Amber's 8

Today Amber turned 8. I am having such a hard time with this. 8 is really hard. Why is it harder than 7? I don't remember 8 being a big deal. 12 was a big deal to me. In NH, you could stop wearing a seat belt at 12. That meant you were grown up!! How cool are you now-right??? But what makes 8 so hard for me as a mom? Yesterday Amber asked if she could get her ears pierced while we were at the mall!! EARS PIERCED?? Talk about hyperventilate. Tim and I always said that when she was old enough to decide for herself, then we would consider it. Of course we made that statement when she was BORN-8 years ago,(because everyone asked us if we were going to pierce her ears) thinking she would never reach an age where she would want earrings. How naive. First time parents- she would be a baby forever. WRONG!! Here is my baby- in Claire's going "Mom, aren't these earrings sooo cool?" No they're not cool... Well, anyway, it was too expensive to get her ears pierced. She took a friend to Build a Bear instead. But now that is in her head. OOH earrings. Man, I can't handle this growing up stuff.