I'm in denial

My baby will be one in exactly 8 days. She is starting to get presents in the mail and it's like time as gotten away from me. At first, we (the three of us) were planning on just going to the zoo, open her presents, and eat cake. Now I want to decorate the house and have a small get together. I don't know if I'm in denial because none of our family will be here to help her celebrate or just the simple fact that I'm not ready for her to grow up. My precious is turning one! What am I going to do? How am I going to get through this? I asked my mom how mothers do it and this is what she told me,

"You look at their pictures to hold onto them being little and dependent on you and then you

smile at what they have become! You let them crawl into your lap/bed even as teenagers

when they work your next to last nerve; you cry at their weddings, your cry when they

move away, you cry when they move away with your grandchildren-I guess tears are the

cleaning mechanism."

I cried when she first told me that and I'm getting teary eyed typing it. I can only imagine what I will be like on August 27. I must go now and cuddle with my little, big girl.