Just Another Manic Monday?

All parents have had those days, weeks, months where we are at the end of our rope and feel like a kid is always tugging on our shirt, or wiping their nose on our sleeves, or begging for a snack.  We all have those moments where we mutter a phrase similar to "just stop talking" under our breathes or in frustration yell out "JUST GO TO SLEEP!"  Kid's roles in our lives are to drive us insane so they can have us committed when we get older and rule the world.  But it's funny how all of those little things that we view as annoyance change in an instant.

This is the case for me as I sit here writing it after spending some extra special time with my girls tonight.  You see what started as a typical Monday morning (other than I had to register Kayla for Kindergarten!!) changed in an instant when a half sheet of paper was handed to me at preschool drop off.  We learned a family in Kayla's class was faced with their worst nightmare, their son was diagnosed with leukemia.  I don't know this little boy or his parents, I do know I have heard Kayla talk about him quite a bit, but none of that mattered.  I think all parents get that pit in their stomach as soon as they hear another family going through something.  You get that moment of just sadness and heartbreak for that family and what they will have to face, and then that since of guilt for taking for granted the time we do have with our kids.

By now we all know I have a problem with over commitment and always being busy.  So because of this I try to enjoy the time I do spend with my kids.  For the most part I love bedtime. I love spending time reading them stories, or making them up like my dad used to do (come on Andi you remember the girl who wanted a pony but got a pig because she wore pigtails!) and tucking them in.  But there are nights, even weeks sometimes, where I want to rush through it and get out of there room and enjoy my quiet time for an hour before bed.  But tonight, I felt like I could sit in there and cuddle with Abs and listen to Kayla tell me stories about dinosaurs stealing her cds all night. I wanted to soak up as much time with them as possible.  And I got to thinking, why does it take a sad situation to remind us that these moments are just that, moments.  Before we know it, our babies are registering for kindergarten or going off to college.  We never stop to think about the what if's until something like this hits closer to home.

What's the point of all of this you ask..I wish I could tell you.  I wish I could sit here and say that from now on I will cherish every minute I get to spend with my kids.  That I will joyfully let them crawl in bed and smile when they kick me in the face at 2am, but let's face it, life gets in our way.  I'm sure for this week I will hug my kids a little tighter and listen more closely to their stories.  But ask me in a week and I bet I will be frustrated that Abs waited until after she peed on her chair to tell me she had to go potty or pulling my hair out trying to help Kayla pick an outfit out for the day.  I wish I could say I don't need the daily reminder that not every family is lucky enough to have these be their biggest problems, but I am human.  We tend to be busy people who forget how good we truly do have it.  So I guess the point of this is to serve as a reminder for all you amazing parents out there...these little frustrations in our life are just that, LITTLE frustrations.  We can mutter under our breathe and sigh heavily, but let's try to remember some parents wish these were the frustrations they were dealing with.

So while I still have this reminder of just how amazing these two crazy kids are, even during the frustrating time, I'm going to go tuck them in a little tighter and start to prepare for the battle of what to wear with Kayla.