I love that she isn’t afraid to be completely who she is – there is no fake or in between – she is true to herself. Man, I hope that never changes about her. Ever.
Courtesy of Sarah Shrader
Half way. Cue the tears. I think age 9 may be the worst age. Okay, maybe not worse than the terrible 3s – which were actually way worse than the terrible 2s. Ha. I mean, actually, 9 is pretty great when it comes to most things – way past diapers and not quite to the attitude of pre-teen/teenage years. But age 9, that means that my baby girl, Reagan, is half -way through her childhood. And that almost breaks me.
I know I know — I should be optimistic – I still have half of her childhood left — glass half full. Plus, I know, it’s not like she turns 18 and is gone forever. But man, I just cannot believe how fast these first 9 years have gone. If there is one thing I have learned as I have gotten older, it is that time seems to move faster as each year passes, so I can only assume the next 9 years will fly by.
And well, I don’t want them to! Honestly, I cannot say that I have ever enjoyed life as much as I do right now. Sure, we run around like crazies chasing sports schedules for all our babies, but these moments – these years – they are so precious to me!
Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed all of this sweet babe’s life, but I will admit, those baby years with this girl were trying! With her reflux – where she would spit-up (but not all the way up) and choke a few times a night, I am pretty sure I averaged 1-3 hours of sleep the whole first year of her life. Then, by 15 months she was crawling out of her crib and over baby gates and out of high chairs — so she was quickly uncontainable.
Putting shoes on her was a chore – and getting her to keep them on, was (and is) near impossible. If she has an option (and even sometimes when I didn’t give her an option but she didn’t rightly care), she is bare foot. Wild and free – and uncontainable. If there is a tree to climb (yes, even bare foot), she will scale it. She will try all the flips and hanging and any trick that causes her mom anxiety – along with holding all the insects and critters that she can get her hands on.
She baits her own hook when we fish and gets the fish off the hook with her bare hands. She isn’t afraid to learn a new skill – swing a hammer or turn a screwdriver, and it doesn’t make her any difference if she is the only girl playing a sport, if she likes that sport and wants to do it, she goes after it.
And she is hilarious! The full extent of a goober! She will make all the silly faces and tell the most off the wall stories that make me belly laugh. I love that she isn’t afraid to be completely who she is – there is no fake or in between – she is true to herself. Man, I hope that never changes about her. Ever.
She knows Jesus – like has a personal relationship with Him that I am not sure I have ever witnessed in a child. She prays – not just when we pray together – but I sometimes catch her knelt down beside her bed with her head down just talking to God. She is still learning and growing so she makes mistakes, but she knows when she messes up and feels it to her core. However, she also knows that she can be forgiven – that Jesus died for all of her (and our sins). And she knows that there is nothing she could ever do that could ever make Jesus or myself stop loving her.
Big stuff for a 9-year-old – I just wish, sometimes, that we could just pause it all right here – before we move into the “less than half” of her childhood left.
I know there are so many fun and amazing adventures ahead! I know that each and every single day she brings me more and more smiles and, even though I don’t think I could love her any more than I already do, I always seem to love her more. It just makes me really sad to think about her being half way to 18.
So, I am not going to think about it – at least not for too long. I may have sobbed a little looking through her pics of the first nine years of life, but I am not going to stay there. Instead, I am going to thank the good Lord above for every single second we have had together so far and look forward to all of the amazing memories we get to make in the second half of her childhood.
Happy Birthday, Reagan Roo. I love you!
Sarah (Pitson) Shrader was born and raised in Lima. She is a Lima Central Catholic and Tiffin University graduate. Sarah is a full-time working mama who enjoys writing about her somewhat crazy, always adventurous life as a mother. She lives in Bath Township with her daughters and writing inspirations, Maylie and Reagan.
