On Breathing Them In

My life is a rush from one little person need to another.   I swear there are days when I don't sit down for more than a minute at a time.  The reason I know is that because the second I do find what I think is a quiet minute and settle my backside down somewhere soft and comfy, someone senses it and comes running in with another disaster and is ruining my peaceful minute before it even starts.  I swear they do it on purpose!  Before I can even take a deep breath, I'm up on my feet again helping someone, hugging someone, helping settle a dispute, getting someone food, wiping another booty, and the list goes on.

Some days, I look forward to bedtime like a 6-year-old looks forward to Christmas.  I find myself watching the clock and counting the seconds until the magic hour when they start going to bed and I start getting closer and closer to the second when I can finally relax and only worry about me.

I sound like I do this all on my own, don't I?  I DO!  Heath sucks at life!  That's a huge lie.  Heath is a master at bedtime.  I love that he takes this last kid event of the day on in such a wonderful way.  There are very few times a week when I have to put any of them to bed, let alone all of them.  There is one thing I love about being in charge of bedtime, though.  When I'm lucky, I get little bits of it during the day, but it's mostly at bedtime when the kids are in the perfect sleepy little mood.

They go from 90 to nothing, breathe a quiet and content little breath, and those sweet little bodies just melt into my hug.  I live for these moments.  I melt just as much as they do.  I get them as close as I can, stick their sweet little faces right up next to mine, and breathe them in as deeply as I can.  That smell that is all child.  A little bit sweet, a little bit sweat, a little bit drool, a little bit food, a little bit dirt, a little bit leftover toothpaste...and 100% perfect.  Even though I know it's 98% disgusting things I don't want to think about, their little smells are the best things I've ever been part of.  I can't get enough of how my kids smell.

Kisses and snuggles with my boy.

There is no weight in the world more perfect than the weight of a completely relaxed child settled on your chest.  They always fit just perfectly and feel just right.  I have no poetic words for it.  It's simply a little piece of heaven.

I love hugging them in tight, whispering a quiet prayer, a soft "I love you", sticking that little face right on mine and breathing them in one last time for that day.  Heaven.

It's not just the kids, though, guys.  I feel like that's important.  As much as I need it with my kids, there is someone else I need it with just as much, probably even more.  Only with this person, I'm the one who gets to do the melting and trusting and letting someone else just hold on to me.  I cannot end a day without walking up to my man, wrapping my arms around him, putting my head on his chest, closing my eyes and just breathing him in.  It grounds me.  It makes me stop and realize that all I need in life can fit right in my arms.

Hugging and breathing in the ones you love is always a win.  So do it as often as you can.  Etch that smell and feeling in your memory and keep it in your heart forever.