To be shocked at just how fast babies grow up?

Yes, one minute they cute and little, and even in the baby stage they become big solid lumps quickly.

It's the true meaning of bittersweet. My dd4 was crying today because she wants to be 2 again like her little brother. I had to try not to cry because whilst I love the stage she is at I loved her as a very sweet 2 year old too. Time is cruel and the sleep deprivation makes things seem more of a blur (my ds2 barely sleeps ). I'd love to have one more sleepy newborn (and eventually a third grumpy teen ).

It all starts with the phrase "having a baby", when in fact you're bringing a whole person into the world, who will be a baby for a very short amount of time 😭😭😭

i remember my aunty always saying the days are long but the years are short, and thought it hideously twee but holding a new born I can’t believe I just didn’t hold mine all the time. Feels very sudden that you’re basically talking to another adult.

It goes so quick but at the time, you're knackered and don't get to appreciate it.

Our little one is 11 months today! It’s madness how quickly time has gone.

Yep we’ve got an empty nest now. I remember longing for a bit of peace and quiet when I had toddler twins …. Id love to go back to that time.

Speaking as a granny, this what I know now when I look at my little granddaughter because I have seen it all happen before. This is why older parents will always say 'enjoy it while they're little' because it's difficult to explain this aspect of being a parent. As pp have said, it happens so fast and at the same time very slowly but they grow up and and are gone and you have to remind yourself that's what you want them to do!

Dts are 14. I love them how they are but god they take up so much space, they still like a cuddle on the sofa which I'm grateful for but they're all arms and legs, we don't fit! Such a cliche but it goes in the blink of an eye.

It's doesn't slow down, DD is 15 and organizes her own trips to the local city with her friends, books cinema tickets on her phone, cooks us dinner etc generally I feel a bit redundant now.

My tiny babies are over 6 foot tall. Yet in my head they are still those cuddly little chubby toddler that proclaimed they would marry me.

I work with babies, I have my own teens 13-23 and it’s true what they say when they are small the days are long but the years are fast. I can’t believe how quickly time has gone and my boys are growing up. It’s scary and I do miss their toddler days

It's a hard one for me.

My youngest DC has a rare genetic condition and is globally delayed in all areas. So they've taken an age to meet milestones (walking about age 2, non verbal until age 5, didn't toilet train until age 6, well behind their peers now academically and socially and always will be) so it's been a totally different experience with DC3.

With my other 2 I feel like I just blinked. But I'm eternally grateful they are happy and healthy and have progressed as they have.

I find myself much more mindful now about my children growing and try not to wish a moment away, whilst celebrating all the milestones (and inch-stones) as and when they are reached.

Another thing the longest time you’ll know your child is as an adult. The childhood stage is very short! Let them be kids.

At the time the sleepless nights and all the other problems of babyhood seemed to last an eternity. Now they're nearly 40, their childhoods seem to have gone in a flash

YANBU OP it's mental isn't it. A bit scary.

The weirdest thing with having children is how it goes incredibly, incredibly fast. And really, really slooowwwwwwllllly at the same time (going back to sleep/the days when you're tired/reading the same story over and over again/standing watching them play in a playground when you're freezing cold)

Yes it really does seem to go fast, my 10yo has decided this weekend she wants cropped hoodies and to think more about what she's wearing rather than just wearing joggers and a hoodie. She's like a little teenager all of a sudden and 2 minutes ago she was a giggling toddler letting me blow raspberries on her belly.

Someone I follow on Instagram made me cry so hard today. They shared a post about how there is the last time you pick you child up, one day you will never pick them up and carry them ever again.
My little one is 14 months and the first 5/6 months I just wanted to send him back I had such awful PND. I know it is fruitless and I try really hard not to feel guilty and think about it, but I want that time back so badly.

I hear you op and pp. Mine are 24 and 13 now. I tried to cling on but time was like water through my hands.

I am missing all the little things we used to do around Christmas. Dh said he would do them with me which is sweet of him but it's not the same.

Yes I have 6mo girl, and sometimes I look at her and just cry lol. It's a combination of how much I love her, nostalgia for those magical first few days, and excitement at how well she's growing. I grief each stage, but also look forward to seeing who she'll become.

Yyyyyyyup. Babies don’t keep. Kids are the best (scariest!) embodiment of the passage of time, you can see it flying right before your eyes.