Fleeting

Lately I've haven't been able to shake the feeling that time with my kids is running out.  Not in a morbid sense or anything, but simply in a sense that they are growing and changing so quickly that I can't keep up.  I want to just sit and hold them and breathe them in.  I want to hold their little hands in mine and memorize the weight and feel of them.  I want to capture the sounds of their little voices and the sounds of their feet padding across the floor.  I want to remember all of them right here, right now. 

And yet they keep changing.  As quickly as I grab them and pull them into my lap, they are jumping up and running away again, their giggles trailing behind them.  I look at Scarlett reminding me more and more of her big brother at her age and I realize with a newfound awareness that time with my children is passing by all too quickly and there is nothing I can do to stop it. 

So I spend what time I can running after them and pulling them into my lap for a quick snuggle.  I sing their silly made-up kid songs and do their silly dances just to hear their voices and giggles.  I walk a little slower just so they'll take my hand and walk with me, and other times run faster just to hear the sound of little shoes on the pavement running after me.  I take a little longer with their bedtime stories so that I can try to memorize the feel of their little bodies pressed against mine, and take deeper breaths so I can smell their sweet smells.  And when all else fails, I take picture after picture of my beautiful babies to remind me of all these fleeting moments.