No one warns you about this part

 No one warns you about this part

How your heart can ache for the baby who’s still right in front of you just a little taller now a little more independent

When your new baby arrives everything shifts
You’re soaking in the newborn smell the soft sighs the endless feedings
But then you catch a glimpse of your once-smallest and suddenly they seem huge
Their hands their words the way they climb into bed without help

They don’t need you the same way anymore
And while you’re so proud of the way they’ve grown
There’s a quiet kind of grief in letting go of who they were
The baby you once rocked to sleep
The toddler who reached for you first thing every morning

It’s a strange pull
Joy for this new chapter
Longing for the last one

You find yourself missing them in ways you didn’t expect
Even though they’re still yours
Even though they’re still little

It’s okay to feel it all
The love
The guilt
The nostalgia
The bittersweet beauty of watching your “baby” become a big sibling

Because you don’t stop being their mama
You just keep loving them through every version they become
And they’ll keep needing you
Just in new quieter ways