Did I miss something...

When did you go from this... to this...

UGH!

I'm not ready for you to grow up.

I'm not ready for you not to want to spend every waking moment with me.

I'm not ready for you to spend the night away with your friend...

but, I guess it doesn't really matter that I'm. not. ready.

The fact is that YOU'RE ready. You're ready to grow up, you're ready to play with your friends (without me watching you're every move), you're ready to spend the night away...which is what you did on Friday night.

I couldn't believe my ears when you came barrelling thru the door with Kinzie asking me if you could spend the night over at her house. I was actually shocked because when I heard the door open, my heart fluttered because I knew that you were home for the night. Oh how wrong I was...you were only here because you wanted to ask permission to spend the night away. When the words came out of your mouth, my heart skipped a beat - probably a few beats. My gut reaction was NO, you're only FOUR...but the excitement in your voice and the sparkle in your eyes told me that you were more than excited about the opportunity to spend the night with Kinzie. So, I paused before answering. During that pause, you looked up at me with those beautiful brown eyes, a smile still plastered on your face, and I couldn't say no. So, I said yes (and silent tears began to fall).

Your first sleep over - I can't believe it. These past four years have gone by so quickly that I don't want to miss a thing.

Meg, please don't get mad at me because I'm constantly taking pictures and hugging you and picking you up for no reason. I know that sooner or later, you will no longer welcome these things...I'm just trying to steal as many precious moments from you now...while I still can!