enjoying our new normal because "babies don't keep"

yeah, i'm pretty sure it's official. we are getting the hang of parenting and becoming a family of three, instead of just T & i.  for starters, we're pretty much good with the new routine that is our life now. this includes (to my chagrin), ruby making us start our day at roughly 6 am each morning. on a much happier note, it also includes her nighttime bath which she loves and reading books before bed, another new activity that she's recently taken to. so, yeah, all this is becoming old hat to us.  but i hope i never take any of it for granted.

i'm grateful that i've finally reached the point that, for the most part, i don't worry about every little thing.  i've decided to stop obsessing about her sleep schedule and whether i nurse her to sleep or not, if she's held "too much", and least of all, the state of our house. we've still got a slew of boxes to unpack, but the way i see it, these last six months absolutely flew by. i don't want to miss a minute with our little family.

i've recently become addicted to "pinterest" (thank you, SIL candice! but that's a whole other post). anyway, as i was saying, i'm pretty much obsessed with pinterest now and last week i came across this print -

yeah, that pretty much sums it up.  i was actually on the phone with my mom a few days after i found this and we were talking about parenting, in general, when she started reciting parts of this poem.  i told her i'd just seen it myself.  before you knew it, we were both crying.  later that night, as i was nursing ruby, i was thinking about how much love i have for her and of my mom, getting choked up thinking of her babies that aren't babies at all anymore.  i know she's proud of all of us for the people that we've become, but i imagine she misses the days she could hold us in her arms and protect us from all of the harm and hurt in the world.  

we've come a long way in 6 months.  it's hard to believe how much we've grown as a family and i cannot wait to see what our lives will look like in another 6 months.