A Sad Reality...

The other night while taking a hot, quiet bath to mask the foreshadowing achy feeling I was having, I was reading my monthly go to guide for parental advice...my Parents Magazine...March issue. Kyle had so kindly done the bedtime routine and was downstairs reverting back to his little boyness by playing video games on Xbox Live. While browsing the periodical pages I came upon an article about providing a positive and memorable childhood for your children, which as parents should ultimately be one of our goals as a parent, right? The article was titled Savor the Moments and it talked about fun ideas to be spontaneous with your kiddos, such as pajama ice cream runs and including your mini mes in everything you do (like changing the oil which Kyle and Kaden did together this morning).

As I was reading I came upon a particular excerpt that caught my emotional attention:

"In the course of a crazy day, imagine your biological parenthood clock wound forward to the time when your children have grown and left home. Picture their tousled bedrooms as clean and empty. See the backseat of the car vacuumed and without a car seat or crumbs. Playroom shelves neatly stacked with dusty toys. Laundry under control. Then rewind the imaginary clock back to now, and see today's minutes of mayhem for what they are: finite and fleeting."

Cue uncontrollable sobbing...the tears started pouring and I came to the realization (I am crying again now as my fingers hit each key on my keyboard) that my babies won't always be babies and I need to savor each and every minute of their little lives because they won't always want strawberry syrup in their milk, they won't always wake up happy to see me, they won't always want to help me with things, or pick out their clothes, or cuddle with me, or come in from playing in the dirt with gobs of mud in between their chubby little fingers (splash...a tear drop just hit the space bar).

So forget the laundry, forget the dust, forget the growing pile of dishes in the sink...my most important job right now isn't making the beds each morning, it is playing, laughing, and having fun with my little men while they are still little. Therefore, excuse me while I go get some paint and paper so that when Kyle gets home from picking up Kaleb from school we can make some more memories and get a little messy.