One of those moments....

This morning we had one of those moments....the kind that make you stop and thank God for the life he has given you....the kind that fill your heart with more joy than you can imagine.

For nine months (really 10), I carried this sweet baby as he grew and developed from nothing to a little person. I worried and worried as I laid in bed those last few weeks (drinking gallons of water). I wanted this baby to be healthy.

Thomas Kirby Walker arrived on June 10, 2011 at 9:59 am and my world changed forever. Changed in such a wonderful way. Changed for the better. I was a mom, and my baby was HEALTHY!

Those first few weeks were a blur...just trying to adjust to our new life and to make it through one sleepless day at a time. I was learning what it meant to be a mom...to care for someone 24 hours a day....to think of someone before yourself....to forego eating, showering and sleeping because he needed me.

Then he started to grow up. He was learning how to do something new every week. He began to recognize me as someone more than just a passing person. I thought this moment above was so special, and it was.

There were many more special times. Times when my heart melted, times when I couldn't believe that God had given him to me, times when I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Oh and there were hard times too....times when I wondered if I could keep up this pace....times when I thought I was simply doing a mediocre job at everything and that Thomas and Patrick deserved more...times when I wondered if it would ever get easier.



Then there was this morning....I had just handed Thomas off to Patrick so I could go make his bottle. As I turned around to walk off, Thomas said "Mama" and was reaching out towards me. My earth stopped spinning...I froze in the moment. I looked at Patrick and my eyes said, "did he just say what I think he said?" Patrick said, "I think we might have just said our first meaningful word - Mama." He has been babbling "nanananana" and "dadadadada" for a while now, but you could tell it was just babbling. I have been a Mama for 8 months and 12 days and for the first time this morning, I heard my little one say my name. This was one of those moments I will never forget.