They grabbed their milk cups and sat so close together on our oversized chair. It was one of those moments. You know, the kind where you hold your breath to not chance anything interrupting the beauty. I smiled. I felt my heart burst.

I eventually allowed myself to turn around and finish preparing our breakfast. Not ten seconds later they both were crying.

For some reason I will never understand, Pierce decided to take off the lid and spill his entire contents all over both kids, and my pretty oversized chair.

It was so early. I think I still had sleep in my eyes.

And yet duty called, and there I stood, hunched over without even a sip of coffee, cleaning up milk, and calming two crying toddlers.

One moment my heart was soaring with the sweetness; in the next it was aching from the stickiness.

And suddenly I was hit with this thought:

“And so is my life with them.”

Just a fleeting moment. Here today and gone before I have time to turn around.

And so I will embrace each fading moment. I will hold tight to these precious days. I will clean up this mess with a grateful heart, because the days of milk stains will be gone all too soon.

Hold fast to this time, momma. Hold as tightly and strongly as you can.

New furniture can be bought. Carpets can be replaced. Clean homes, home cooked meals, dreams, ambitions, they will all come in their time.

But today will never be given back.

Embrace it.