Joanna Gaines Tugs At Fans' Heartstrings With A Throwback Of Her Little Boy

When Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip first appeared on our television screens, they were a family of six living in Waco, Texas, with a home renovation business that was the focus of their hit television show "Fixer Upper," per via USA Today. But a lot has changed for the duo since their debut. They've been instrumental in turning the city of Waco into a vacation destination, says Vox, similar to how The Pioneer Woman's Mercantile restaurant and other businesses have revitalized Pawhuska, Oklahoma (via KTUL). The Gainses have made big career moves, from Joanna writing several cookbooks and starring in a cooking show, "Magnolia Table," to launching the Magnolia Network. But some of the biggest changes for the star have been in her personal life.

In 2018, Chip announced on Instagram that he and Joanna were expecting a fifth child together. Between work and family, the Gainses even decided to take a break from TV the same year that their baby Crew was born. So much has happened for the family since that fateful year, and Gaines recently took to Instagram to share a throwback post of her youngest child that made fans feel seriously sentimental about the passage of time.

In a post on Instagram, Joanna Gaines shared a side-by-side photo of her son Crew as a baby, and in the present day as a 4-year-old. In both pictures, Crew is swaddled in a cuddly blanket with just his head popping out. "Babies don't keep," Gaines said in the caption. "Just pretending this FOUR year old is still a baby." It's hard to believe that the baby on the left is now old enough to go skiing! 

Lots of fans expressed their shock that Crew was already 4 years old. "Time has gone by so fast," shared one commenter on the post, which has received more than 200,000 likes. "Being a mom is so weird sometimes," empathized another user. One person even shared a personal poem they had written about how hard it is when it feels like your kids are growing up too fast. But lest things get too serious, a another fan lightened the mood with a few funny words of encouragement. "Once the baby always the baby," joked the commenter — "just ask my 40 year old!"