Special Moments

The other night I was putting Caleb to bed. Lately the routine goes something like this. If it's me by myself putting the kids to bed: I get everyone in their jammies, brush teeth, and then Hannah gets on her bed in her room and looks at books while I put Caleb to bed. I've been nursing him still at night, but it really doesn't put him to sleep anymore...so now I'm down to just nursing him once a day in the morning. I'm sure that will phase out too...but I have thoroughly enjoyed nursing him...I just like that its something only I can do, and he is just so peaceful and relaxed, that is blesses my heart. I just remember when he was born thinking, how is this gonna work...he's in the ICU, on a ventilator, they wouldn't let him eat anything or have anything by mouth for 2 days, he had a tube down his nose into his stomach, IV's on both hands..I thought, this is comforting. I was in pain from my c-section, and I thought, this may not be such a peaceful thing for Caleb under these circumstances.

Anyway, so back to putting Caleb to sleep (maybe i'm still a little nostalgic reflecting over the past year). I had nursed him, prayed, sang, read stories, and he still wouldn't go to sleep. I put him in his bed and he just cried. We haven't figured what we're gonna do with him to get him to sleep just yet. At this point with Hannah she had already "cried it out"...so with him we're deciding still what to do. Anyway..so after picking him up....we rocked in the rocking chair in his room. I'm cradling him in my left arm as he is wrapped up in his blanket. He is sucking on his first 2 fingers of his right hand, and twirling my hair with his left, his blanket is on his face. He goes from holding his blanket, to touching my hair. I'm singing all the songs I know...Jesus loves Me, God is so good, Turn you eyes upon Jesus, Jesus name above all names. Caleb was totally and completely relaxed, content, calm, and totally still in this moment, just staring with his blinks getting slower and longer. I thought, I'm tired and would like to go to bed, but I held him a little longer, rocked some more, stroked his hair, patted his face, and rocked and rocked until he went to sleep.

I just was so thankful to God for moments like that. I'm so thankful for my little boy, who isn't so much of a baby anymore.

After Caleb went to sleep, I went into Hannah's room...where she was patiently waiting with her pink blanket and her book for me to put her to bed. She is such a good girl. She was quiet, and waited for me to come to her. So then I got to experience this all over again. We rocked (I recently put a rocking chair in her room too), read stories, sang and said prayers. I asked her if there was anything special she wanted to pray for tonight...she said she wanted to pray that Caleb would sleep good tonight. She really is a thoughtful little girl..I love that about her. What a blessing children can be, I'm so thankful for what God has given me.