Growing up

She's just 2 years old - 2 years and 5 months, actually.

I laid her down in her bed tonight, and she said, "hey mommy?" (virtually every other sentence begins with those two beautiful words). "Hey Mommy? Stay here" I have trash all over my house from my Hopi "kids" being over, and my bach aches from the work of the day, but I can't say no tonight. So I sit on the floor by her bed. She puts out her hand and says, "hold hands" and slips her soft little hand into mine.

My heart aches at the beauty of the moment. While on one hand I wonder how I'm going to manage life with a 2 year old and a newborn and not a minute for me, on the other hand, I feel the time slipping by all too quickly, and soon her soft little hand will be too busy to hold mine. I don't want the moment to end... but it will, and another beautiful moment will take it's place.

Someone once told me about raising kids that every age is the best... I thought that can't be true. But as I experience every age through Charissa and now Caleb, I discover there is something so utterly novel in each moment, in every age and phase, that in capturing it, we discover the essence of living. May these moments not pass by too quickly, and may I not be too busy to cherish them.