I can hear DH upstairs pretending to stomp around like a monster, and the kids are shrieking with joy...

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

...and I just got one of those, stop-and-smell-the-roses moments where you realise those sounds are a very temporary thing.

Some day they'll grow up and not find this kind of thing amusing anymore. And I won't be able to sit down here and happily listen.

Sniff, sniff.

I think I've had one too many glasses of .

I love this thread. I only found this poem recently but DH and I keep reminding ourselves to cherish our children who are now 6, 8 & 10.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
Until there are no more times.
And even then, it will take you a while to realise.

That is beautifully heartbreaking.

What a lovely thread. I had a moment a few weeks ago, I was going to another country for a short work trip.
DS,14, gave me a big slightly sheepish teenage hug at the airport and said,
"Be careful, OK, especially going out at night, look after yourself and phone me when you get there."
Just felt the tears prickling at the role revesal and the genuinely lovely young man he is becoming.

petit you've done for me.

DS is half asleep in my arms as I feed him, smelling of bath and clean babygro. I'm late for my nightclass but I'm not going to rush him. These moments are too precious.

petit, you sent me over the edge.

When I was perduading DP that having a baby would be a good idea, I would tell him our child would run to him for big cuddles.
DD is now 4 and jumps with excitement when DP comes home from work and sneaks into bed in the morning for daddy cuddles.

I'm so glad I chose this man to be the father of my children.

Oh god. This thread is amazing.

I've called DS 'my little bug' since he was born. He's now four. I will never forget the morning when he was curled up in bed with us, all warm and smelling sweet and lovely. He looked at me and said "Mummy...you're my teeny, tiny little bug".

Lovely thread!
I had a horrible day at work today, and have been in a right mood. When I got home I was playing with dd (3) and she suddenly put her arms around me and said "I'm so pleased you're here." How I didn't burst out sobbing I'll never know.

Actually howling at that poem, and really, this whole thread. My DD asks for 'a special carry' up the stairs when it's bedtime. I have slight balance issues so for the last couple of weeks I've been telling her she's too heavy for a special carry and we've switched to 'a hug at the bottom and a hug at the top' (of the stairs). Could that have been the last ever special carry? Oh, I can't bear it. Is this why people have second children?

Not even made it past page one and I'm struggling to hold back tears. Mine are 2.2 and 8 months, and it's just going too quickly.

One night after DD's bath (she was just turned three) I wrapped her in her fluffy dressing gown, tying the belt in a bow. She looked down at it, immensely pleased, and said "I am a present" thinking she was gift-wrapped! I gave her a big hug and told her she was the best present ever.

Kew, NINE, he's NINE!!! Good Lord, do we need an old gimmer emoticon.

We do indeed EducateTogetheralumnus becasue not only is he 9... he will actually be 10 later this year TEN !!!

And we are planning a return visit in 2016 so stand by with the tissues.

I can't believe how many times I saw this thread pop up on active convos and didn't click, as the title looked like it might be moany. Thank you for making it discussion of the day so I finally got there.

Lots of bittersweet moments here currently, as DS2 (my baby) starts school in September. This is our last spring of carefree pootling about, before we only get the holidays, already the case with DS1 which makes it harder, as I know how short they are now. I almost cried in the park at half term, because it was so lovely having both of them running round in the sunshine. DS1 is 7 and I'm very aware that we're already more than halfway through his childhood.

I'm looking forward to spending time with them as adults and never, ever doing the school run again , but aware it's happening too fast now.

The unsolicited 'I love you Mummy' gets me every time. It more than makes up for the eleventy hundred times they've said 'mummeee' at you that day...

Well Kew please give us fair warning so that we can all stock up on tissues and ensure we're out of sight of others to read that thread!

This thread is making me look forward to the odd hug in teenage years - although I'm certainly stocking up on all these toddler cuddles while I can get 'em.

I had two of these moments last night.

It was our DD's 12 birthday yesterday and as a surprise we'd booked tables at her favorite restaurant and invited our closest family friends(they all call our children they're nephew's and nieces and the kids all treat each other like cousins)her little face when she saw them all and at the end of the meal she stood up and made a lovely speech thanking everyone.

She said thank you for all her lovely gifts and cards and said that she'll treasure them for ever and she told everyone that they'd all given her the best birthday ever because they'd all made her feel very loved by spending her birthday with her and she said that was something she'd never forget.Myself and a couple of the other Mum's may have looked a bit weepy after that but to be fair the guys all had the sniffles afterwards.

Then on the way back to the car my feet were killing me,beautiful shoes torture chamber for feet so I took my shoes off,it was raining and all 3 of our DS tried to get me to wear they're shoes because they were worried about my feet and our oldest kept offering me a Piggy back bless him.

Lovely evening with great friends and lovely kids

We ate out last night and in a lull one of the kids pulled out paper and pens from his jacket and we did portraits of each other and a competition where two of us had to draw a cartoon character from memory. We laughed until we cried. It's one of the moments we will treasure. My three are age between 19-23. I get less hugs (one really hates being touched but will allow it on special occasions, the youngest still comes and hugs me without asking) but the love is still there :)

Saw something that really brought home how fleeting it all is: Mum, Dad and a 2-3 year old in a restaurant. Dad asks DC "shall we have a round table, or a square one?".

We used to ask that question, back before the millennium.

Haven't rtft yet but sitting here blabbing away with 7 month old daughter asleep on my lap after feeding. Promised myself I was going to put her in bed for her nap so I could get stuff done but life's too short!

*blubbing

Oh goodness.

DD was snorting last week about at a friend whose puppy is apparently called Peepo. Her big brother (19) said thoughtfully, 'Why does that ring a bell? Something to do with bedtime?'

Peepo was the baby book we'd had to recite to him nightly when he was about 12-18 months. I started in on it from memory (ever tried reciting baby doggerel to a 6-ft teenager?), and he suddenly beamed at me, said 'I seem to have come over all sleepy' and put his head on my shoulder.

Gulp!

kitties that's lovely. What a lovely boy.

This morning, for the first time ever, DD didn't get up and climb into our bed. She climbed into her wee brother's and cuddled him awake. Listening to their chats and laughter through the wall, thinking about how they will be as they grow up together.

Gulp.

Oh wow, what an amazing poem! Had me in tears. Thank you for posting it...