Someone said to me recently, ” I wish our kids still went to bed at 7:00″ and that little comment really made me think. Our biggest battle right now is which book to read, which story to tell, and getting our girls to bed before 8:00. Am I exhausted by 8PM? You bet. Am I counting down the minutes until my kids are asleep and I have my quiet time? Yes ma’am! However, my two and four year old are growing up way too fast and this season will shift to another one. Have you ever looked over at your child and noticed how much they have grown? Their chubby thighs have leaned out, their expressions are more grown up, and it just hits you in the face that your baby is growing up. How could this happen so darn fast?
One day they won’t be requesting that extra book, water, or whatever stall tactic they have on any said night. I told my husband that this made me change my perspective. I am going to try my absolute hardest to soak up this season of life.
My oldest will enter Kindergarten next year and we can put the full time school schedule and homework off for one more year. As a work from home mom, I have the freedom to take my girls on an adventure on any given day. I have the freedom to be intentional with our time together. There are times that I get so wrapped up in trying to do it all that I do not see the beauty right in front of me. I lose focus and start counting down the minutes until bed time. I am teaching my girls how to go after your dreams and work hard towards them, but it is easy to forget how fortunate it is to be able to stay at home with them. I get to take them to school, go to their after school activities, and be present in their every day routine. Sometimes I am the mom dragging in my crying two year old to her older sisters gymnastics class and I am asking myself, “Is it too early for a glass of wine?”, but I am present and that means the world to my daughter.
One day they will not want to be seen with me and I will embarrass them. Maybe I will be lucky and they will always want me to kiss their foreheads in public, but that’s not being realistic now is it?
I am still human and I will lose sight of this new perspective on the very, very long days, but the years truly are short! As cliche as this saying is, I am in such a beautiful season of life.
These are the years we will reminisce about when they are older.
These are the years that are bonding us.
These are the years that my husband and I can look at our sleeping girls and forget everything that happened that day. We just want to hold them and enjoy their sweet innocent faces.
