{FPA} February 25: I love...

...unplanned snuggle time. This afternoon I abandoned my one personal goal of the day, to take a shower, in favor of holding my tiniest babe while she slept. Two things about that may appear a little sad.

One: I only had one personal goal for the day. If there's anything I've learned in staying home with kiddo's and a sickness that is making the rounds, it's don't get ahead of yourself and be realistic. A shower is a baby step to bigger things happening. If I get one, then maybe we can think about leaving the house for a small errand or I'll feel more motivated and energized for fun afternoon activities. If not, we're stuck with pajamas and stinky Mama all day, highly unlikely to channel extensive creativity or adventure and much more probable that we'll end up reaching for the good old stand-by of play dough until dinner time.

Two: Lena is still spoiled and sometimes won't lay down by herself for a nap. What can I tell you--this girl gets super fussy when she's tired (ahem... don't know where she gets that from). Sometimes rocking her and laying her down simply doesn't do the trick. OK, who am I kidding? It rarely does the trick. Today she was particularly cranky, mixed in with the trademark pulling knees into her chest, indicating tummy discomfort. After Addie was down for her nap, I tried laying on my bed with Miss. Lena's belly pressed against mine to relieve her pain, and I'll be darned if she didn't drift right off within a few minutes. Of course, any attempt made to slip out from under her and leave her to sleep alone was jinxed by immediate cries and jerking of limbs. So I did the only thing I could and that was surrender to her sweet snuggles and watch Zombieland while I smelled her hair and rubbed her back and feet. She doesn't know it yet, but that could very likely be the best nap of her life.

Under other circumstances I would try and make Lena tough it out and put her in a bouncy seat so I could get my shower and move on to other tasks in our day. But today nothing seemed as important as loving on my girl while she rested deeply, pausing the movie here and there just so I could stare at her. It was a good choice.

Any time I am gifted with uninterrupted snuggles with my girls, my mind wanders to think about a time that will come when they look to someone else for safety and closeness. Even though there is a part of me that knows no one else on this earth could love my babies the way their mommy does, my prayer today and every day, is that they can eventually (way far off into the future) find a partner who loves them in a crazy, unconditional, yet grounded way. Someone who will adore, respect, cherish, honor, challenge, admire and protect them... and hold them just for the joy of doing so.

What recurring prayer of yours is pressing on your heart today?

Here's how it works: Leave a prayer request in the comments on Friday's posts. It can be anything--something you are thankful for, a friend you are worried about, a desire from your heart... Anything. By leaving a comment you are also committing to pray for others who comment as well. We'll start fresh each week. That's it. You can even be anonymous if you wish.


Quick side note--Zombieland is hi-LAR-ious. I typically hate horror/zombie movies but this one is in a class all its own. My favorite part was every part with Woody Harrelson in it. Yep, I still love him even after all these years. He'll always be Woody Boyd to me.