Early Morning Mourning

I woke up too early & couldn't fall back asleep. So I go up & started working on some birthday surprises for my youngest.

My early morning musings led me to these thoughts:

For people who  have 1 or 2 children & have them close together, their years of active parenting of the whole "family" gig are so short.

Of course they are always parents & they always are family. I mean those years with littles, of reading bedtime stories & holding them on your lap & making everything better with a popcicle...

If you have 2 children, bam boom, in 20 years it's all over. They are grown.

Wow.

I have been doing the parenting thing for 26 years now. My youngest will be 6 in 2 weeks (hence the sad reflection) 

And I am in mourning. I am sad that I have no more babies. I am sad that I only have just a few more precious years of bedtime stories & stuffed animals & puppy pants & Lincoln Logs.

I love my big kids & yes it is so nice that they are independent beings but at heart I am a mommy & I love to be needed.

I love being able to make somebodies whole birthday just by sewing them up a pair of fleece pants with puppies on them.

That just doesn't really happen once they hit their 20's...

So I guess maybe the moral of the story is ~ don't let it pass you by.

Don't be so busy or so tired or so distracted that you miss it. Because it's gone so fast.

Yes it's so hard to be a mommy to little ones who need you constantly & all you really want is to go to the bathroom alone...

But in reality you will have a whole lifetime to go to the bathroom alone & those fingers under the door or constant knocking & someone saying 'mom'... it will gone in just a short while.

Love your babies. Hold them .Read to them. Let them wreck the living room with a fort or 6,349 Legos. Your house will be clean & clutter free for years when they are grown.

Put down your phone or your computer or your ipad or whatever box you have & go love on your kids. Do something messy & annoying & time consuming JUST  because they want to.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to climb into bed with one of my kids & poke at them until they wake up & need me...


Blessings.