Remembering 8 months

"What really matters in life is not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away."

I've had many unforgettable moments in my blessed life. They are ingrained in my memory with every detail recorded flawlessly. I remember sweet moments like when I realized I was truly and completely in love with my boyfriend while we road our bikes on a perfect fall day. I remember seeing my baby girls for the first time and falling in love instantly with their new born lives. Those are the kinds of things that I never had to say, "I want to remember this forever." The moment is so powerful that it becomes a memory automatically.

Other moments in life are precious and sweet, yet blend with others. Even though I said at the time, "I want to remember this forever," they are forgotten or replaced. Yesterday's afternoon warmth brought about one of those moments as I played outside with the girls. Every detail was perfect, but I know I won't remember the little things years from now, or even weeks. I won't remember how the breeze ruffled Mandy's hat. 

Or how blue her eyes looked and she excitedly looked at the cows crunching on fresh spring grass just over the fence.
Or how she kept turning to see her sister who was riding her bike up and down the driveway with the joy and satisfaction of doing it all herself.
The grass was soft and the sun was warm. The tiny things that could have been annoying slipped by almost unnoticed. Sure, to make everything perfect, I should have shaved my legs before quickly throwing on shorts as it got hotter and hotter outside. Also, the cows were pretty stinky as one pooped while merely chomping the grass.

Those things I'll forget and concentrate on Emma, riding her bike all by herself.

Someone should really tell her to close her mouth or the bugs will fly in. But maybe that is a life lesson best learned on her own.
She skidded to a stop, figuring out the breaks. No more smacking in to the garage door.
Today is Mandy's 8 month birthday. In honor of the day, I staged a photo shoot yesterday morning. It was a pretty miserable event. It was windy, Mandy was hungry, Emma forgot to put shoes on, and my camera battery was dying. I took a couple passable pictures, which I will post on the photography blog, but all in all, the staged photos didn't turn out nearly as nice as these real ones of my now 8 month old baby girl. She couldn't get any cuter. She couldn't get any sweeter. This moment I want to remember forever.