15 stars later and some thoughts

15 stars later a very excited 3 year old earned a bike. Having this as an incentive has been amazing for Mylie, she has been so good! Yesterday she earned her 15th star and so we went shopping last night. Mylie hopped right on this bike and was riding it around the aisles. She could hardly wait until we got home to practice outside. I was amazed with how well she was able to peddle and turn already. She did a great job and was so excited. I see lots of bike riding in our future this summer.


Her helmet came with knee pads and elbow pads, which she decided she needed to wear this morning when riding her bike. So dang cute! Now, if I could figure out some sort of face pad for her ....
It is strange to think that 3 years ago, she was just a baby, not even crawling yet, dependent upon Jeff and I for everything. Now she can ride a bike, get her own breakfast, brush her teeth, spell her name and tell me her phone number. Today we went on an afternoon drive and stopped in this little mountain town to get ice cream. We were sitting at a table and Jeff was holding Blake. A man came up to us and said, "Tomorrow your alarm clock will go off and he'll be graduating from high school." There is so much truth to that. Some days it seems like I am so busy trying to get Blake to nap or finding something to keep Mylie occupied so that I can get things done. I remind myself that soon enough I won't have a chubby smiley baby or a inquisitive pre-schooler, the time will go faster than I want and I will miss these days.

I just feeling emotional the last few days ... stop reading here if you don't like sad stories. Yesterday, someone linked me to a blog. A father is telling his story about how he and his wife are having their first baby. The mom ends up on bedrest for the last few weeks of the pregnancy and the baby is born early by C-section. Everything seems OK with the baby and they take her to the NICU. The mom isn't able to move to go to the NICU to see the baby girl until the next day. The next day she is excited to go to see the baby, the nurses are helping her into the wheelchair and she collapses and dies. As I am reading these blog entries of these people that I don't even know, tears are rolling down my face. He is telling about his life over the last 12 weeks (since the baby was born and his wife died). I haven't been able to stop thinking about their story, his story, the baby and what their life will be like. Although sad and depressing, we just never know what will happen in our lives ... we don't know what tomorrow will hold. I guess it is just a small reminder to make every day special, and to always say "I love you." Life is fragile and that is a scary, scary thought.

Mylie told me tonight that she loved me a thousand, million, dillion, 80, 20 hundred. Right back atcha kiddo.