Growing up...

 My shortcomings as a Mom are plentiful....some days they are all I can think about...and I forget that I do a lot of things right too! I try and prepare my kids to help themselves...to be autonomous...to find their own toys instead of always needing me to find them. While that's a good skill to have, it also has caused my mind to compartmentalize their needy behavior....and that is NOT good. Something that i realized today is that my kids need to learn how to stand on their own two feet...but they also REALLY need a Mom that rocks them to sleep and allows them to be little. It honestly makes me tear up just thinking...and regretting...all the times that I have NOT done that because "they have to learn". This is true...they DO need to learn...but rocking them...singing to them...nurturing their precious spirits...doesn't screw them up...it allows us Mommy's to remember how precious and fleeting these little kid days are. It allows us to have those still quiet moments with them. Smelling their hair. Rubbing their back. Wishing that we could record this moment and remember it always. I am going to make a "belated New years resolution" to be present with my kids...and to take it all in...because life with small children is an amazing selfless time that we will never get back...and we need to hold on tight for as long as we can!!