Little Critters

This morning after sleeping in I woke to the joyful noises of my children playing together (*via the baby monitor.) I rolled over and realised my hubby- who always sleeps longer than me- is already up and gone. Hmmm? I layed their lazily for a moment before climbing out of bed and going in search of the rest of my family.

The boys were in the theater playing rock band and singing at the top of their lungs, Brady is in front of his computer mixing music on his new toy, and then I find my princess...She is sitting on the floor in her room, still in her cozy pj's, looking at her collection of LPS. (For those of you that don't have daughters... that is Littlest Pet Shop.)

I leaned against the door frame to watch her and she sensed my presence. As she looked up her brown hair fell back from her face which lit up with a smile. She stood up and came over to put her arms around me and gave me a HUGE hug. The rested her chin against my chest, gazed up at me and asked,

"Do you want to play Littlest Pet Shop?"

The first thought.. not really... but then the thought came to my mind. My baby girl is 10 years old and is asking me to spend time with her, how many more times will this happen before she is locking her door and telling me to go away?

So of course I sat down on the floor and said, "OK, what do we do?" Her sweet laugh filled the air- "There are no rules, we just play." She proceeded to show me all 30+ figurines and their names and what each one likes to do, who is her favorite and which accessory came with each. She then told me what her brother does when he plays and how the motorcycles and race cars get involved.

I have been struck several times this week by the speed at which their life's are passing me by. I was looking at photos of them as toddlers and began to cry, Tyler asked why I was crying, I told him they are growing up too fast. "I'm sorry" was his response.

Wasn't it just months ago that we were by their side in the NICU praying for them? Then moving them from an infant seat to a transition seat to a booster chair... now they buckle in all by themselves, with out a thought about mom and dad's help.

My baby's aren't baby's anymore... I am afraid to blink, for when I open my eyes again they will be teenagers, then missionaries and college students, then newly weds. I remember being younger and people telling me to enjoy my baby's because it would be over so quickly. But I couldn't wait for the next milestone, now I see what they meant, and wish I had spent more time just sitting with them, enjoying each stage.

Today I turn over a new leaf... I am going to start appreciating every moment. It passes too quickly.