right now, at this very moment: (part 2)

I tried and tried to write some Quick Takes for this week, but alas -as you can see- I have nothing. This week has been all about survival. Our new little guy likes to party at night rather than sleep, so we sit cross-legged on the bed, bleary-eyed and yawning like crazy, staring with slow smiles at the tiny, wide-eyed boy lying between us.

Our older boys have been rolling with their upturned schedules like sweethearts. There are the occasional meltdowns. Toys get flung. Shrill shrieks can be heard from the playroom and then the process begins of trying to extract what really happened from a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. But there are still -there are always- hugs and kisses galore. We have soft-hearted boys and it never fails to rouse a wave of gratitude in my heart when Eli comes and hugs my leg, his dimple popping as he grins up at me. Or when Gabriel nestles in next to me while I nurse Noah, carefully stroking his brother's hair and turning away with embarrassment when I praise him for his loving gesture. Ah, they are good boys.

So really, it's not survival... It's life. Busy, but not without pauses for gratitude. Crazy, but in that only momentary, stinging way that makes you think afterward: One day, I will remember this and wish with all my might that I could be there one more time.