little baby talia

I know it's strange, but sometimes, it's hard to remember that Talia is still a baby.

Each day she gets taller, smarter, sassier. Most of the time, I have no idea how to react. I get so exasperated -- like when she is throwing food down on my head as I am trying clean the radius around the base of her high chair, or when she somehow finds all my feminine bathroom items and spreads them all over the living room, or when I find her chewing on one of my still-wet brushes --- it's those times I just stare at little Talia and wish that she had a "pause" button.

A few weeks ago, it was one of those days. Talia was reaching for me and I was all but running away from her when Jake looked up and said, " She's a little baby; she just needs to be held sometimes."

My interior mountain of anger and knives immediately dissipated. Of course. Talia will never be this small again. Her little feet pattering around the house; her round tummy, her curly little mullet. I scooped her up and hugged her tight. Every time I hold her now, I think about this season of "baby Talia".

This week, we had got her immunizations up to date. The day after, she woke up sobbing. I still haven't quite mastered the getting-up-before-the-kids gig, so it took me a minute to get to her. When I did pick her up, she collapsed on me and just cried. So even though my mom clock was telling me it was time to feed her breakfast, we sat on the couch for a while even after she was quiet.  For twenty minutes or so, I held my little girl and just thought about how special/rare this moment was and how love her so.

So thank you, immunization shots (though I still blame you for Talia's strict diet of peanut butter that day).

^ An instagram shot of that day ^