Size of the Universe

Very interesting.. I had heard of this before, but always considered it one of those "far out" ideas.But there's something I'm confused with... And here it is.So the idea would be:- we see ourselves now, in this time
- we use a powerful telescope that can look back, say 5 billion (light)years, and maybe what we see is actually our OWN galaxy 5 billion years ago
- we use an EVEN more powerful telescope that can look back, say 10 billion (light)years, and maybe what we see is our own galaxy TEN billion years agoOk, sounds in some way thinkable.But why would this be "discrete"? Where are the intermediate "past stages"?Think about making a painting in paint software, with the "brush" tool, where you can configure the spacing between brushstrokes when you move the mouse. THe example with the telescopes of different power, would be like painting with a brush that leaves, say 100 pixels (5 billion years) between brush impressions on the canvas. But why wouldn't it be like a brush with NO intervals (resulting in a solid line on the canvas), all past stages still visible.I hope you understand what I mean.