I cuddled a newborn today and realised how grown up by baby girl is already. She’s not a newborn anymore, she doesn’t have that newborn smell or newborn skin or newborn cry.

It was lovely to meet my friend and her new baby and I adored the sleepy cuddle I had with her precious 3 week old little girl, she was just perfect! I couldn’t help but feel a slight panic of jealousy though. Not because I was jealous of her baby, but jealous that she’s at the newborn stage, she’s still got everything I’ve done to go though and my little girl seems to have grown up and out of the newborn stage in a flash.

It’s as though I’ve blinked and she’s grown and I’ve missed everything. Parenting is wonderful and each moment is precious and you get told this, you get told to make the most of it and to enjoy it while it lasts and it’s true. You’ve to absorb as much as you can because as much as it’s the best job you’ll ever do, it’s also the fastest (yep and the hardest!). There’s nothing else that will fly by like watching your baby grow up will.

I’d not realised until today just how much baby P has grown and developed, how alert she is, how nosey she is and what string personality she has developed already in comparison to what she was 15 weeks ago. Cuddling a newborn highlighted this to me, she’s growing up so much, she’s trying to sit up on her own, her head has always been strong but it’s even more so now and I never realised how much she’d progressed until now.

The doctors and health visitor have commented on her rapid development and strength but the combination of her being my first seeing her everyday has made it less noticeable for me until I had a little newborn to compare her to. When did all this happen? When did she become my baby girl and not my newborn? When did she become the girl that rolls around on the floor with me on a play mat, pushing and pulling herself up? The thing is it’s been happening for weeks, it’s was a few weeks ago now that she learnt to roll from her tummy to back, she’s learning new sounds everyday and has always hated being held in a cradle unless asleep and early strong head meant she wanted to be held upright to look around.

It’s so exciting seeing what she can learn and do and each milestone she’s reached such as her mischievous little giggle she developed at months has developed into quite a cheeky laugh now, her facial expressions and coy smile, or her ability to grab, reach and hold onto toys whilst she plays with them have been welcomed with joy by me. However, I’ve been so wrapped in seeing them that it feels like I’m blinking and missing her. Her growing up is also happening so quick, too quick and I have this mixed feeling of wanting her to continue to develop and see what she learns next but at the same time I want to freeze time and treasure these moments for as long as possible.

The key is to just enjoy and I’ll be honest as much as I feel like I inundate myself and family with photos and videos, I actually can be quite lazy about taking them-I’m too busy enjoying her. There’s hardly any photos of me and her-I’m not the best at taking selfies while juggling her (especially as her playful nature won’t allow it) and when someone else is around we’re too wrapped up in playing peek a boo or tickling her tummy to pose for a picture and she probably wouldn’t stay still for long enough anyway. But at least I’m living in the moment with her and drinking in as much of her growing up as I can. We’re making memories and for all it’s going far gone quick, memories last forever!

So my advice to my friend who’s newborn I was ready to steal yesterday, enjoy it and absorb it because soon she too will be 15 weeks and developing her bossy inquisitive nature or whatever her own personality will be and you’ll be wondering where your newborn has gone.

Just love her and enjoy her because time flies and it’s a wonderful journey but it goes far too quick.