Bedtime

Well, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories about bedtime in our house. It is one of my favorite parts of the day!

First, Hadley. She's slowly but surely become more of a sleeper (well, sort of). Since the day we brought her home from the hospital, she has proven to us that babies don't need sleep. I guess it's a waste of time in her little mind. :) Until recently, she would only take "cat-naps" during the day, consisting of no longer than a 45-minute span. Now, she'll take one nap - 1 1/2 hours long. Eli still naps for 2 1/2 hours!! So, you would think..."oh, then she's gotta be out like a light at night!". Well, I wish. Again...until recently she was still waking up around 4-5 a.m. She went through a rough spell of asthma / congestion, then molars coming in...etc. So, I would go in and nurse her and she'd be back asleep. Well, my friends...{drumroll, please}...she is now sleeping from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am. Hooray! So, back to bedtime. Hadley is becoming more and more interested in books. We get jammies on, brush teeth, and then rock in the glider and read a book. She's really into pointing at things and going, "uuuhhhh", with the tone of her voice going up. Kind of like "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" when he'd do that noise! I think she's trying to say, "what's that?". So, reading the books is fun because she's starting to really soak things in! Then, she takes a sip of water, we turn on her music and I sway her back and forth a little then she'll reach for her crib. I think she's come to like her "space", so she goes down so well. I can't believe she's getting so big, though. We're done with the nursing now, which is bittersweet. It was time...but since we're pretty positive we're done having kids...I know that I'll never have that special bond again. Kind of sad, but exciting also to watch her grow up!!


















Now, my sweet, tender-hearted little Eli. Oh, where do I start?! Just like Hadley, we get jammies on, brush teeth, then he heads to his room and picks out a book while I get Hadley to bed. (Of course, Kasey weaves into all this, too...but some nights he's at work and it's just me and the kiddos). Eli waits so patiently (well...most of the time!). When I come in, he's waiting with his book, which lately has either been his book of Bible Stories or Green Eggs and Ham. He is SO interested in the stories. Especially the Bible stories. I love to read to him. He always asks questions and if he doesn't understand a word, he'll ask what it means. Think, "sponge"...that's him! So, after the book (or 2, maybe 3 books!), we turn out the light and talk about his day. Then we say prayers, but Eli always wants to go first. For the longest time he would go through all the family and sometimes random friends, but about a month ago, he started praying for candy. Yes, that's right ~ CANDY! It would go, "Dear God, thank you for Skittles and M&M's and popsicles and suckers. Amen." Then, he would open his eyes, smile, and say, "Mommy I prayed for candy!". So, that went on for a while. Then, I told him that he needed to pray for something other than candy and he said, "OK - I'll pray for the good food too!". You can't help but laugh when he comes up with things like that! Now, he's back to thanking God for Mommy, Daddy, Hadley, Eli, Ella (our dog), Major (our cat), and Layla (our cat that passed away last year). It amazes me that he still prays for Layla - it's been nearly a full year since she died. Wow. So, tonight Eli was so sweet, as usual. Sometimes I tell him something that goes like this: "Eli. If I could line up AAALLLLLL the 3-year olds in the whole entire world...all in one long line...do you know which one I would pick?". He smiles, and exclaims, "ME!". And I say yes and go on to tell him how special he is. Well, tonight after that he said, "But Mommy, maybe you could pick all of them because I would like some other 3-year olds in our house for you to love also. They can be my friends". So sweet. Then he said, "Mommy. If I could line up AALLLLLL the mommies and 10-year olds in the whole world {he kneels up on the bed and stretches his arms WAY out}, do you know who I'd pick?"; and I said "ME!". Then, he said the same about "Daddy" and "Hadley-Bear". It may not come across in this post as it was in person, but I just had to share that and make sure I wrote it down! And, by the way...I'm not sure where the "10-year old" part came from...maybe he thinks that's how old I am! :)

Have a great night everyone...and just remember to always let your loved ones know how much you love them every night!