Love

Despite the pouring rain, yesterday was a pretty glorious day around here. While it involved both mundane and novel activities like errands to the paint and drug stores, a visit to a new reptile "zoo" near our home, mixing up some powerball cookies, and a visit from Aunt Kaity while I taught Spinning, what made it for me was the relative lack of conflict and a fifteen minute stretch of snuggle time.

Anna and I used to snuggle a lot throughout the day, especially in the rocking chair at nap time and bed time. With nap time a thing of the past and the rocking chair out of her room, our only semi-reliable snuggle times are a few minutes in the morning before we get out of bed for the day and a few minutes at bed time. Sometimes, though, we take a break from whatever we're doing during the day and we snuggle up for a show or a story. Anna wanted me to pick her up today after we finished cookies, and that's not so easy for me now. So, I suggested we have a snuggle on the couch. We did nothing but sit together, put our hands on my belly, and wait for the baby to kick. Her head rested on my shoulder, her body curled around my belly, her hand waited patiently for her brother to say hello. We talked about Him, what He's doing in there, what He's thinking. She talked to Him, kissed Him, loved Him. The picture is preserved in my mind, our hands together, my belly rising with my breath, the feeling of peace and her body warm and soft next to me.

I felt so many things in those fifteen short minutes. Most notably, I felt the rare feeling of being totally present and totally in love with a glorious moment with my little girl and the little guy growing inside of me.