Parenting
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I have learned to appreciate, in our unique parenting journey, to soak in the rare and swift moments when things feel the way I imagined parenting would
Earlier this week, Nixon woke up around 5:00 a.m. crying. As I picked him up out of his bed, his long legs were freezing. The temperature in Phoenix has dropped, and he loves to sleep with just an overnight pull-up. He has four blankets on his bed but usually ends up sleeping on top of them. I carried him into our room, and he snuggled under the covers. This has happened a handful of times since he was a baby. Once he is awake, he does not go back to sleep. But this morning, he snuggled in, put his head in my arms, and went back to sleep. I felt…
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He felt safe behind the closed door of the night to open up his heart.
After a long day of parenting, some of my favorite moments come on the slow walk to bed. The soft, quiet moments are shared when the world is shut out with closed doors. Bedtime routines have changed over time as the children have grown. Starting with small baby cuddles swaddled in new parent unconditional love. Then to bedtime stories and soft lullabies in the dark. When our children are still small enough to hold, in footy pajamas, tiny heads snuggled into the crook of my neck. I still have a little time left here with my daughter Nora who has let me know she no longer wants me to sing…
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This year, the pandemic year.
Since March, I can remember very few times we have been out as a family of four. This weekend we went to the train park. Before we went, I had a fleeting thought that I didn’t know if Nora had ever been on a slide. She has been home most of the time since March. This thought hit me with a little ping. I have had many fleeting moments over the past year of sadness for all the lost firsts. I find it is more of the simple things that hit me than the big ones. I have mentioned to my husband in passing that it makes me feel extremely…
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Tommorow will be a new day
Every couple of months I wake up wondering if I can navigate through my day. I wake up tired, not the no sleep tired, or the tried where you know you did too much activity, but a tired that is deep to my core. I felt deep tiredness in my early 20’s from staying up late, filling my soul with live music over drinks. I felt a deep tiredness in my late 20’s of 14 hour study sessions for months at a time to take the bar exam. I felt a deep tiredness in my early 30’s of late night feedings, pumping sessions, and comforting tiny babies. This tiredness is…
