Trying to get a family picture to document our July 4th weekend jaunt to Waxahachie proved to be more difficult than anticipated.

It’s a crummy picture, but the look on Vivi’s face is priceless.

Where are you going my little one, little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you’re two, turn around and you’re four
Turn around and you’re a young girl going out of the door
Turn around (turn around)
Turn around (turn around)
Turn around and you’re a young girl
goin’ out of the door

The day I brought my newborn Ariana home from the hospital, her life flashed before my eyes, and I sobbed. I couldn’t bear the thought that someday my precious firstborn would move away.

The weeks leading up to Ariana’s first day of kindergarten were nothing short of tortuous. I’d cry into my pillow at night, eventually having to relocate myself to the couch so that BT could get some sleep.

The day Ariana was baptized, I managed to remain relatively composed in public (much to BT’s surprise … he even congratulated me on my self-control), but I definitely had my teary, private moments leading up to the event.

Each milestone in my children’s lives is bittersweet for me.  Even Vivian’s pottytraining has brought a dose of sadness as I realize that she, too, is growing up much faster than I’d like.  And don’t get me started on Baby Tad. The day the ultrasound revealed I was having a boy, I began to panic at the thought of him going away for a two-year church mission when he turns 19.

And so it is that today’s purchase of Ariana’s first stick of deodorant makes me want to hold her tight and somehow stop time.  But despite my angst, she is elated with the thought of rubbing fragrant goop in her armpits, and I really do try my best to share her joy.  Perhaps her fascination with deodorant will be as short-lived as her premature experiment with training bras.  After wearing a training bra to school a few months ago, Ariana proclaimed: “It was itchy and uncomfortable … but maybe because I had it on backwards.” (I hope she meant “inside-out” and not “backwards.”)

p.s. This picture is a perfect example of why NOT to use the built-in flash on the camera.  Notice the really, really harsh shadow behind her arm.  If I’d taken the time to pull out my external flash, that shadow wouldn’t be there.