Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Worth the Wait


Lyla Kate
September 27, 2011
3:13 am

And it was a significant wait. But that's another story for another day. Right now I'm surrounded by old burp cloths, dirty dishes, and laundry waiting to be folded, but my baby is clean and fed and smiling in her sleep and all I want to do is drink her in. I know that this newborn time is special and it won't last long, so for now I refuse to waste much of it with the unnecessary. Instead, I'll record some of my favorite things about Lyla.

She smells like heaven. Of course after her evening bath she smells especially good, but I mean I love the way she smells all the time. Sometimes I bury my face in her tiny little neck folds and just try to inhale her. I even love the smell of her breath. That sweet milky scent just melts my heart. I get especially sentimental when I take her after she's been snuggling with Daddy and smells faintly of him.

Her hands. Every detail all the way down to her teeny tiny little fingernails is absolute perfection. When she gets a hold of my shirt and clings to me, oh heavens! It's like she has a fist full of my heart! I tried clipping her nails the other day. Something I had avoided all along because a) I sort of loved her pretty long nails and b) I was terrified of cutting too close or hurting her in any way. I tried to do it while she was nursing and ended up clipping her, making her bleed. She screamed for a few minutes and it broke. my. heart. I really think it was much more traumatic for me than it was for her.

Confession: I love sleeping with her. I know I'm supposed to put her down and she should only sleep flat on her back. But there are times when she is having none of that and, honestly, I don't really mind. Obviously I can't do it all the time, but for a few hours a day I can think of no better way to spend my time. Cuddling up with her on my chest and feeling each sweet breath on my neck, or my cheek . . . Love.
So very, very, worth the wait.