Ode to a Snugride...

One thing I am discovering about parenting is that it's not always the standard milestones that pull at your heart strings. It is the things you don't expect to move you that really sneak up and kick your emotions in the ass. Yes, it is exciting to see your baby roll, smile, crawl, and cruise for the first time. Thrilling, even, in a "thank god he's meeting his milestones" kind of way, plus it's very cute, right? But who would have thought that going up a size in clothes or diapers would result in a mommy dissolving into a mess of tears and giggles?

Today you took your last ride in the infant car seat. We went to Home Depot to get flowers for the yard and the poof! It was gone. Your snugride is now taking up space in the livingroom until we decide what to do with it next. It looks so small now.



The carseat we brought you home from the hospital in. You had to be able to sit in it for 1.5 hours without any breathing problems before they'd let us take you home from the NICU. We were terrified about how tiny you looked in it, even with the head support and receiving blankets rolled up around you.

May 12th, 2006--working hard on your carseat test

Clearly exhausted after acing your carseat test--we get to bring you home! You can't tell from our faces, but we're scared shitless!

Bye bye to the carseat we first took you apple-picking in. At the time you were going through a pretty fierce "I hate my carseat phase" and would scream non-stop when forced to endure the agony of sitting in it. Thankfully you slept most of the way out to the country and only fussed for a bit in it.


You took your first road trip to see Grammy & Grampy in South Carolina in the Snugride. It was the day after your 6 month shots and you magically slept almost the entire 8 hour trip. The ride home we weren't so lucky and you screamed from Richmond all the way back home. Even your plethora of "carseat flair" didn't distract you from your mission to rattle mommy & daddy with the high pitch of your protestations for 2 hours straight. Stubborn little man.

Ah, the flair...

And let's not forget the countless trips to Starbucks.

Dude, that latte's as big as yer head!

This was the carseat we took to Honduras! Packed it up, put it on a plane and toted you to the city, to the beach and back again in it while we were on vacation. You jet-setter, you.

And now, it has served it's purpose and is waiting to be hidden in a closet somewhere (like there *might* be space for it). Just like the clothes you've outgrown, the receiving blankets and burp cloths we no longer use, your carseat is a part of your past now. What a tiny little life to have already started gathering a "past", but there it is.

Daddy installed your Roundabout while you played in your jumperoo on the porch with me. I was potting some plants and just mindlessly said, "Oh, why don't you install the carseat?" to daddy, without even thinking about how momentous an occassion it is for you to go from your infant carseat to your toddler seat.

As I write this, it is hitting me that you are not my itty bitty baby anymore. I love that because you are so amazing--each day you learn something new, your personality grows and you are so much damn fun to be around. But I hate it because each day that passes I realize you are slipping away from your babyhood. "Time flies" just rolls off the tongue thoughtlessly; but when it applies to your baby, it takes on a whole new meaning. This year has gone by in a blur (and not all of it sleep-deprivation induced) and I wish I could do it again, and remind myself to be more mindful of every moment that I get to share with you.

In an hour or two you are going to take your first ride in the new seat. I have the camera ready, little man, because even though it's not in book of milestones, this is a big day.