Time is flying fast

The speed at which time is passing these days is taking me by surprise.  Almost all of last year, we were marking time by my pregnancy with Caroline, waiting and waiting for her to come.  Well, now she's here and time hasn't stopped.  We go in tomorrow for her eight week check up (and, amazingly, it's actually on the day she turns eight weeks! That's the first time, I think, I've ever managed to schedule a well child check for any of my kids on the day they were "supposed" to happen). Little Miss is doing quite well and growing nicely from my perspective, so I'm not worried about what the doctor will say tomorrow.

What has thrown me for a loop, however, is realizing that, amazingly, we are only about six weeks away from Levi's first birthday!  Say what!?!  While we were waiting for Caroline, I kept mentally preparing myself to have a newborn and an infant.  I kept thinking about what it would be like to have a baby a few days old and a baby nine-ish months old.  And I kept reminding myself that Caroline wouldn't stay a baby forever.  We'd get through the first few months and she'd be sleeping better and be in an easier routine and it'd be fine.  But my mind forgot to accommodate Levi's growing up, too!  He is just so much fun these days (aside from the four top teeth that are just being so mean and not popping through as quickly as any of us would like - at least two weeks now, we've been seeing the white right underneath his gums just so close to pushing all the way through and still nothing!) and I find so much delight in him.  Of course we love all of our children, but there is something, well, delightful about a happy, easy going, 10 month old who loves to laugh and smiles easily and has no fear and is quickly soothed when his lack of fear causes him to hurt himself when he launches head-first off the couch.  He loves life and he loves each of us and he loves to self-feed (except for his bottles, which he still will not hold for himself).  Where Lucas was inquisitive, he will be our "Curious George," I think.  Lucas was always a little more restrained, had more (healthy) fear, and didn't like messes (at least on himself) from the beginning, very much like his Papa.  Levi, on the other hand, seems to have no fear, nor does it bother him to get his hands dirty, and I anticipate throwing up my hands over him quite a bit once he's a full-fledged toddler, despite the fact that his happy smile, adorable face, and infectious laugh will surely win me over every time and take away my frustration quickly.

I am finding myself amazed that you can love each child so equally and so differently at the same time.  I shouldn't be surprised, though, because it makes sense.  Each child is a different person, and you have a different relationship with each of them. 

And at this stage, this little guy is particularly delicious.