Stop this train

Why does life have to go by so fast?!  Parts of my life can pass as quickly as they'd like, but some need to sloooow down.  I'm talking about my baby. It literally seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital!  I still have the (vivid) memories of fighting with the car seat straps when we were trying to leave the hospital, which, the straps won that battle, I won't even post a picture of him slightly leaning forward. OMG.  I totally just spilled that secret.

From night time to nap time, to jar food, pacifiers (briefly), bottles...in the blink of an eye he's about to be 19 months old.  He'll be 2 (!!!) this coming July! Stop! Just stop!!! I'm a huge John Mayer fan, for his lyrics mostly (ahem) and his song "Stop this Train" will send me into a slobbery, snotty, blubbery mess.

'Stop this Train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train'

Aahhhh! I've rocked Carter to sleep since he was a baby. He's my first so it's been trial and error for sure. I now know to, and plan to with my next (maybe), to start laying them down in their crib wide awake when they are much younger so they can teach themselves to fall asleep and not depend on Mommy to rock them to sleep and back to sleep...that explains why he took so long mastering his sleep. Ha! But I gotta say, I LOVE rocking my baby. I've recently decided that I need to stop, he's just  not comfortable, he's almost too long now. I've rocked him so long he thinks he needs it, whether he's comfortable or not. We've gotten the naps down, but night time is where it breaks my heart the most. I can't stand leaving him in there crying or fussing. He doesn't fuss or cry long, but just enough to make me a slobbery, snotty, blubbery mess.

No one told me about this part of parenthood. I never even thought about the possibility of Carter hating his car seat, which he does, HATES it. I'm talking screaming fits since he was a few months old.  I didn't know I would be so worked up over it not being super quiet during his nap time.  I didn't think about having to bottle break him.  There's a lot I didn't know and a lot I still don't know.

I DO know this. As fast as that train brought us to this point, Carter being 18 1/2 months old,  I'm going to blink and he will be 3, 4, 5, 6 years old. I'm savoring every second, every minute, every hour, every single day I have with him. I'm making my time with him count! Every day is a new memory.

You know what, I gotta go, I need to go and rock my baby....