Happy New Year

So happy new year to all of you. I would like to say the usual - "wow, I can not believe it is already 2007," or "time flies," or " here are my resolutions for 2007." BUT I won't. Because it is 2007 and whether I resist or embrace it, the new year is here and time is flying by (evidenced by the rapid growth of my kids). I love the idea of a new year, a new start and clean calendar, just an overall freshness. But, on a more bittersweet note, it also means that Jacob and Sarah are growing, maturing and eventually readying themselves for adulthood. Yeah I know that is still several years off, but TIME FLIES and the day will come when there will be no more Hello Kitty slippers, Hot Wheels, crayons, GameCube games and Bubble Gum flavored toothpaste to clean up.

Just tonight, both kids wanted to take a bath instead of a shower and they wanted to take a bubble bath together. I filled the water as high as it would go. With the enormous amount of bubble bath I poured in, the whole thing looked like a gigantic cappuccino. They laughed and screamed and made the biggest mess in the bathroom. Then Jacob took the rubber fish that are supposed to go on the bottom of the tub to prevent slipping. He stood up and threw them one by one until they were all stuck on the ceiling. They were dripping on their heads and one of them fell and splashed bubbles right out of the tub. Totally and completely fun. It hit me...not the fish, that they won't be able to bathe together much longer. They won't be able to fit in there together one day, and also the whole he's-a-boy/she's-a-girl thing. It seems like, well yesterday, that they were both tiny little babies needing most everything from Lenny and I. Not so much anymore.

So I guess something that I hope to remember this year is just that. That time flies quicker than a bird does. That time stops for no man and certainly not for any mother's aching heart. I hope that this year is the year the I embrace every little detail of parenting, of homework, of giggles, of bedtime postponements, the last drink of water, the sweatshirt left in the rain, spilled milk, "she/he started it" and the never ending supply of kisses and hugs.

And I ask you, my friends and family, when I might dwell on the dirty handprints or underwear on the floor, would you please remind me of this post?