She's still my Baby

Just when we start talking about how fast Baby Bear's growing up, something happens to remind me that she's still our little baby who needs her Mama and Dada. We put her to bed around 7:45 last night. At first, she acted like she would go to sleep immediately. A little while later, she awoke. Baby Bear is normally a fairly sound sleeper. We're spoiled. Well, I went downstairs to check on her, and she was rolling around fussing half-way asleep. I picked her up, unable to tell what was bothering her. Checked her diaper, temp... everything seemed ok. But she clung to me like I was the only thing that could help. We sat on the big comfy couch with her fuzzy precious moments blanket spread over us, and she fitfully started relaxing on my shoulder. She kept hearing the tv from upstairs, so I moved us into our bed. She made herself comfy on my torso, and both of us began to fall asleep. A couple of hours later, hubby came down and moved her back to her crib, where she seemed content to rest again. (Hubby now has a bad cough and knew she would wake up cranky if he joined us in the bed and left her there.) Around 1:30 a.m., she woke up again. No fever, no tugging at ears, but coughing and sneezing more than she had earlier that day. Once again, I wandered over to her room, picked her up, and cradled her on the living room couch until she fell back asleep.

It's nice to be Mommy. Oh, it's hard when my best efforts seem to fail, and she doesn't fall back asleep, and none of us rest well. But when my attempts to show her that she is loved really comfort her, it's just priceless. I read some books early on that scared me into thinking I could spoil an infant. Stupid "experts". The ironic thing, I have learned since then, is one of those authors has a strained relationship with his adult children. I've got a long way to go as a parent, but I can only hope that my Baby Bear will always know her parents are more concerned with loving her well than doing everything "right". Oh, she won't always like our decisions or discipline as she grows up, but she will be loved. And for now, I will cherish the early morning wakings as opportunities to cuddle and love on my increasingly independent Baby Bear.