Our Last Babe: Rounding One Year with Sadie

We’re weeks shy of Sadie turning the big ONE. Our final babe. Our last baby in the house and I am UNWELL. I’ve slowly been getting rid of baby items to friends and family. Clothes are on their way out as she outgrows them. After the airline broke our infant seat, we moved her into a backwards “grow with me” seat. The play tables will be the last to go, as soon as she outgrows the next phase of them. After underestimating how much breastmilk I had frozen, (with the okay from her pediatrician!) she got her last bottle of breastmilk this weekend and had her first drink of cows milk. Everything has happened all too fast!

But let me tell you, my girl has known the assignment! She knew my heart needed to hold onto a baby for just a bit longer. She just barely started crawling and still has her cute, gummy, no teeth smile. It’s like she knew my heart wasn’t ready to let go of this stage just yet- so she stayed “little” for a while longer. And no worries needed- homegirl is just overly spoiled by having five other people in the house do everything for her, she had no need to be on the move 😂.

And as unwell as I feel about her growing up, I’m also coming down from the first year of postpartum hormones and starting to hear the freedom bell ring! If you would have asked me six months ago, I would not have even been able to envision leaving this all behind and looking towards our future. And as sad as it is to watch our last baby grow up, it’s also extremely exciting thinking about what’s to come.

The independence of the kids is soon to flood our home. We’re about to gain our own time, space, and some sort of energy back. I’m ready to dive further into my career and continue expanding. The thought of diaper changes being done, no longer having to bathe everyone, children being able to find snacks and eat on their own- sounds BLISSFUL. And I know I’m talking years down the road here, but knowing we are inching closer to that bit of freedom again, is exciting. And the excitement in that most certainly coexists with the grief of closing the “baby” chapter for us.