We’ve finally reached the point where those little (though they are pretty big) feet of your’s can be felt by everyone, not just mommy.

It’s amazing how the mystery and excitement those feet bring to us now will turn into joy and delight when they emerge into this world and we are counting 10 tiny toes.

That joy and delight will turn into giddy excitement as we watch those little feet trail behind a wiggling, crawling tush before taking their first steps.

Next, that giddy excitement will become frustration and exasperation when those little feet carry a destructive bandit into siblings’ rooms. Life will also be a bit exhausting when they make coconut oil footprints down the hall from freshly made “ice skating rinks” on our home’s hardwood floors. Yep, that’s happened very recently from your sisters.

That frustration and exasperation will become pride and delight as I watch you dancing around my living room in your plastic princess heels and learning to peddle your bike all by yourself.

The pride will remain, but it will eventually be accompanied by fear and anxiety as I watch you take your first steps ALONE into the big, scary world, praying that the lessons I have instilled in your heart are enough to keep you on the right track.

Fear and anxiety will turn into a bitter-sweet sadness as those not-so-little feet carry you farther into your own life, your own future, where there is a little less room for me…walking down the aisle to your forever.

That bitter-sweet sadness will dissipate and return with a new, fresh mystery and excitement when you grab my hand and tell me that your heart is preparing to chase its own little set of feet…

And those little feet that you bring into my life will leave their own unique set of prints on my heart…just like your’s already have.