I did not think it would be like this.  I mean, I went to bed last night with toddler girls running around my home, and I woke up this morning with two teenagers and a pre-teen.  I still feel like the same mom, but my kids look different. I often have a hard time convincing myself that I actually have a 15 year old. Despite the ridiculous speed of life, my girls have shaken our world with new and exciting challenges.  Instead of potty training, we now have driver’s training.  Instead of messes with dolls and blocks, we have messes of makeup and hair product.  Play dates with friends are now texting with friends. Without mentioning names, one of my girls texted 1500 times in 11 days. Humm…and yes, we are dealing with this one.

Their bodies are changing too.  Along with the normal preteen and teen changes, I am shocked at how much and how fast my girls have grown.  I discovered last night that my 11 year old does not fit in a single pair of her shoes.  What has she been wearing for shoes you ask? Well, it dawned on me that she has been wearing my shoes and her older sister’s shoes.  We did get her a pair of shoes after a nice conversation of how she did not feel she needed shoes as much as other kids around the world. I finally insisted, realizing she was feeling guilty or something like that, so we bought her some new shoes. The truth is, I don’t want her wearing my shoes all the time because her feet smell like pre-teen feet.

Their speech is more articulate now. Julia is using intellectual words and phrases and surprising us with her scientific vocabulary, using words that I embarrassingly have to ask for clarification. Honestly though, this girl came out of the womb talking, so it’s no surprise.  Oh…and my husband and I can no longer hide conversations from the girls.  Like, we can’t spell things out that we don’t want the girls to understand and we can’t use code words or have covert conversations….the girls know when we are trying to hide something.

Their friendships are changing too. Middle school years are tough with vicious drama and rallying for position.  I am shocked at some of the terrible things little girls say to each other.  No wonder why kids come through middle school with so much insecurity….and then put puberty on top of that!

But even with all their rapid fire changes in life, and their supersonic estrogen explosions, one thing remains the same in all of their lives. I see it every single night when I tuck my girls into bed. Just like when they were little with their binky’s hanging out of their mouths and their bears tucked safely next to them, my girls still want the security of knowing they are ok.  Seems like no matter what the day was like, no matter how hard, no matter who got in trouble, my girls still need the security of knowing that when they shut their eyes, they are safe, secure, loved and accepted.   Yep, I still have a job and so does my husband.   Sure, my kids may look bigger and act older, but they still need us… they still need support and they need to know everything is gonna be alright. I have a feeling my job is not going to be done for a long long time!