The kids are asleep, the rain machine is purring quietly through the baby monitor... Iron & wine mellow music is on Pandora.... The house is peaceful and light and all is well... I am about to give in to my own heavy eyelids and take a small nap myself with the time I have left (I predict I have about 45 minutes before Lucy wakes...).
This is very much what a typical day looks like around here since I became pregnant with #3. The exhaustion calling out for me to give in, stop, and let the quiet, peaceful house enfold me... To put off the to-do list a bit longer...This is part of why the frenzy of July was hurting my soul so much. My body and soul simply THIRST for this quiet time, daily... And for the nap that I let myself take 5 out of 7 days of the week. This little being inside me must REALLY thrive on the rest of his/her mama, because this pregnancy has commanded me to halt and rest a lot more than the previous 2.
Mostly, I am able to forgive myself for giving in. Because the truth is, I love naps. And I suspect I am inherently lazy. And so having a "good reason" to give in to both is lovely. I will find a way to manage the rest of my life.... once I wake up.
In honor of naptime, and in honor of the time I gave myself yesterday to work hard on my own personal photo archives, I want to end this sleepy post with a series of images I caught of Lucy back in February... one sleepy day when I had to wake her from her nap so we could go get Noah from school. When it was just Noah, I fiercely, obsessively protected his naptime. I never even allowed myself to go in and peek at him while he slept--- I was horrified at the idea that I might wake him. So having a handful of opportunities with Lucy where I HAD to go in and get her to slowly wake-- well, it was hard for me to do it... it broke my heart... But it also melted me completely to be able to gaze on my baby while she slept... and to see how she would wake just the littlest bit at a time.
So, here is Lucy at 10 months old, in every step of her nap wakeup from complete sleep to complete wakefulness... I warn you, it will either make you want a baby of your own, or to curl up and take a nap of your own:
She makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteOne day I will take pictures of me napping with two poodles and a yorkie...well, someone will. It won't be as adorable as Lucy chewing her bunny in post-nap glee, but it will do if you don't have a back-up baby.
ReplyDeleteWith Annie I would never disturb her nap schedule, and even for the first year or two of Thomas' life they napped at the same time because they were both so young. But then Annie started afternoon preschool, and like you, I would have to wake Thomas to pickup his sister. How I wish I had thought to take photos like this of him. The expressions are so much the same, you realize just how much alike all babies are.
ReplyDeleteSo sweet, you will cherish these forever. <3