Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Dear Mom who is ahead of me in life

Dear Mom who is ahead of me in life,

When you say, "Enjoy these days, dear.  If you blink, you will miss them.  You will miss these days when your little ones are raised," you will need to be a little more specific.

 I get the gist of your statement.  No, really, I do!  But, when I am tired, and I have just finished cleaning up the, what seems to be weekly, broken glass off my kitchen floor by vacuuming on my hands and knees to make sure I get every.single.shard, and then mopping while my back is killing me, and then another child comes to tell me that so-and-so has just peed on the bathroom floor upstairs, and then another child grabs the bucket of school supplies that has been placed high, so that others cannot reach it, but then it dumps all over the living room floor, and then another one says, "Uh-oh, mommy, I made a mess," and you turn around to find goldfish all over the floor...well, I'm thinking, "NO WAY!  I will NOT miss these moments!  I'm going to blink as fast as I can!"

So, you see, for those of us who are behind you in life experience...we need you to be more specific.  What will I miss?  Tell me about the special moments you miss, so that I can hang on to them for dear life in the really difficult moments.

For those who are behind me in life experience, please allow me to share the moments to hang on to:
-those first moments with your newborn
-that sweet newborn smell
-the smell of baby lotion
-sweet, squishy kisses
-coos
-the first smiles
-yucky, slobbery baby kisses on your cheek
-the triumph of sitting up for 10 seconds...the first time
-the triumph of crawling...the first time
-the triumph of first steps...the first time
-hearing "mama"
-all of the first times
-indescribable baby giggles

I know when you are in the midst of sleep deprivation, and you're hungry, and you need a shower, but feeding the baby is the most important thing on your agenda, and at the moment, it is difficult to see what you will miss.  I feel ya!  I'm right there with you, but in the toddler zone!  I know there are things I will miss about having toddlers, but for now...I'm so busy I don't have time to think about it!  I think I need to spend some fun time with my kids this afternoon, and savor the fun moments!