There’s something so precious about greeting Claire in the morning when she’s just waking up and then putting her to bed at night. No matter how you’re feeling in the morning, you go into her room, and the room smells like baby, and she does a little stretch and a few grunts and groans, then she perks her head up and gives me a big smile. Then she puts her head back down for a moment and quickly puts it back up as if to say “are you really there?”. It’s like it’s the first time she’s seen me. She makes you feel so loved. I pick her up and she gives me a big squeeze and holds on tight before her diaper change. As I turn the little light on she squints her eyes and then opens them widely to take in the new day. It’s moments like these that make being a mom the best.
Night time can get a bit hectic depending on if she’s had her naps for the day. If not, she gets fussy early, but if she has, then it’s a great cuddle time. She’ll take her bath and start getting sleepy. Then we read a few books and she points to the one that she wants next. She still loves turning pages more than reading, but if she’s really tired, she’ll let me turn the pages and make it through the entire book. She’ll point to her milk on the table, drink some of that, then point to the water, drink some of that. We’ll go back and forth on that for awhile. We usually read about 3-4 books every night. Her last book when I put her to bed is “Little Bunny’s Bedtime”. The pictures of the bunnies are soft and fuzzy and she loves feeling them. I think she knows that this is the last book before she goes to bed, because no matter how awake she was on the previous book, she always starts yawning with this one. Literally on the same page every time when the little bunny yawns and falls asleep, she begins to yawn and relax. Then we turn off her light and look at the stars reflected on the cealing (we got a lady bug toy that lights up and shows the constellations on the wall). We point at the stars and then she puts her head on my shoulder and snuggles. Sometimes I just sit and rock with her for awhile holding onto her and take in the moment. She’s such my bundle of joy. I love my little Claire.
