Watch Them Sleep
-They have wet the bed, again. On your side.
-They have spilled red juice on the new couch.
-They have brought a frog into the house to see “where it would jump.”
-They have spilled, and then stepped on an entire bag of goldfish while you were on a conference call.
-They have been wearing their favorite dress for 4 days straight refuse to take it off.
-They have a meltdown larger than life when you put that favorite dress in the washer.
-They have requested to “make their own” cereal because they are “big” now but they spilled all of the milk, in the
process.
-They cry like a newborn over spilled milk. But they are still “big.”
-They have written with permeant marker on your walls in the house you are renting.
-They have tried to flush everything on God’s green planet, down the toilet.
-They have kept you up all night with fever and uncontrollable crying but then miraculously are fever free and act like angles when you get to the doctor.
-They only function appropriately when instant gratification is the end result.
-They hide your keys and your phone when you’re running late.
-They torture the dog.
-They ask why 8,971 times a day.
-They say mommy 8,972 times a day.
-They are our babies that we love dearly, but most days, they are also the path to our last set of nerves. At the end of the day, we question our ability to wake up and do it all again. We may question why we even had kids in the first place and we certainly question why everyone wants to know when they can expect to see us grow another one of these humans. We get to a point where the only fix is to – Watch Them Sleep.
When I watch my son sleep, I see signs of that baby I gave birth to 4 years ago. He still makes some of the same faces he did on that very first day and for mama’s those first days were the most special to us.
Watching them sleep takes you back to parts of the day that were full of laughter and innocence; where you could actually see them learning and growing, right before your eyes. Watching them sleep will take you back to the time when you first fell in love with that beautiful and precious miracle. And if you sit there long enough, you can probably catch a smile or two as they dream of all the adventures they had that day – even though you may have considered it a day from hell, they probably considered it one of the best days.
Mama’s, when you think you can’t possibly ‘adult’ and ‘mama’ another day, go watch your babies sleep. Even if they are in jr. high, go watch them sleep. There’s just something about a sleeping child that restores our faith in humanity, our faith in being a mother, and our faith in life.
Watch them sleep and then, feel your heart grow.
