A few of my favorite things

I've heard a colloquialism that with children the "days are long, but the years are short" and of course you ALWAYS hear that it all goes by too fast. Certainly these things are true, but now more than ever I cherish each and every moment with my children. When Noah was a little guy, I counted the minutes until he outgrew his reflux. Everyone gave me a different timeline -- people said "my child stopped screaming from reflux and colic at 4 months, 6 months, 1 year...." Noah stopped at 14 months. I wished a lot of days away.

But now... not so much.

We have so many wonderful little routines that melt my heart.

Noah wakes up in the morning and from his naps cheerfully saying "I had a GREAT nap!" and comes and snuggles with us for at least a half hour after each.

Before nap and bedtime he always sways "mommy, please sleep with me for a little while" and both Paul and I gladly snuggle up for 5 minutes (or more if we fall asleep!)

We have read the book "I'll love you forever" so many times that we all walk around the house reciting the lines to the song over and over again. Noah will often walk up to us and say "I'll love you forever! As long as you're living my baby you'll be!"

Today I said to him "You're the best little boy in the WHOLE world" and he responded "No, Mommy, YOU'RE the best little boy in the whole world."

Often when Noah has a grumpy face all I have to say to him is "I bet you can't keep from smiling" and he breaks out into giggles.

He is constantly walking around the house saying "Guess What?" and we always answer "what?" and his response is "I love you!!!!"

After he woke up from his nap today we were sitting on the couch and he was drinking from a cup shaped like a hippo. He had a stuffed reindeer in his lap. We made the two fly across the couch and talk to each other and do a little dance. Then he did Itsy Bitsy Spider on my face. It all brings tears to my eyes over and over again. I am so aware that we won't make our cups fly forever. We won't do Itsy Bitsy spider forever. We won't snuggle on the couch together forever. There will be days when he wants nothing to do with me. But for now, I am the center of his world. I know how to make him laugh or smile every single time.

Noah is my right hand man. He helps me clean. He makes me smile. Last night he dusted the Entertainment Center for me. He sorts my laundry and puts all the dishes in the dishwasher. He wipes off the table after dinner. He will clean up the playroom when he's asked. When Sarah was here one day last week I told him he had to shut off his computer game as soon as his Daddy got home. Sarah told me he was smack dab in the middle of the game when Paul walked in the door. He looked right at her and said "My daddy's home, I need to turn this off."

We have been very strict with him from the beginning and I really feel that it has paid off enormously. Sure, he is still three and has his bumbles, but I am so proud of who he is right now.

And my sweet little girl. She has a much easier plight than her brother and is not in as much pain as he was. She is a smiley creature and is such a joy to be around. It is amazing to see her observe our life and soak it all in. She watches every single movement of her brother and idolizes his every smile. When she cries, Noah is the first to run to her and smile to help her and cheer her up.

These special little every day moments are my favorite things right now. I don't want to ever forget them. I know that tomorrow they will be different and I'll miss them tremendously. For now, I'll take all the snuggles and wide mouth grins I can get.