sign for "more" when I am feeding you (you just pretend like you are too tired and then rub your eyes until I give you more anyway), baby food (now a thing of the past because table food has taken the place of Gerber), and the rocking horse you got for Christmas because it is just scary to you. Sometimes I look at you and wonder how I got so lucky. Who am I to have been blessed with something so wonderful as you? One of my favorites is in the quiet of the night when I go into your room to move you from your swing to your crib. You lay your little head in the crook of my neck, I pray my mommy prayers over your life. I pray that the kingdom of heaven will rain down in your little life. Thank you, Jesus, for my little bug...she is wonderful.

Look at this face...

Look at this face, so innocent and sweet. Nothing could ever make me feel any different, except maybe the recent events of last Wednesday morning...

It hit me suddenly, like the rush of a forgotten memory finding its way to the forefront of my mind. It was a "something is not right" feeling weighing on my shoulders or, as some would call it, a mother's instinct. I curiously and quietly approached her bedroom door hoping to determine the reason for my suspicion. As a drew closer, the smell immediately reached my nose and it confirmed there had been some foul play on the other side of that sparkling "G". In a small panic I swung the door open to survey the damage; and I saw it everywhere. Her sheets, stuffed animals, pink pajamas, face, hands, and even her crib were all alibis to the morning's events and they had the brown stains to prove it.

The culprit was a guilty little girl with a quivering lower lip. The accomplice was a day old, poopy diaper whose remnants were now smeared all over my precious bundle of joy. Unbeknowst to me, the used diaper had been stuffed by an innocent bystander into the top of a very full Diaper Genie in the corner of the room. Coincidentally enough, it was just within arms reach of a determined, chubby hand reaching through the rails of her crib. Once the diaper had been spotted, it was already too late. I have never seen a face look so guilty as her's did that morning. Those blue eyes full of worry told the story of exactly how the stinky situation had transpired.

It took me almost a half a day to get the smell out of my nose and lots of soap and bleach to clean up the aftermath, but nothing will ever erase the memory of that morning from my Mommy Rolodex.