Treasures

We were thick in the newborn haze, 

the hot summer days and nights running from one into the next.  

We were learning to navigate new levels of exhaustion and love, 

digging deep into reserves we didn't even know existed.

They're treasures to me.  

That phase, that moment, bottled up and preserved to transport me back 

and remember when mothering feels too much about me and not enough about them.

I didn't know what the long days and nights ahead held for us, but I look at these, and I don't think about the hard things, the tantrums I'm sure were thrown, the tears and timeouts, the endless diaper changes between two girls, potty training messes, botched dinners, toddler standoffs, and two parents too tired and at times too overwhelmed to be tender and take care of each other. 

Instead, I think about the good.  

They bring back a flood of memories, feelings, sounds and smells, tucked away that rush back to the surface when I need them the most.  When it's hard, they're here.

I'm reminded of the beauty among the chaos.  

That there is good in even the hard days.  

I know years from now, the stories that are our every day right now, the idea of the round-the-clock sprint we do day in and day out, these toddler tales and sleepless nights will sound outlandish, almost too ridiculous to believe. 

We will be too far removed from the monotonous tasks of raising littles, 

dependent in every way imaginable.

We'll be needed in different ways, and these photos will take us back.

To the good.

To falling in love all over again, 

to doing hard things to make the good things that much better.

To being a little wistful how quickly it's behind us, 

acknowledging the growth and life that's happened between, 

and appreciating all the good, so much good that we've been given.