"Charms of the the Present"

So I came across this quote on Facebook the other day:

“You will never have this day with your children again. Tomorrow they’ll be a little older than they were today. This day is a gift, breathe and notice, smell and touch them; study their faces and little feet and pay attention. Relish the charms of the present. Enjoy today, mama. It will be over before you know it” – Jen Hatmaker

 I used it as a blog post, and made you all feel warm and fuzzy and you went and hugged your babies, and vowed to cherish every moment, right?

Hahahaha. Oh wait. Maybe not. Now, I understand this quote is supposed to be inspiring and encouraging and reminding me to live in the moment with my children. I'm supposed to appreciate every minute that I am with them because soon they will be all grown up.

Please don't get me wrong. I love my children to the moon and back and would do anything for them. But do I appreciate every moment of the day? No. Do I "relish the charms of the present?" Not necessarily. The "charms of the present" for me right now include doing oodles of laundry because my eldest son has decided he's no longer night trained or my youngest son has spit up breastmilk on my shirt (and pants) again. Hmm, or what about the charming five year old who is constantly whining or purposely irritating her younger brother?

The truth is, some days are crappy. That's all there is to it. Some days, we bicker and butt heads. Some days, my kids get leftover Kraft dinner for supper - not even fresh KD, but the leftover stuff. Sometimes, my kids don't get a bath when they should because I'm too tired to spend half an hour sitting on the toilet by the tub, repeating "don't splash" nor do I want to deal with washing and combing C's hair. Some days, I count down the hours until daddy gets home or until that glorious time of day known as bedtime. Bedtime for the kiddies means peace and quiet and sitting still for me.

I understand that before I can even think about it, my babies will be grown. I am very aware that in the blink of an eye, my sweet, cuddly newborn baby will be five and going into Kindergarten. Wasn't Chelsea just born yesterday? I know that soon sweet, sweet Gavin will no longer yell "Mommy" at the top of his lungs and come running at me whenever I enter the house. I know that someday, Chelsea will stop asking me to "wake me up when you go to sleep for one last cuddle." And it's hard to believe that EY is already two months. Soon he'll be asking to borrow the keys to go for a drive!

So sometimes when I read that above quote, I panic. I am doing my best, my hardest, most days. I panic at the thought of my children growing up. I suffer from mommy guilt when I'm not enjoying the everyday moments or when I am counting down the hours until bedtime, or when I groan because G and his little self comes into my room at 6:15 in the morning and says "I wuv you mom. Wet's go downstairs" or because sometimes I wish I could turn off the baby monitor so I don't have to hear EY waking up every few hours during the night. After all, these are all moments I should be cherishing, right?

But then I realize, man alive, I am a good mom. I love my babies more than anything. I give up my time and my sanity for them. I give out oodles of patience and hugs and kisses and bandaids. I change diapers and wipe bums and kiss away tears and scrub dirty fingers and toes. We do family camping trips and trips to Tinkertown. We go to carnivals and the pool. We get our faces painted. The list goes on and on.

So I offer this advice - go love on your babies. Take a few extra minutes when tucking them in tonight to read that "just one more" story and to tell them, really tell them, how special and precious they are. Those are the "charms of the present" that I will cherish and remember. Those are the moments that my kids will remember.