A Lonely Night Owl
I’ve always had an easier time staying up late than I do waking up early. In fact, as a child the only time I remember seeing the sunrise was when I accidentally stayed up all night secretly reading my sister’s Christian romance novels. You really shouldn’t have kept them in such an obvious place as in a box under your bed, Fawn.
It was an adjustment for Daniel and I when we got married. I learned not to expect him to stay up late watching a movie with me. He would fall asleep about 5 minutes into it. And he learned to tip toe out of our room in the mornings on the weekends. There was no greater wrath than when I didn’t get to sleep in on a Sunday morning.
I was curious how having a baby would impact us once again. I expected I wouldn’t get to sleep in as often, which so far is unfortunately true. But I never expected to fall in love even more with the night. As soon as I’m off of work I’m on the floor playing with Kai because I missed him throughout the day. Then I get to put him to sleep. It’s not only a wonderful way to bond, but I get to hold him an extra few minutes and soak in the wonderful feeling of his face nestled into the crook of my neck.
It’s the perfect start to the night.
There’s no better feeling in the world.
While doing chores is not (nor ever really is) on our list of requirements, I get to find a few small ways throughout the house to contribute. I focus most on what I can do to make the next day better for Daniel. So whether it’s laundry, dishes or preparing the bottles, every chore is a gift I can give to my family for tomorrow. Eventually Daniel, who is usually up extremely early doing freelance work while Kai’s still asleep, heads to bed and sleeps through every noise I could try to make.
At some point I sneak into Kai’s room to leave laundry, to grab something I forgot, or to rearrange something. I never know how much time goes by while I’m standing there watching him sleep. It takes all my willpower to walk away eventually. At some point while walking through our room I find myself realizing I’ve been staring at Daniel sleep for too long, too. It’s probably creepier to watch him sleep that it is Kai. But I’m often overwhelmed by just how great a man, husband and father he is. It’s a special gift to be able to just love. Before long my day wraps up into sleep.