All Things Haley: What A Year #5

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the babies today. But I do have pictures of the Tay Tay!!! Almost just as good, right? ;)

I didn't get home until 6:30 tonight after a ridiculously stressful day trying to tie up loose ends at my old job and pack up my desk to be moved this weekend. Monday morning I'll be at my new desk and new job... should be interesting! But I didn't take any pictures of the babies before I left for the office around 9:45 and then Ben didn't take any before I got home so we are without photos of the littles. But I think the Tayla photos are fitting because little Miss Gracie is all about Tayla all the time.

As soon as I got home I came around the corner to the dining room to find both babies in their high chairs, Caleb with a huge grin on his face staring up at me and Grace looking to other direction and meowing at the cat. Yes, my daughter meows at the cat. It's phenomenal.

Little lady has been obsessed with our cat since she first noticed her around 4 months old I think. She's been talking to the cat or about the cat since she uttered her first babble. Now she fully says "cat" sometimes when she sees Tayla and she regularly "meows" or "baaah"s in a really high pitch that sounds exactly like Tayla's meow somehow whenever she hears the cat! Her imitation is impecable.

I wanted to record one memory that was so crazy from the very, very early days with the babies. It was actually the day that we brought the littles home- we had spent the last four days in the hospital learning about these tiny creatures that were taking over our lives and completely invading our hearts. We walked into the door of our house, each with one car seat and baby in hand, and set them down in the family room. Tayla was in the living room and she got up off of her chair to come greet us but both Ben and I stopped dead in our tracks when we saw her. Without any hesitation we both immediately freaked out asking what had happened to our cat. What had my parents fed her while we were gone?!?!? Why was she so HUGE?!

It was the most surreal thing. We both literally thought that she had gained several pounds in our 4 days away because she seemed so big. It took us at least a couple of hours to realize that the cat hadn't grown, but our perspectives had shrunk down to fit our teeny tiny 5 pound babies. Everything in those 4 days revolved around these five pound creatures, so when we got home to a nine pound cat, we couldn't fit that into our new perspectives. She seemed so much bigger than she had before we met our babies, before we became accustomed to everything being so small.

It's such a sweet memory for me. It wasn't long before our babies started gaining weight and size, and I see them growing so quickly, I know it will be soon when they no longer wear onesies or need velcro shoes. I know that diapers will be a thing of the past, just like those premie sized diapers of the early days.

Tayla has seen a lot in this house, with this family. She was our first baby. She'll grow up with her new babies and spend her days being chased around by toddlers and then cuddled by kindergartners. Hopefully she'll be around to watch the littles learn to ride bikes through the front window of our house. And she'll comfort them when they have a bad day just like she has for me so many times. She'll jump up into their beds, lie on their tummies, and purr to remind them that it will all be ok.

Thanks Tay Tay.