Here We Go

Does anyone else feel like they say the words “Here we go!” about 5 times before they actually leave the house (probably 10 minutes later than intended) and start going to wherever it is they are trying to make it to?

Diapers changed and clean clothes on…..here we go!

Baby buckled into car seat and toddler zipped into snowsuit….here we go!

My coat and boots on and toddler’s boots, hat and mitts on….here we go!

Out the door, into the car and buckled into car seats…..here we go!

Scraping snow and ice off the van….here we go!

Turning the key on the ignition and actually pulling out of the driveway…….here we go for real!

In between all of these hopeful “Here we go”s are baby cries, toddler tantrums over not wanting those boots, requests for a drink or snack, stops along the way to the van to examine a rock and oftentimes, Mommy exasperation.

Getting out the door starts turning into a stressful event, especially watching the clock tick towards and usually past the time that I intended to leave by. I start muttering “We are NEVER going to get out the door in time” and complaining to myself about how much longer it takes to get out the door in the wintertime, especially with small children in tow.

I start wondering how long it will be until my kids will be toilet trained and able to put on their own boots and brush their own teeth and grab their own water bottle and granola bar for the car ride. But then I start to think...

Here we go to our first day of kindergarten.

Here we go to bed, but our little boy didn’t ask for a bedtime story tonight.

Here we go to drop our little girl off at her first slumber party. And then at the movies with a group of mixed company friends.

Here we go to high school graduation and off to university.

Here we go to watch them get married and start families or move across the country for work.

I don’t want to miss their sweet moments of dependence on me in my hurry to pull out of the driveway and go. I don’t want my frustration with the fact that it now takes a solid hour to get ready to go to tarnish these beautiful, crazy days of raising littles. I want to remind my momma heart to cherish the cries of “Mommy, mommy, sippy please!” and the little feet being carefully tucked in to boots and the big blue eyes peering out excitedly from under a hat. I want to let them get excited for a minute or two about the freshly fallen snow and not drag them down the walkway towards the van in my hurry to say the final “Here we go!” as we pull out of the driveway.

Their childhood is just a small window and I want to slow down to enjoy their growing up before it is just a memory that we have already driven away from. So. Breathe. Here we go.