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Babies Growing up and Mommies letting go ~The Last Day of Five

by Deborah Cruz

Today is the last day that my Bella will be five. It is the last time I will put her to bed and kiss her on her sweet five year old head. The last time she will look at me with her big blue eyes and ask me, “When will I be six,Mommy?” I know that babies are born to grow up. But must they do it so quickly?

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The Day before she was born in 2005, it was 70 degrees in Tennessee. Today, it was snowing in the Midwest.

 

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The waiting was maddening.I had no idea what was in for. This caption should read:Last missed opportunity for restful sleep!

Six years ago tonight, I was so anxious and excited, I could hardly sleep. A new life was on my horizon and but I  had no idea that I was about to welcome into my life the most important human that I would ever have the honor of sharing space and time with, sharing air with, sharing evolution with. I had NO idea what my baby would bring to my life. A love so deep that I can barely grasp it on most days. A fulfillment that I had searched for for the previous 32 years of my life, a void was no longer.

I had NO idea what to expect.This was the moment I was born for. This was the moment that I had waited my eternity for. But that night 6 years ago, all I could think was..did I deserve this?Was I good enough?Could I do this?Was I ready for this?What if I fucked it all up beyond recognition? What if what I wanted and what I deserved didn’t align? What if I was wrong? What if I didn’t know what the hell I was getting myself into? And I didn’t. I had no idea.

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The MOST IMPORTANT Moment of my life!

 

I remember lying in bed, on my back, listening to the stillness;staring into the darkness. Sleep was no where to be found. Only a million different thoughts, not the least of which was…I wonder what labor will feel like. This was the night before my very first baby was to be born into the world.I liked my life. I had the good fortune of marrying the best man I had ever laid my soul open for. We were happy. We had been married for 5 years and life was an open ended opportunity for us. As I laid there, trying to see our future in the darkness, I realized that no matter what happened the next day…our lives were going to be changed forever. The couple we were, would no longer be..we would be three. We would be a family.

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I'm exhausted.She is perfection wrapped in a blanket.

 

Tonight, as I put Bella to bed, I see the excitement in her eyes. The unknown. She knows that she will be six tomorrow at 4:51 PM. She has no idea what that means for her or to us. I’m pretty sure she will spend tonight the way that I spent the night before her birth day six years ago, lying in the darkness contemplating the future. Maybe not to the breadth and depth that I did, but she knows tomorrow is special. Tomorrow, she will have surpassed being that newborn that I held in my arms for the first time that moment that she made me a mother. That first baby of mine who came into the world and in that instant altered the path of mine for all time. She is no longer my precocious crawling baby or curious toddler. She has passed the  stage of being my preschooler. Tomorrow, she graduates from being my kindergartner to being my little girl. She becomes a little more like me in her thoughts and actions every day and in each of those moments she becomes more independent. Moving further away from my protective grasp and a little further into the world. And all I can do it’s let it happen.Because the most important part of parenting is knowing when to loosen the grip and allowing those perfect life changers of ours, to become the people they are meant to be in the world. This is how we repay the favor of them allowing us the gift of loving them.

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I was the most tired I'd ever been and I was also the MOST happy!

 

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

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This is what my heaven looks like!

 

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19 comments

Sarah 2011/03/10 - 10:52 pm

What a beautiful tribute to your daughter AND to what it’s like to become a Mom for the first time! I love that!

Reply
Truthful Mommy 2011/03/10 - 10:54 pm

Sarah,
Thank you.It was the biggest life changing moment thus far in my life. I don;t think anything else will ever come close. Subsequent children are, of course, momentous but there is nothing like your first time.Thanks for stopping by!

Reply
Renee Campbell 2011/03/10 - 11:43 pm

What a beautiful baby girl! My youngest baby girl (who i had in my early 30s) will be 6 on Aug 9th. My old baby girl will be 18 Sept 4. They grow up way too fast

Reply
Rebekah C 2011/03/10 - 11:43 pm

*sniffles* This made me tear up. A beautiful, moving post.

That very first birth changes your life forever, irrevocably. Absolutely precious and they grow SO fast. Unbelievable.

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Tam 2011/03/10 - 11:51 pm

Congratulations. She is beautiful. And happy 6th birthday, Bella.

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Erin 2011/03/11 - 7:22 am

So sweet! My baby will be 4 next week and it seems like yesterday that we.were bringing her home from the hospital.

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Crystal 2011/03/11 - 8:35 am

Such a sweet post. It’s amazing the things you become with your first. Even more amazing are the feeling as they continue to grow. I’m more sentimental with every passing year. Happy Birthday to your sweet Bella!

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Krysta MacGray 2011/03/11 - 11:38 am

So beautiful! I hope she has a wonderful birthday today.

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Alicia @MommyDelicious 2011/03/11 - 2:58 pm

This is absolutely beautiful. It could not have bee a more amazingly written post. I felt like I was reliving those moments with you. Happy birthday to your little girl!!! So precious.

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Jill 2011/03/11 - 5:47 pm

wow, sad and so full of joy at the same time….guess that’s what we go thru when we remember. my little man will be 2 in september. wow. i’m amazed everyday how time flies. your pictures were wonderful!! you story soooo endearing 🙂

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Mommy Nani Booboo 2011/03/11 - 9:05 pm

I remember having those “What if?” thoughts the night before giving birth too.

What a gorgeous, ugly, raw, humbling, courageous, blessed thing we do as mothers.
Happy birthday beautiful Bella!

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Jessica 2011/03/13 - 9:51 pm

Such a beautiful tribute to your little girl, she is gorgeous, hope she had a great birthday!!

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Glamamom 2011/03/14 - 6:03 pm

Aww! Happy Birthday to your baby! Good job mama!

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Truthful Mommy 2011/03/15 - 12:36 am

Thanks. What a moment this was to reflect back on. Every year, her birthday is very precious to me not only because she was born but because I was born as a mother.

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Jess@Straight Talk 2011/03/23 - 4:39 pm

sweetest post ever!

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Laura 2011/04/27 - 3:51 pm

A gloriously written tribute to your daughter! Today I got cross and shouted at my beautiful firstborn angel girl (3): this article made me go upstairs and kiss her wonderful face as she was sleeping.Thank you. You have so perfectly encapsulated the joy of motherhood and the agony of seeing your children grow, knowing that one day they will be gone! Much love to you and your Bella xx A mother of two beautiful daughters in England

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Truthful Mommy 2011/05/02 - 10:04 am

Thank you for your kinds words.We all have our moments of “roar” as like to call them. I’ve done it myself before and almost immediately am overcome with guilt. The difference between a good parent and a lesser one is that we do care. You cared. I care. In our caring and realizing that we may have done something wrong, our apologies, and willingness to change inferior parenting moments is the very thing that makes us great parents..but human none the less. Thank you for stopping by.

Reply
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