If you are a mom or dad like me you probably can’t remember the last time you had a hot cup of coffee that was still hot at the last drop or a night you actually slept 8 hours without an interruption. I get why some people don’t have any kids and I get why some of my friends have five. Raising kids is hard but totally fulfilling.
Friends told me I would be so tired with a newborn but nobody told me years later I would still be lacking sleep with a 4 year old who has occasional nightmares or a 2 year old who prefers your hair as a lovey. Trying to scheduling a pedicure or a date with your spouse is more complicated than doing your taxes!
I could have run circles around myself as a mom of one. Having two kids (especially when they are babies or toddlers) requires more than two hands maybe even more than four. A simple trip to the grocery story takes about an hour and a half with just one child and you end up leaving with a bunch of random purchases when you get distracted a billion times or your child gets hungry.
Children will teach you how to eat a sandwich faster then a champion food competitor. They will show you that going to the bathroom requires an audience. They will challenge you to a better debate then you could have had in any college class. But they will also teach you to laugh so hard you will pee your pants and teach you to love so hard your heart will feel like it could just burst out of your chest.
Although I am exhausted half the time and don’t have much time for myself, I am scared for that day to come when they are all grown up and don’t need me anymore. My daughter asked me the other day when she would turn 5. I told her to just enjoy being 4 that she will turn 5 soon enough.
There are still lots of poopy diapers, lots of screaming, crying and lots of snuggles on my chest still ahead for me. I am going to enjoy every moment because one day I will blink and my children will be asking me for the car keys and the house will be silent and I will miss the noise. I will miss the sound of a diaper rustling, I will miss the sound of that little voice asking for a snack, and I will miss the way their hiney sticks up in the air when they are deep in sleep. The days ahead will be long but I know the years are short.
What do you miss the most from your children being babies, toddlers?