I read somewhere that the years of childhood fly by, but the minutes of a single day feel like they just stop.  I find that to be so true. There are days I stand in my bedroom in the morning thinking, “What am I going to do with them today.” I try to be a fun mom, a mom who plays games and reads books and plays out side and does crafts. We do all of those things. But there are days when I think I just can’t play one more game of trains and cars. I can’t do one more craft.

I love being home with my boys but it is exhausting. I spend my days wiping noses, wiping butts, doing laundry, doing dishes. It seems like the minute I get the kitchen cleaned up, someone is asking for something else to eat. The minute I get all the laundry washed and put away, someone has an accident. The minute I get the floor swept or mopped, something gets spilled. It’s never ending. Some days, I look at the clock and think, “My gosh, it’s only 8:45 in the morning!” Only to look at the clock an hour later and realize, it’s really only been 15 minutes. The days drag. The minutes crawl. But, the years do fly by. My baby, my youngest is going to be 4 in less than a month. How did that happen?

When Christopher was a newborn Jim and I took both boys out to lunch. As Jacob, who was just 19 months old, was running all over the restaurant, I held Christopher in my arms, trying to unpack a bottle, a jar of baby food, searching around in the diaper bag for Jacob’s spoon and then realizing Christopher needed a diaper change. I looked up at Jim and said, “I can’t wait for the day when we can just leave the house without a diaper bag, without having to make sure I have a bottle and baby food and special baby spoons and diapers. When we can just go to a restaurant, sit down, order food and everyone can feed themselves. Or get in the car and go anywhere and know we won’t have to turn around because we forgot something.”

My brother-in-law put it perfectly. He told us, “You are in the eye of the hurricane. Wait until they get to be about 3, when they are potty trained. It makes all the difference. Life does get easier.” I remember thinking we’d never get there but, that day came more quickly than I ever thought it could. Both of my boys can feed themselves. They can order just about anything on a menu and neither of them wears diapers anymore.

It does get easier. With each passing day they become more and more independent.  I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and I know it is not an oncoming train. As I said, the years do fly. And I want to cherish every moment of them while they are little. There will come a time when I might not be their favorite person, a time when they won’t both crawl up into my lap after a day of play. I realize this. And I know I made the right decision staying home with them. Much of the time I do enjoy them. But there are days that feel never ending.