Life is too short. One moment you are being told you have your whole life ahead of you and the next, it is quickly spinning on by. I feel this way about a lot of things, but mostly as a mother. In only one more month, my beautiful baby boy will be one year old. We have gone from quiet and helpless newborn to crawling to talking and much more. He is now on the brink of walking and he has such a fun little personality. He says "mama", "dada", "ba-ba", "nana", and "hi". His smile and giggles can light up an entire room and when he tugs at my pant leg saying "mama" only to hug and kiss me or cuddle me once I pick him up, truly means the world to me. Things seem to be moving so quickly. In just this last week, Michael took his first two unassisted steps, he said "mama" and "nana", he ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich in one sitting, and he just amazes me more and more every day. I have seen many people come and go in this life and that's just part of life. I know that each moment needs to be cherished because you never know when your last day will come. I just truly hope that I can leavce my mark on this world through what I pass on as a mother. Michael has become my life and I am so grateful for every moment I have with him. I am so excited for the future, but I just hope life slows down just a little so I can enjoy and savor the present.

Life is so amazing as a mom. Tonight, I was nearly moved to tears, just by holding Michael. We got the "Ultimate Lullaby Collection" which is a collecion of 4 CD's (Classical Music, Traditional Lullabies, Mommy's Lullabies, and Daddy's Lullaby's) that has a lyric book and prayer cards for each song. I loaded the first CD onto our laptop and when it began playing, it had the little music screen that is like a light show where it just has lines and shapes that dance to the music. Well, we were cuddled up under a super soft blanket in our jammies and we watched the "show" as I sang along with the lullabies and the look on Michael's face was magic. He was in awe, relaxed, and happy. It was such an amazing thing to see how perfectly content he was in my arms as we just cuddled and sang. There were points where he would just look at me for a minute as if to say "I love you mom, and I love being here with you". It just melted my heart. In all actuality, I had a really hard day at work, I was rushed and stressed for time to get him and me out the door on time, and then I had a rough day at work because of some really rude patients and I wasn't feeling well. It took just those few moments to make my day perfect. It's those moments that make the stress, the crying, the runny noses and dirty diapers, the constant run around, and the stress and chaos of motherhood worth every second. It's so hard to describe the feeling to anyone who doesn't have children of their own, but the intensiy of how much you really just LOVE everything about your child is beyond description. It still amazes me how just a look can make my heart melt, how everytime I talk about him or when he pulls at my leg to be held just brings tears of happiness to my eyes, how I could hold him for hours and just watch him sleep, how all I dream about is his happiness and how all I want to do is to be the best mother I can and give him the best life possible. I want to be there for every one of his tears, giggles, hugs, smiles, and steps in life. I am truly his biggest fan and I hope that above all else that he will experience in this world, that he understands and KNOWS that the only person who can possibly love him more than me and his daddy do, that it's God. And like God, we will never stop loving him and never stop believing in him. He is our little angel. He is my world, my life, and my happiness.