You will miss the adorable little laughs, and the lazy afternoon trips to the park when you had nothing else to do. You will miss the sticky kisses and hugs, and the “You are my best friend, Mommy,” that followed. You will miss having one or two little ones on your lap while you read “Good Night Moon” for the one millionth time. You will miss snuggling with that chubby little toddler after they wake up from a nap and are still just a little groggy. You will miss standing by and watching that little one sleep, wondering what the future held in store for them. You will even miss the middle of the night feedings when it was just you, baby, and a quiet house. You will miss the nights of rocking that baby to sleep. You, like me, will look back on those years, and you will miss them…parts of them anyway. Those years DO go fast, even though it feels like they will never end while you are in the middle of them.īefore you know it, those impossible little ones will be heading off the high school, and you will wonder where the time went.

Now that I am a few years removed from those crazy hard years, I can understand why those sweet women would look at me nostalgically while I struggled with my little ones and tell me to enjoy it. I think it was apparent to those sweet women that I was NOT enjoying motherhood when they saw me sweating and frazzled while trying to attempt what should have been a simple task – grocery shopping. With four children in tow, it seemed more like an Olympic sport to me. I would always politely say, “Yes, I will try,” while thoughts of “She has got to be crazy for telling me that right now,” raced through my mind. They grow up so fast, and you will miss these days.” There were also those occasions when I would be wrestling my little ones in the grocery store, trying to squelch the latest tantrum because I wouldn’t buy that candy bar or toy, when some well-meaning individual, usually a woman whose kids were all grown, would smile and say, “Enjoy it while you can. I got a kick out of the looks of amazement when I proudly stated that they were all mine, which was usually followed by comments such as “You sure have your hands full.” I often got comments like “You look way too young to have so many kids.” I took those observations as a compliment. You know the kind of looks that I am talking about…the ones that say, “What were you thinking when you had ALL those kids?” When they were young, it was not uncommon for me to get looks from people of all ages and backgrounds when I was out and about with three or four little kids in tow.

They are relatively close in age, with a mere ten years between first and last.

Enjoying moment