The little things...

"Remember the little things.

For one day you'll look back and

realize they were the big things."

This is the quote that's on Reese's nursery wall. I must have read this quote a thousand times since Reese was born. Most of those times in the first couple months, during middle-of-the-night feedings, when I was so tired I couldn't think straight. I look back now and realize how true these words are. Time passes so quickly and in a blink of an eye little things are gone and only then do you realize how big they really were.

Reese has always been a good sleeper. She started sleeping through the night between 8-10 weeks and by 5-6 months I no longer had to rock her to sleep. She would go into her crib awake and put herself to sleep. She has slept with no problems since, and at almost 2 years I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to get up with her in the night. This is a good thing and I realize I'm a lucky mom. But I often miss the days of snuggling with her, rocking her to sleep, and singing to her. Those were good days and wonderful little moments.

But last night Reese gave me a gift. A little reminiscing of those beginning days. We had been out playing in the neighborhood a little later than normal, so Reese didn't get to bed until about 9:30 p.m. She's usually in bed between 8:30 and 9 these days. Summer seems to be stretching her bedtime later and later. But 9:30 certainly isn't the latest she's gone, so we didn't think much of if. Fast forward to 11 p.m., Arnold and I are both drifting off but we can still hear Reese talking and playing in her room. Earlier that night, when we were outside, she had fallen and cut her lip pretty good. Her lip was swollen when we put her to bed, so I started to worry that maybe she was in pain and couldn't relax to get to sleep. We decided to go in and giver her some Ibuprofen and see if she was ok.

When we went into her room she was of course happy to see us. I gave her the medicine and Arnold got her a drink of water and a cracker. I sat in the rocking chair and snuggled with her a little. To my surprise she really wanted to be snuggled. I had my arms around her and every time I would relax them a little, she would reach around and pull them tighter around her. I asked her if she wanted me to sing to her and she excitedly said, "Ya Ya!" So I started to sing. Each time a song would end, she would say, "more song, more song mommy." So I kept singing, rocking, snuggling. There was the logical side of me that thought..."she just doesn't want to go to bed and she's using this as an excuse to stay awake". But then there was this little voice in my head that said, "This is one of those little moments. Cherish this time, just you and your daughter, snuggling, rocking, singing. This doesn't last long. She will be grown up before you know it, but she needs you right now. These are the little things that really are the big things."

So I kept singing and before long, Reese started singing with me. I was singing 'Jesus Once was a Little Child' and Reese was singing, "Tyler, Roro, Ucy, Claire, Tyler, Roro, Ucy, Claire..." (These are the names of her friends) over and over to the tune of the music. It was so incredibly cute, it made me want to cry.

After a while I told her it was time to go to bed, she didn't really want to go but I told her that I loved her and I explained that I would be right next door if she needed me and that I would be there when she woke up. I told her we would have a fun day tomorrow and that we could play and sing if she wanted to. She finally agreed and snuggled into bed. Her eye's were closed before I left the room. Maybe it was the Ibuprofen kicking in...or maybe she just needed her mommy to help her get to sleep...or maybe it was a little of both. Either way, I had my little baby back for a brief time and it was glorious!