They won't stay young forever...

My kids are growing up. I realize this. Kaleb just turned 7. Katherine is STILL 7 for another month and a half. Nice, huh? Abbey is going on 6 in October and Livvy will be 3 next week. How fast the years fly by. My baby...isn't a baby anymore and hasn't been for quite some time, and yet that's how I still refer to her when talking to people. I have to pick up the baby, or the baby is sick, or the baby is at school. Ok...since when do actual babies go to school? That should be a good indicator that I need to break this habit I have of always calling her 'the baby'.

What prompted this was thinking about how excited my kids always seem to get when I walk in the door. It's the same with Kris-it's not like I'm just the coolest, nicest mom ever-FAR FROM IT!! If I come home from work, or if I have been gone for a few hours, the kids run to the door screaming 'Mommy! Mommy!' and it reminds me that I can't be doing a horrible job raising them. Abbey and Livvy I think capture my heart the most with this. They are still just so excited...beyond excited really. I LOVED picking the kids up from Grace last year because EVERY day, no matter what, Abbey would take off running the minute she saw me, screaming 'Mommy! Mommy!' and give me a hug.

This year, for the most part, Kris drops Livvy off and picks her up at preschool. But today I had the priviledge of picking her up. When I walked in, she was busy playing (unsupervised by the way which concerned me but I am choosing not to blog about tonight beyond this run on sentence). She kept on playing while all these others kids just stared at me...and I just watched her for a couple of minutes. Finally, I said "Olivia..."

And there it was. Her face lit up, her eyes grew wide and she took off running towards me screaming 'Mommy! Mommy!'. I swept her up into my arms and hugged her. It was a great 'mom moment' for me. I needed that after this crazy "kids-still-sick week". Of course the moment didn't last too long because as soon as I put her in the Explorer she said "Why is Daddy not in here?" Oh well...it was great while it lasted.

This whole thing makes me realize a day will come when my kids will cease being THAT excited to see me. They will inevitable become more independent, more distant, and less excited to see me. Hopefully it will just be your normal teenage phases and we will come away from those trying years close and connected. It's little moments like that though that remind me to slow down and enjoy these years now. I can already see Katherine and Kaleb becoming more independent and before long they will all four be entering those crazy pre-teen and teenage years. I have to savor these moments because they will not always be there.