My Baby-Boy, My son, My Young Man

Where in the world has the time gone!!!!???? My son will be 14 in a couple of weeks. I miss him being a baby, I miss him calling me 'Mommy', I miss seeing him try to 'run away' from his shadow, I miss carrying him on my hip, I miss watching Sesame Street with him, I miss him thinking that I was the absolute coolest person ever.

Fourteen! My Baby Boy is almost 14. Jeffrey Clifford Charles. He stands almost 5'8", wears a 13 shoe, weighs 160 pounds, has a light mustache, wears cologne, doesn't think girls are gross and he loves life. My Baby Boy is almost 14. I am so very proud of him! He loves the Lord, Prays, Gives God praise, loves Christian rap music, and thinks going to church is cool.  

My son is almost 14. He is a great swimmer, an All-Star baseball player, a former assistant softball coach, an aspiring History professor, he is super smart. My son is almost 14. He admires great men, he wants to be a good husband and father.  

My Young Man is just that, A Young Man. My young man is almost 14. I still watch him sleep; he is my first born and my only son. I thank God everyday for allowing me to be his Mom. I know, with all that is within me, that I was created to be his Mother. I look at my son and my heart overflows with pride and love. My Young Man still hugs me; he still tells me "I love you". 

Fourteen....my son is almost 14.

   

Teaching the Baby to ride her bike....

Well.....I knew the day was coming, I just wished it didn't have to come so soon!  Today was the day my husband took our youngest child out for her first 'I-can-ride-my-big-girl-bike' lesson. 

 It seems like everything that she does, because she is our youngest (and last) child, is so emotional for me.  My two older children learned to ride their bikes at 5.5 and 4 years respectively, but when it came to my 'baby', I was never ready.  I always had an excuse; "We don't have time to teach her right now", "She doesn't have knee and elbow pads", "I really like having her on the back of my bike", "She is just so young"....well, the time finally came where everything was 'just right'.  The weather was great, my husband bought knee and elbow pads last week, the training wheels had been removed last year, her older sister was excited for her, and she was absolutely ready...I still wasn't, but reluctantly, I knew it was time, she is 6 years old and ready to ride her 'Big Girl Bike'.  So, with tears in my eyes and love and joy in my heart while watching my husband hold on to the back of her bike while running up and down the sidewalk, I captured that moment of time, my baby girl learning to ride a bike.......