When you ’ re caught up in the craziness that is having young children , you think you ’ ll never dig your way out of diapers , bottles , and onesies . You feel like the sleepless nights will drag on until the end of days and you ’ ll have a baby on your hip forever , and then one day you find yourself sitting at the table beside a kid with hairy legs and a grown-up voice and you think “ when did this happen ?” Your baby doesn ’ t look like a baby anymore , and it hits you hard and fast that time is ticking and your summers are running out .
Now , I ’ m not trying to make you cry . There are plenty of awesome things about having older kids . They sleep all night , for one , and you have to drag them out of bed instead and pray they sleep past 5 am . They have real conversations with you , and it ’ s awesome to watch them grow into men and women and see that all that time and work you put in paid off . It ’ s nice to see that they really are going to be okay .
But still . Only nine more summers . It really makes me realize that they ’ re not mine to keep , you know ? They ’ re just stopping by here for me to fill them up with as much wisdom and confidence and love as I can , and then they ’ re off to live their lives . So , here ’ s what I ’ m going to do to maximize these last few summers with my kids .
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