Rare opportunity, thankfully!

Two nights ago Stella woke up and woke us up with quite a scream and a cry around 12am or so. She sometimes will cry out in the night for reasons we can't begin to figure out but almost instantly quiets and goes right back to sleep. I wonder if she really wakes up in those moments. Anyway, this was a little different and after a few minutes of her really crying and carrying on Brian and I went in to check on her. She quieted as soon as we got there but when we left she started right up again. We tried going back to bed ourselves thinking she would cry for a few minutes and fall back to sleep...but no. Finally I went back in and she calmed as soon as she heard me. I picked her up to check her diaper which was fine and found myself sitting in the glider rocking her and her little beary as she gazed up at me in the moonlight. I realized that this might very well be the first time she has settled in my arms in the rocker since she stopped bottle feeding almost 5 months ago. Even then she rarely settled! Our little Stella is many wonderful things but she is not a cuddler! So I watched her try to keep her eyes open and stroked her little hand in mine and thanked God for the opportunity to be her mom and know how it feels to be able to comfort her. The sweetest thing was that after a few minutes of stroking her hand I noticed she was rubbing my finger with hers! How sweet is that!!?? I hope I always remember how soft and gentle and sincere her little touch was in that moment. Sigh. Finally after a while I put her back in her crib and she went right to sleep without a peep the rest of the night. Needless to say it is much easier to see the beauty and charm in a late night moment like this one...because they rarely happen! I know how blessed we are to have a champion sleeper but I was grateful for this little chance to love on her in a special way.

She is so cute right now and this age is a lot of fun! Here is a sweet picture I took of her yesterday as we were playing in the playroom. She was looking up at my new fancy flash! If you click on it to see the large version you see both the sparkle in her eye and some lunch on her face.