Moments.

This weekend I had a moment with my youngest child. It wasn't just any moment, it was one of those 'please freeze time' moments that we all have every now and then. If you're a parent, you'll know these times well as they become more frequent as we see our little ones growing up.

It was Saturday night, about ten o'clock when I realized my entire house was asleep except for me. I was exhausted and figured I might as well join them too. No literally, join them - because Eric and the two older ones were already snuggled in my bed leaving me the usual two foot corner in the top right. So, I climbed in and laid my head on the pillow as Mason (in between Eric and I) tossed his head closer to nudge up in my back and Rocco, our dog, hopped up to spoon Owen down near my toes. Yup. Typical nights sleep at our house. Just as everyone was finished getting comfortable, I hear little cries coming from the bedroom next to ours. Sweet Gavin. The only child of mine who actually sleeps in his own bed and he was seemingly having a rough night. After waiting a bit to see if he'd fall back asleep I realized he needed some lovin' too. I finagled my way out of the puzzle we call the bed, and tip toed over to check on my little boy. While you'd expect he would have been happy to see me, that wasn't exactly the case. Although Gavin splits his favoritism between both Eric and I, the last few days he's been requesting Daddy a little bit more. Pfft. But no really, that's perfectly fine with me. Pfft. Anyways... So in hopes of soothing my little guy I brought him in my room too. What's one more, right? I nudged Eric to let him know we were there and then moved Mason down a bit to let Gavin curl up at Daddy's side. Silence. He immediately stopped crying and squirming and was right where he wanted to be. I stood there and watched him for a minute and noticed his eyes were open as he laid there perfectly content while Eric dozed off again. I slid back into my piece of the puzzle and rested my head close to his. I kissed his cheek a couple thousand times and laid my hand over his little belly where I could feel his chest move with each breath. My heart melted. As we laid there together with our foreheads pressed close, I began to hear Gavin mumble something. While he's not quite speaking all that clearly yet, it was hard to make out what he was trying to tell me so I listened while he went on. Singing. He was singing me a lullaby. "Hush little baby?" I asked. "Ya", he whispered and carried on. I smiled. I still couldn't make out the words, but I could tell from his tone that he was singing and there wasn't a doubt in my mind which song it would be. This was where I laid there and thought, 'please freeze time'...my moment.

When tucking our babies into their cribs over the years I have always switched my tune now and then, but the true lullabies comes from Daddy. With each little boy he has always enjoyed that special time of rocking and snuggling and dancing and any other sweet sentiment you could possibly imagine. Eric is a wonderful father. Beyond wonderful father. He savors these moments before, during, and after and it is so evident as the years go on and he continues this tradition with each new baby we bring into the world. With every one of these moments that he treasures, it has always been the same song he sings, Hush Little Baby. He sings it soft and slow, just as a lullaby should be and our children are mesmerized...and so am I. 

Watching my husband with our three sons over the years have been some of my happiest moments, and lying there as Gavin snuggled up and shared that special lullaby with me will be up there as one my moments too. 

Eric, you say you read my blog - so if you're reading this...

You are a wonderful father. Thank you for always jumping at the chance to rock our boys to sleep. Hearing your "Hush Little Baby" from down the hall has always been just a little slice of Heaven for me. xo