My birthday was last week, and Chip bought me this shirt.  The past two weeks have been a little bit crazy with the girls.  Brigette has been cutting two molars and has had a mean little cold, and Vivi has just been working through some stuff.  (It just seems to be what she does when she is having a big growth or developmental spurt; we have noticed her behavior is a bit off and her sleeping is often affected).  Those two things together have made for some long days.  They are both usually quite sweet-natured and easy-going and for the first time in forever (just kidding, not forever, just the first time in a while - I just may or may not have the Frozen soundtrack endlessly stuck in my head and if you don't know what I'm talking about I am sorry) I found myself calling Chip at 4:30 every afternoon to see what time he would be home while praying he would say "early", and supper consisted of baked sweet potatoes or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or whatever could be thrown together in a minute because Brigette wouldn't let me put her down.

Thankfully, the clouds seem to have lifted this weekend, and the girls have bounced back for now, I think.

Anyway, the shirt.  I just had to share it because I sometimes it seems that you have to say the words before you can even start to feel the words or act on them.  When one child tinkled on the carpet, and the other is in meltdown mode because you put her down to clean it all up, it's hard to feel like "these are the days." And when one child is having a dramatic moment because her pant leg is rubbing her boo boo so it kind of hurts and the other is crying because once again you put her down, it's hard to feel like "these are the days."

But they truly are.

And I can see it on the faces of the sweet old ladies at the grocery store gawking at the darling little red head peeking up out of the Ergo, and I can feel it when Brigie tucks her hands under her tummy while on my shoulder so she can snuggle closer, and I know it when I put Vivi in bed and she grabs my face with both her hands and says "Mama, you are my princess!".

So I will wear this shirt when I haven't had enough sleep, when I didn't get to shower before going out for the day with the girls, when I am desperately searching for the patience to answer the 1,000th question of the day, and when I feel at my very wit's end, because sometimes I have to say it before I can feel it, and this is something much too precious to forget.