Babycakes

I spent most of the afternoon cuddling a sleepy baby. At first, Babycakes was content to spend the better part of an hour asleep in her crib, while I shuffled the laundry along and surreptitiously ate peanut m&ms. After a short while though, she was awake and wanted company.

For a while, my littlest daughter was content to lie on her mat and stare at me while I folded the laundry. As I folded, I stared out our living room window, at the bright afternoon sun, the cars going by on the road, and people walking briskly to and fro, feeling very much out of the world and in my own quiet household cocoon.

After Babycakes tired of watching me fold laundry and I grew tired of folding the laundry, we retreated to the couch and I held her while she snoozed, curled up on my chest like a large, warm puppy. I closed my eyes. She breathed in. I breathed out. Her hair tickled my face. The traffic noises outside muted. My heart was full. We dozed.

Holding a sleeping baby is a guilty pleasure in which I can seldom indulge. The moment my poor second child is asleep, she is transported to her crib so I can perform any number of other essential life tasks--like preventing Miss Bee from performing inventory on our medicine cabinet or baking brownies. I don't have time to sit around and hold the baby unless she is nursing, or if my husband is home and she is making a good enough show of eating that I can ignore the rest of my family and surf the internet.

I think I held Bee during most her her naps as a newborn, reveling in new-motherhood. We would splay out on the couch in the evening while my husband cooked dinner. The hours would tick by ever so slowly. We had so much time with just one child. (I used to think we had so much time as single people. and boy did we ever, but adding a second child to your family really changes your perspective.)

My sister in law gave birth to a little girl this week. I am so happy for her, my brother in law and their new family. Her baby has a beautiful pink complexion, a soft feminine name and a nursery full of rabbits to sleep in. I am sure, however, that her favorite place to sleep will be in her mother's arms.