almost seven

Seven years ago today I was extremely pregnant. Although my estimated due date was April 6, which was a month away, I was ready to have the baby that was kicking inside me. It was a fun and funny time. About two weeks earlier, our oldest daughter had expressed concern that she might not like having a baby brother. You see, she explained, she HAD to like her sister but since the baby was only her half brother she might not like him very much. We convinced her to not worry about it until after the baby was born, and that we'd cross the proverbial bridge if we needed to. (The irony, of course, was that she turned into the best big sister ever and spoils the boy to this very day...)

Now I look across the room at this 50 pound creature who is playing Wii and needs a haircut. To me it seems like I was just pregnant - I remember the anticipation and the overwhelming rush of seeing his bald head when his dad laid him on my stomach. I remember watching him crawl and hoping he would walk, and then lamenting the fact that he could reach higher and get into so much. I encouraged his talking and celebrated his words; now I just dream of quiet stillness, minus sounds of battles and warfare and beatboxing. He's pretty amazing. And he'll be seven years old in a few weeks.

My sister is pregnant right now, with a predicted due date right around April 6, my projected date for Jedidiah. He was born on March 28. I'm starting to get excited about having a new nephew and I can hear in her voice that she's excited too. But this time of year, and this time of babies makes me wonder where the time has gone.
In seven more years Jed will be almost 14. A teenager. What a thought.