A few exciting things have happened today. Milestones, if you will. We’ll go chronologically, if that’s okay with you.
12:34am – I received a series of texts from my parents stating that they were leaving my sister’s bedside at the hospital after meeting their brand new granddaughter. Technically, I got a text from my brother-in-law about an hour before, but that doesn’t fall under the October 5 block in time, and I like neat packages. My very first niece was born last night at 10:15pm, into the exhausted arms of my beautiful sister and the weeping arms of her proud husband. (I already know he’s going to be a pushover. But that’s okay; it’s a daughter’s God-given right to completely own her daddy.) Congratulations to one lovely couple; your little eggroll is amazing, and I cannot wait to meet her.
1:58am – Bean turned four months old. I slept through this milestone, but it snuck up on me nonetheless.
11:18am – My now-four-month-old decided to roll over for the first time. I guess she felt she had to one-up her brand-new cousin. (“Being born? Pshaw, I’ve been there, done that. Let’s see her do this.”) (Apparently, I seem to enjoy creating hostile environments where none exist.)
3:47pm – My wee Bug had his dentist appointment, and the dentist did not pull out his baby tooth, much to my Bug’s disappointment. He really, really wanted to put something under his pillow tonight and get some bucks. But he did get his first panoramic X-ray done, and our dentist pointed out all the teeth just waiting in the wings, on the brink, eager to shove their smaller siblings out of the way. (They look like candy corn!)
There are a few hours left in the day, plenty of time for more excitement to dazzle me, but I’m really okay with what I’ve got so far. Time is moving so fast, and I can only be grateful that I am here to witness it all, even if it is a little speedy for my taste.
A hundred blinks from now, I’ll be waking up to a couple of teenagers with full sets of permanent teeth and maybe a driver’s license between the two of them, and I’ll wonder why I didn’t get a say in how quickly they were allowed to grow up.
It’s funny how these insignificant milestones at four months and six years will forever be earmarked in my memory, as if I were watching the day they were elected into the presidency, or inventing a cure for cancer.
These moments, forgettable, tiny moments in the great, grand scheme of things, are the ones that will make the man and the woman I am growing, the moments they learn to live in this world, the hiccups in their steps that are transforming them from squishy, helpless, soft and delicious newly-borns to a young man who will one day be strong and honorable and adventurous, and a young woman who will be exquisite and gentle and prized.
These moments are the moments that I am most acutely aware of the sheer generosity of my God for allowing me to bear witness to His extraordinary plan unfolding.
Meet the Buttrams 