Phases.

We're hitting a lot of milestones around here.  Stella is potty training, we just put away all her cloth diapers in exchange for pull-ups and disposables for this process, and she is also in the middle of dropping her nap (I think...?).  I can't help but think of how motherhood, or rather childhood, is full of phases.

I can clearly remember the emotions that washed over me as I folded up her first batch of 0-3 month old clothing for storage.  I sat on the floor with piles of clothes surrounding me and just cried.  I thought to myself, "It will never be as fun as it has been for the past three months.  I will never feel the same way as I did about this first, magical phase of her life.  It's only going downhill from here!"  Needless to say, I think I was still a little hormonal...

I can remember my mother, and many other women who had journeyed through motherhood, reminding me that it only gets better.  There have been a few things people have said about motherhood that I really agree with, and this is one of them.  Every day, even the hard days, is more gratifying and more fun than the one before.  I still feel a pang of heartache when we close different chapters in Stella's life.  Tim and I no longer say, "Can you change the baby?"  We've moved on to, "Will you take her to use the potty?"  In the past few days we don't put her in her crib for a nap, but this afternoon she sleepily snuggled on the couch with me.  I find that each new phase comes with a renewed joy for this blessing of being Stella's mom.