Snuggles

I have been in a night-time bliss lately and no, it's not from what you may all think. Get your heads out of the gutter, this is a family blog. My bliss is coming from some good snuggles.

It all started on Monday night. Mikayla was not feeling well from her cold and she was also quite gassy. Great, a fussy baby at bedtime, right? But for me, this was fabulous because she wanted Mommy and she wanted to snuggle. She is at that delicate age where she's trying to do everything herself, therefore she no longer needs Mommy or Daddy to hold her while drinking her bottle or just cuddle her for no reason. Oh no, not Mikayla. And she doesn't even snuggle before bed, usually, because the advice that Tonya gave me works like a charm and I could put this little girl in her crib fully awake and she'd soon be sawing logs. So when she wasn't feeling well and actually wanted to be held, it was great! We both fell asleep in the rocking chair after her repeated checks to make sure that I was still holding her. Sure, my neck was a little stiff when I woke up at 10:30 and gently laid her back in her crib, but it was all worth it. I got some baby snuggles in.

Then last night, Andy and I were getting ready for bed and out of nowhere Lilly says, "I have room in my bed." We both looked at each other funny and then Lilly said, "Mommy, there's room in my bed for you!" Andy and I laughed and then he told me that I'd better take advantage of it, because Lilly NEVER wants us to sleep with her (I wrote about that here). So I went into her room and sure enough, she'd moved all the way over to the wall, making as much room as possible for me in her little twin bed with butterflies. I crawled under the blankets, expecting her to want me there for less than 2 seconds, but then she surprised me again. She snuggled right up, told me she loved me and then started to fall asleep. Again, I fell asleep and woke up about 11, carefully extracting her from my arms and going to my bigger, more comfortable bed.

I know that tonight I'll get that time with Alayna, too, because she heard Lilly invite me in last night. Then she asked when she'd get a turn. But that's not unusual. Alayna is the snuggler of our three girls. She's always looking for a lap to sit on or a person to cuddle up with on the couch. She is the main filler of my snuggle-quota. But to have had that opportunity with my youngest two girls, the non-snuggler Miss Independents, was so great!

I think that's one of the best things about being mom-getting to snuggle with your babies and hear them say "I love you, Mommy!" even if it's only in babble and repeated checks that you are, indeed, still holding them.