Making a memory

Have you ever thought, "I want to remember every little thing about my child - every whimper, every smile, every grunt, every giggle, every wail, every little contented sigh, every drop of drool, his first fuzzy piece of toe jam, his big, bright blue eyes, the way he gets excited and will immediately stop fussing when I carry him into the bathroom for a bath, the way his whole body gets red when he's mad, the way his hands lay when he's asleep, the way his hair stands up in the morning and curls when it's wet, the way he snuggles up against my neck when he's sleepy and holds his head up like a turtle when he wants to see what's going on, the way he squeezes my arm, the way he holds my fingers when he drinks a bottle, the way he wiggles and smiles and laughs when he wakes up, the way he laughs in his sleep, the way he smells like baby lotion, the way he tries to sing along when I make up silly songs to entertain him, and the way he flails his arms and legs when he lays on his back as he learns to control his extremities. I never want to forget these things!"

Wow, there were a lot of every's and the way's in that big ol' run-on sentence! But, you get my point, right? Remember the original "Parent Trap" movie when Suzan, acting as Sharon, is sniffing her Grandfather's jacket and when he asks her what she's doing, she says, "I'm making a memory. Years from now when I'm all grown up, I'll remember my Grandfather and how he always smelled of tobacco and peppermint." That's how I feel about Rocco; I'm constantly making memories.

He's so precious and so sweet and I am so in love with him that I do not EVER want to lose a memory. And, sadly, I know that I will. Age will catch up to me and time will rob me of many of the tiny details I want to preserve. He will only be this teensy weensy size once and I will only be able to protect him for so long. He will grow up and I can only pray that God's plan for my little man keeps him close to me without me smothering him. In the meantime, I've taken somewhere close to a bazillion pictures and videos of him, so when I'm old and gray and my faculties aren't what they are today, I can still see this baby boy and maybe the pictures will bring forth a memory and I will be able to come back to this day, to this moment in time, when I was his first love. And it will make my heart smile.