While you sleep...

Dear John,

As I thought about what the first post should be, I just keep seeing your sweet, tiny face.  You have brought so much joy to me in the two months that you have been here with us.  You had me before you were even born, when I saw that face on the 3D ultrasound screen - so peaceful, sleeping...

Sleep (a natural, regularly recurring condition of rest for the body and mind, during which the eyes are usually closed and there is little or no conscious thought or voluntary movement, but there is intermittent dreaming - Webster's 4th Edition) is a gift, one that seems to be taken for granted before a newborn comes into your household.  From early on, we thought that you would be a good sleeper.  Even in those wee hours of the morning, when you would be awake, you would just lay in either your daddy's or my arms and just look at us - no crying.  In did take a while to get you to go back to sleep, but you just looked so peaceful in our arms.  And yes, there were countless nights of staying awake with you on the couch in the living room (mostly by your daddy)!

But now, at two months, you have made a transition to only waking up once each night to nurse.  I pick you up and nurse you and then you fall right back to sleep.  Even though it is hard to crawl out of bed when I hear your tiny cry, I do and then am rewarded to hold you in my arms.  

What I love best though is looking at you while you are sleeping.  In the past week, there have been several moments that have just taken me by surprise.  Since your sister has been sleeping in until around 9 o'clock in the morning lately, I have had many moments to lay you down in my bed with me while we rest until she wakes up.  As I hold you in my arm and look over at your sweet, perfect face, I am filled with a profound love that is indescribable.  While you are sleeping, your face is perfectly still - no wrinkles, no creases, no tears, etc.  Just beautiful (or handsome I should say).  I could stare at it for hours!

Those who trust in God can rest easy, knowing that God is in control and that nothing will cause God to abandon them. The age-old fears that keep us up at night - fear of death, of rejection, of loss - no longer have a grip on our minds.  This is the Christian perspective that I hope to instill in you as you grow older.

Now, let's just work on sleeping through the night :-) 

Love, Mommy