Bottle Them Up

The BFG gathers dreams

Today was a wonderful day.  I got a lot done that I needed to get done.  It may not look like it from the outside, but I promise I did.  This morning started a little crazy with my brother coming over and a meeting for a small job (THANK YOU to the wonderful neighbor who took on three crazy boys for me!!).  Then it was a nap for Baby J and I had plans to do laundry and clean.

But Mr. E had other plans.  I had to complete a few things for the small job so I sat with Mr. E and did them.  While I worked he snuggled up next to me and pulled up a blanket.  I was sold.  A movie came on the Disney channel so we snuggled.  Mr. E told me that he likes mommy snuggle time, so we snuggled some more.  Lunch time came and I thought about feeding my boy, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.  It got to be a little late, so I started to get up, only to find that Mr. E had fallen asleep.  Now I really didn't want to move.


Then I heard noises coming from upstairs.  J was waking up.  I soaked up just a little bit more of the sweet, sleepy snuggles from my big boy (snapped a selfie), then pried myself away.  Baby J and I had some rare alone time while Mr. E snoozed.

I did eventually feed Mr. E, then we ran a couple errands.  J had another nap when we got home and Mr. E begged for more snuggles.  Who was I to turn that down?

I had to cut the snuggles short and make dinner.  I got three freezer meals made, plus dinner for tonight.  Usually Mr. E is under foot while I cook, but tonight he let me do what I needed to do and even helped a little when I asked.

After dinner we played and watched Dancing with the Stars (all three of us).  Then we had the easiest and most cooperative bed time we have had in weeks.  I don't think I yelled, lost my cool, or got overly frustrated once the entire day.  I may not have gotten the laundry all done, or my kitchen cleaned, but I am certain that I got everything done that I really needed to.  It was like my boys knew that tomorrow is going to be a tough day and they wanted to make it a little easier.

I just wish I could take days like today and bottle them up.  I wish I could store them on a shelf so that, on the really hard days, I could open them up and be reminded of just how sweet it is to be loved by the precious gifts that are my children.  I wish I could open bottles of days with Ethne so I could feel her squishy little self, smell her sweet smell, her her beautiful laugh, and watch her goofy run.  I wish I had bottles of all the best days to remind me of the things I have to look forward to.  I wish I had bottles, so that when I'm old and my memory starts to fail I won't ever forget the most precious times.

I am so thankful for the blessings of each of my children and especially grateful for days like today.