You're Gonna Miss This

I flew out of the house with Katie tonight, the very second that Dan walked in the door. Katie had squashed her head between two doors (hard to imagine, isn't it?) and Jackson was mad that I was so rude as to place him on the ground while I put the stroller away. He was screaming very loudly to express his discontent. Ouch!

Dan walked in the door and I left to go to the store, and Katie asked nicely if she could come with me. I said yes, and we escaped. On the way home, the song "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins was on the radio. It's a beautiful song that I've listened to often already on my iPod. But tonight the words really hit home to me. "You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast."

I've spent so much of my kids' lives just wishing and waiting for the next stage to begin. I rarely slow down and think about what we've already passed and what they've accomplished. Right now I'm wishing that Jackson would just get through the "put everything in my mouth" stage so I can let him play outside more safely. But I don't stop to think how he's advanced so much past some of those other "annoying" stages. I don't have to carry him a sling all day long anymore. I don't have to get up every 2 or 3 or 4 hours and nurse. I don't have to rock him all the way into a dead sleep at night. I don't have to get bottles ready or rice cereal or baby food in jars. And when he wants something, he can pick himself up and walk over to it - hallelujah! No more laying on the floor trying to roll over.

And while I don't quite miss these days just yet, I already know what I'll miss about right now: I'll miss being able to pick Jackson up and hold his little body in my arms. One day he'll be the bigger one, holding me! I'll miss pillow talk with Katie in the mornings, when Jackson's down for his nap and Katie calls me into her room and we start the day with, "Good morning, I love you, we're going to have a great day," say a little prayer, and talk about what we're going to do that day. I'm going to miss Jackson wobbling over to greet me at the door when I return from an escape trip out of the house. One day he'll run instead of wobbling, and then one day I'll be lucky just to get "Hey, Mom!"

"These are some good times, so take a good look around. You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this..." (Trace Adkins)