Don't wish away what you'll someday wish for!

I was just reading one of my good friends' blogs and leaving her a comment about something that happened to me yesterday.
My friend has just given birth to her second child. She posted about how her sweet little Audrey (who is now about 7 weeks old) loves to be held while she sleeps--and while she and her husband are enjoying it right now, before too long little 'A' will have to start learning how to sleep in her own bed.
My comment back to her was "Ohhhhh, how I would LOVE to have a night cuddling with a 7 week old infant in my arms!"
Yet, I am positively certain that when my kids were 7 weeks old, I was WISHING for a night without them so I could get a full night of SOUND sleep. Not that there is anything wrong with that...but how much of our time do we spending wishing away what we will evenually wish so desperately for?
I don't want another child...yet I would give almost anything to feel that amazing feeling of a child kicking inside my belly again! How fabulous it would be if we could somehow take travels back in time to those precious, priceless moments with our children in the different stages of their lives. I would LOVE to have Brooklyn at 2 years old again, when she was waddling around in a diaper yet talking with the personality and vocabulary of a 5 year old! There was NEVER a dull moment then! What I wouldn't give to be back in that hospital bed holding my baby boy again--the son that I couldn't imagine loving as much as I loved Brooklyn--but who INSTANTLY had me wrapped around his little finger from the moment he arrived.
I remember one time when he was about 10 months old, rocking him back to sleep in the middle of the night slightly aggitated that I was missing yet another night of rest, when it suddenly occured to me that I needed to FREEZE this moment in my mind forever. It was like a sense of urgency came over me and reality hit hard and fast that in the blink of an eye...this would be gone. I remember analyzing EVERY detail of his face. Holding his tiny fingers in my hand and tracing every nail and every knuckle with my eyes. Staring at his delicate ears and neck and kissing every square inch with tears in my eyes because as bad as I wanted to...I knew that I would never be able to remember EXACTLY how he looked--how he felt there in my arms. There is no way to caputure it completely. It was bitter sweet.
As I type this right now, there is a gigantic tear running down my left cheek. Even right now, Grant at 5 years old and Brooklyn at 8, I find myself growing weary with the stages that they are in. Always thinking "boy I'll be glad when ____________ is over."
But will I really?
The "thing" that I mentioned happened to me yesterday was just a simple little conversation, but it sparked a flame inside of me that I hope just grows stronger and stronger with time.
I was at Wal-Mart getting a long list of groceries. Grant had been chitter-chattering NON-stop for hours asking questions and commenting on any and everything. He hardly stopped talking long enough to take a breath. While his personality was adorable and almost everything he was saying was cute and funny, still...there came a point where I was said "GRANT! You are about to WEAR me OUT!" (not in a mean way...but with a big sigh...like WHEW!) At that time a sweet-looking older lady came over to me with a warm smile and said "To a grandmother, that is the sweetest sound ever. Someday you'll miss it!"
She is SO right! Sometimes when I wish my kids would just SHUT UP....I remind myself what a mother who has lost a child would give to just hear her beloved child's voice one more time.

We really should make every effort we can to enjoy these moments. You'll never regret it if you do. I promise you--no one ever looked back at their life and said "I wish I had spend less time enjoying my kids."