People (rightfully) complain about the newborn period a lot. It's hard. And it's scary.
But it's also pretty magical.
While I look forward to sleeping through the night again someday (as I write this, we are deep in the throes of sleep training) -- there's one thing that I'm going to miss most about my beautiful, tiny bundle.
When Everly was born, she would fall asleep during every feeding. It was problematic when trying to get her gaining weight, but seeing her little sleeping face resting on my chest would make my heart soar.
Months later, she's learning to sleep on her own and in her crib. Still, nothing gets her snoozing quite like rocking in my arms and feeling my warmth against her body.
When I think about her growing up, I believe that this is what I'll miss most about my bittie baby...
Everly melting into my arms as she falls asleep, trusting me completely to keep her safe and not let her fall.
Feeling her head and limbs become heavier as she drifts off.
Knowing that she's hearing my heartbeat, and thinking that maybe it reminds her of her former home in my belly.
I want to remember the smell of her little head and the warmth of her body, the sound of her breathing.
Putting Everly down for her naps is usually a solo affair. Most days, it's just the two of us alone in the house on an endless cycle of sleep, wake, feed, play, sleep. But on this day, we had taken family portraits at home and after about an hour, Everly was done. She was fussing, rubbing her eyes and more than ready for a nap.
Instead of calling it a wrap on the photos, I asked our photographer to stay as I rocked Everly to sleep in her nursery. The unplanned, unstaged photos that came from those completely magical and completely ordinary 10 minutes are some of my favorites ever taken. A few weeks later, during a photo session for this blog, we were fortunate enough to have a repeat.
I am so grateful to have captured these memories to look back on as Everly is grown, to remind me of the warm and fuzzies during a sleepless, stressful time. I'm sharing these special images below in the hopes that they give you some warm and fuzzy feelings, too.
Nap time and sleep training is something that Mamas everywhere do every single day. It's often a battle, and rarely is anyone recognized for it. But every time you get that baby off to sleep, it's a victory. Be proud! And be present, because we never know when the day will come that they're suddenly too big or too cool to let Mama rock them to sleep again.
XO,
Mom Needs Merlot
