Monday, March 31, 2008

late one night

last night i was up late reading a book ( good book, i'll have another entry about that one) and i was thinking about ava asleep in her bed and i just . . . missed her. i wanted to see her, make sure she was breathing, tuck the blankets around her. i refrained because the possibility of her waking up and thinking it was morning was far worse than the sweet moment i imagined.

however, in the middle of the night, she was coughing a lot, so i got up and got her a drink. she was awake, holding her blanket and waiting for me when i got there. after demanding that we go sit out on the couch while she took a sip, i grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around us and sat back. she took a sip or two of water and immediately fell asleep. she filled my lap and then some like michaelangelo's pieta, spilling off the ends of my lap, sitting straight up, her little head against my chest, her dark eyelashes casting shadow on her round cheeks. it reminded me of other dark nights on the couch, where i sat right in the middle indian-style and fed her a bottle. i could hold her with one arm. and she held her tiny little fists up to the sides of her face and drank with her eyes closed.

it was a good night.

3 comments:

Liz said...

Sweet, so sweet. I know you're not a fan of words like that, but that really is the sweetest story of your night with Ava. I love the descriptive language. It really painted a lovely picture of a quiet, intimate, peaceful moment with your daughter. Thanks for sharing that.

redstarmama said...

I miss the fists-at-the-face feedings. And being able to check on my kids without waking them up. Why does time have race away so fast?! And also I love the Pieta reference, it's one of my faves.

Amber Marie said...

how sweet! what a dream come true and I love your description. ryan can't wait for the day that camilla snuggles and sleeps with him again :)