A sweetness comes from parenting a significant age gap and entering the baby phase again. You don’t just understand the saying, ‘The years are short, but the days are long.” It changes the way you live. The way you parent. The way you love. 

You worry less about routines and schedules because you know it’s nothing compared to the sleep you will lose when they start driving. 

Bathtime is a little more fun. Your knees hurt as you kneel by the tub, but you welcome extra splashes. 

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You wonder if you soaked it in enough the first time around and read a few extra bedtime stories. 

Knowing one day, they won’t need you as they do now. You walk an invisible tightrope between preparing kids to launch and first steps.

You notice the wrinkles a little more when you see yourself in pictures. So you invest in the nicer eye cream and try to be in more of them. Because you know memories get foggy, and you want to remember it all. 

You rock your youngest a little longer . . . even after they are asleep. 

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You know none of them will understand how much you love them until they glide back and forth as they look into their own baby’s eyes. 

Motherhood. The best hello, a slow goodbye.

Originally published on the author’s Facebook page