Of Cherishing the Moments

It's still hard to believe, as I hold his tiny body against mine that last week at this time he was curled up inside of me.  This same little man whose soft head nuzzles so perfectly against my chest, the same head I can't help but stroke so as to savor the downy feel, was the same little man, the same little head, nuzzling within me last week.   These spastic movements of arms and legs were the bumps and pokes I felt as he squirmed in my womb.

This is insanity.

What a miracle.

And though this is my third of these rodeos, it seems I'm really feeling it all for the first time.  Or, rather, this is the first I am allowing myself to feel it.

God took the time to teach me this valuable lesson just after Emmett was born, when I spent the time I had with my son feeding him, and nothing more.  As soon as he was done, he was passed to whomever was visiting at the time, eager to hold the new baby; and if no one was around, he was rested on the couch to nap the day away while I stole those precious between-feedings minutes to do the dishes, fold the laundry, catch up on e-mail or perform whatever other mundane task felt so pressing at the moment.

If you read my blogs from those days, you'll see a pattern.  A pattern of my trying to teach myself to slow down, take in the moments, savor my son.

I feel I finally learned the lesson.

Every moment with my tiniest one is precious.  These days when he wants nothing more than to curl into my chest are so limited.  The softness of his "old-man hair" (it's what I call the covering which is so sparse on top and yet so thick along the back of his scalp) will only last for such a short time before it starts to grow in.  The soft pursing of his lips as he sleeps or the involuntary smiles while he dreams, these are all features that become more difficult to notice as he will begin to spend more of his days alert and less of them falling asleep wherever is convenient (ie, wherever he is).

So, I'm cherishing these days - while I also continue to cherish those moments when our middle son dashes into the bedroom to say, "Hi, Mommy!  Hi, Be-be!" before flashing me his signature grin and scurrying back out; or those moment when our daughter, with her hair longer and curlier than I ever seemed to have noticed before, wanders in, eyes dancing with delight to see Mommy and Joey, shrugging her shoulders shyly as she eyes her new brother and declares softly, "He's so cute."

All of my children are precious and I pray my eyes will continue to stay open to the wonder of these moments.

Photos to Capture the Day: 

I was trying to capture Micaiah kissing her brother - I clicked the button as her lips were making contact, but she was too quick and when I looked to see what the camera caught, this is what I saw.  I love her.

I keep trying to capture his adorable-ness on camera and, yet, he doesn't seem to be very photogenic.  This is the best I've got - while cute, I can assure you, he's about 100 times cuter in person.

Daddy likes moments with his little boy, too.