My "baby" turned 10!

August 23, I became the proud parent of a 10 year old! How did this happen? It certainly seems as if it could not have POSSIBLY been 10 years since I brought our first precious gift from God home from the hospital! Oh, how fast the years have flown by. . .

Some of my random thoughts about having "my baby" turn 10:

1. "10" sounds so old - we are officially in the "double-digits" now and, most likely, Mr. Z is probably more than half-way done living with us. This makes me both happy and sad. I am overjoyed to see him growing into a godly young man and I am excited to see what plans the Lord has for him in the future but I am sad that my little boy is growing up and that those days will never return. This makes me remember not to take any of my time that God has given me with my children for granted; to seize every moment and make the most of every opportunity with each one of the precious gifts God has given us!

2. Every time Mr. Z comes and sits on my lap or cuddles up for a hug or wants to crawl in bed with us in the morning, I find myself thinking, "what if this is the last time he wants me to hold him?" I know each time I have one more chance to hug, rock, kiss his head, or cuddle up is a priceless treasure and I take full advantage of it!

3. I didn't know how much I would miss the high pitched little voice calling Mommy, mommy, mommy! LOL! Grown-up kids say "Mom" - you know. . . I love it every time my "big boy" forgets that my name is now "Mom" and slips back into calling me "Mommy."

4. While I am definitely grieving the loss of some of the sweetness of the younger years, I am sort of (secretly) happy to be moving on past "9." If you've had a 9 year old boy, maybe you can relate. No one ever warned me, but apparently "9" is tough on a boy. There is so much going on! Hormones are changing, their brains are shifting from concrete to more abstract thought, EVERYTHING must be fair and justice is huge but, of course, only the 9 year old boy actually KNOWS what is right! LOL! Emotions are high, tempers flare, and they aren't quite sure if they'd rather be a child or an adult depending on the day or the situation. Things are very unsettled, shifting, and it's just plain hard! Last year during one of our harder days Mr. Z remarked (through tears but half-laughing), "I don't know what's wrong! I hate hormones! I'm mad and sad and . . . I just don't know!" Ahh. . . goodbye "9" - we are welcoming the content and fun-loving Mr. Z back into the world (only now he's just a little more "grown up!").

Picture and post all about Mr. Z will follow later this week hopefully!