Love and sleeping, and not sleeping

They returned to me yesterday, a bit tired since they were up from 5 a.m, but still able to sustain a full day of errands, swimming, diving, eating, fighting, Wii'ing until 9:30 p.m. Oh, the energy and determination of children can be an amazing thing to witness. They possess a will of positive intent when they realize it's a bright sunshiny day and they refuse to let it pass by without living it out with meaningful "summer" spirit!

Don't you love that about children? Yesterday during our brief encounter at the supermarket, a man stopped to convey a similar thought to me about my children as he witnessed their joyous energetic interaction with one another, he said, "Oh what fun it would be to be a child again!" They live pleasurably in the moment, even when I tell them that the supermarket is not a playground. They ignore me and they just "have fun!"

For the past week, my children slept at their father's house though I was still able to spend some of the days with them. In his house, he has "his" rules and he reminds them of this fact each and every time they are with him. They remind me of this too!

Nia said to me yesterday, "Daddy lets me fall asleep in his room, but later he picks me up and puts me in my bed. Many times in the middle of the night, I wake up and forget where I am, but then I realize I am in my own bed at Daddy's house." And I asked her, "so what do you do when you realize you are in your bed?" She said, "I just go back to sleep or I go into Miles' room and sleep there." Miles has an extra bed in his room at their father's house.

So I said to my angel last night, "I will do that then, I will carry you to your bed after you have fallen asleep in my bed." She looked at me with her warm brown eyes and beautiful addictive smile saying, "Oh Mommy, if I wake up and I am not in your bed, I will just come down the hall and get back in bed with you!" And I thought to myself, "that's fine with me."

I just adore these days that my children adore being with me and I will embrace it and soak it up as much as possible since I certainly have no clue what tomorrow will bring.

I purposely let the children stay up until 9:30 last night in hopes that they would not wake before 7:30-8 a.m. I told them not to get out of bed before 7:30. In my house, the rule is, if I say stay in bed until a certain time, I expect them to try their best to do it, usually this is easy for Nia to do, and I am able to get my workout in!

I woke at about 5:30 a.m. and I tiptoed into the kitchen to make my coffee and I was loving life, until I heard a yell just as I was taking my first sip, "Moooooooooooommmmmmmmmmyy

y!"

Nooo! Nooo! Again, "Mommmmmmmmmmyyyyy!" It was "her." I quicked uttered a "shhhhhhhhhh!" loud enough, I hoped, for her to hear, but not loud enough to wake her brother. Great. That was that. There was no turning back to the dream of "she will sleep and I will work out." It was done.

I went to her... she was in my bed. She immediately started wimpering, "Mommy, where were you? I called you and you were not here." Yes, this is true. I said to her, "I know Nia, I got up and I wanted to get some stuff done. Can you just go back to sleep? It's too early for you to wake up." Futile. Why? What was I thinking? So I quickly said to myself that I better just give in now and not waste time thinking she would embrace my words. I said, "I will be right back. Give me one minute."

I dashed to the kitchen, swigged some of my coffee, then put the cup in the fridge and went back to the room and got into bed with her. While lying beside her, I thought, "well, this is not so bad is it?" She quickly moved near me, tucking herself right under my chin, trying her best to get as close as possible. She just warms my heart.

Every so often, she would adjust herself and noticeably move closer to me. I tried to keep my eyes closed and my breathing soft in an effort to soothe her and possibly get her to believe that I was going back to sleep so she should follow suit. Nope. I decided to take a peek and see what was happening, and there they were, open wide, those beautiful brown eyes. Even in a somewhat dark room, you could not miss the bright sparkle of her open eyes.

I said, "Nia, why are your eyes open?" She just hugged me tighter. So I said to her, "hey let's turn flat on our backs and then put our heads together." So she did. Our heads, angled in, touched one another, and it was a tender moment. I said to her, "say something intelligent." She said, "10 plus 10 is 20." I said, "that is true, good one," then I asked her to say another smart thing, and she said, "Mommy, I love you." I said, "That's the smartest thing I have ever heard." Then she said, "Love is Love."

I just hugged her up and kissed her, and hugged her again. So the "rule" in my house is that we love, hug and comfort each other at anytime, in ANY bed :)!

I fully understand that the reality is that the children will grow up and who knows............. but I adore these days and I wish they could last a bit longer!!

Nia as a baby

Miles as a baby