I'm gonna miss this!

Isn't it funny how you can be thinking something and then someone else writes a blog about it right at the same time! I was feeling that way when MckMama wrote THIS post the other day. It is titled "I'm gonna miss this". You should really go and read her post about this, as she does a much better job than I could ever do at describing what I am feeling. There are so many times in my day that I am overwhelmed, irritated, anxious, tired, impatient and frazzled. And even though I don't talk much about my experience back in Jan-March of this year, it is still very present on my mind. I remember lying in that hospital bed thinking that once I am able to get up and run around with my kids again, I won't ever complain or wish that time away. Ever since we have had our fourth sweet addition in April our life has been nothing but FULL. We moved into a house, had a baby, Phillip did MANY improvements in and outside of our house requiring many extra hours of work, summer began with many trips and Phillip being out of town quite often and VERY busy, Champ never quite getting into a great nightly sleeping pattern as we've been very flexible and spontaneous with him thus far, and lastly the kids got a crazy cough the first of August and it is just now slowly going away. All that to say, inside I'm probably the most tired I've ever been. But despite all of the craziness, as a parent I feel like I've had some of my sweetest times with my kids in the past 5 months. I have such a renewed perspective on how QUICKLY time goes by and how FAST these precious children grow up. I want to cherish this crazy time in our lives because before I know it, they'll all be off to school and I won't see them for 7 whole hours each day! I can't even fathom that right now! We thought about doing preschool for the girls this year, but I opted out at the last minute...wanting to cherish this time together with no plans, no schedules, just the freedom to choose our days and be together all the time if we want (me and the kids that is...Phillip is hard at work and then hard at play when he is home). I never catch myself saying, "I wish they were 10yrs old already!" or "I wish they were older and could do things for themselves". More than anything I hear myself saying, "I'm gonna miss this!" and then I try even harder to muster up the patience to go lay with the girls for the fifteenth time that night so they will go to sleep. We are not promised tomorrow, we only have today. When I look back 10 years from now, with my 13, 13, 11, and 10 year olds, I want to have sweet sweet memories of mothering my little ones that carried over into the sweet sweet years of adolescence, teenage years and beyond..
I know, I'm gonna miss this: