Sleep, how I miss thee...

I love my sleep. I have loved it since before I can remember. It drove my mother crazy that I like to sleep so much. Before I had kids, I would lounge around for hours on the weekend, drifting in and out of consciousness.

These days I am lucky if I get four hours uninterrupted. And I am exhausted.

Today, however, I feel better than I normally do. Trinity has been waking up between 6:30 and 7. Usually this wouldn't bother me, but since she isn't sleeping through the night yet, I feel completely exhausted getting up that early. This morning she work up around 8. And she laid in bed quietly, playing with her feet so her mama could get another hour of sleep. It was glorious.

When she wakes up that early and I am exhausted, I am frustrated that she doesn't sleep longer. But every morning when I finally open my eyes, she looks over at me and a beautiful smile comes across her face. Like she was just waiting as patiently as she could for me to wake up, and when I do she is so excited that I am awake so I can love her. And the frustration subsides.

Really, how can you stay mad at this face?

I can't remember when Riddick did that as a baby. Fortunately, he is young enough to still want his mama. On the weekends, I usually try to take a nap with the kids. Trinity and Riddick and I all pile into bed and go to sleep. Sometimes I wake up before Trinity does to find Riddick already awake, just laying there...waiting as patiently as he can for his mama to open her eyes so he can flash her his beautiful smile that says, "Love me, mama." And at that moment, everything is right in the world.

 Or this one?