The best part of my day over the last few months has been 15-20 minutes somewhere between 5am and 6:30am each morning. My wake up time depends on when baby Courtney decides to start rolling around in her crib. She used to cry when she woke up to get our attention; because she knows that there is a fresh warm bottle on the menu. Cameron and Courtney each have their own room, and their doors pretty much face each other. So when Courtney starts making noise in the morning, She needs a fresh diaper and a bottle to avoid waking up Cameron (and sometimes mommy).
Over the past few weeks, Courtney has (with some exceptions) not cried when she woke up, but instead asks for Dada. We have a video monitor in our room, so every little peep gets played, and acts as my alarm clock. She’s not yelling, but just in a nice quiet voice puts a bunch of noises together, with some "da’s" in there, and to me it sounds like "mmmmmmmm dadadad , mmmmm dada". Music to my ears.
I get up and make my way downstairs to the microwave, heat up 6oz of water (in glass; 🙂 no plastic in the microware please) and make her bottle. Sometimes I have the forethought to prepare this setup the night before, but mostly I have to make it on demand. Flip on the coffee pot, and get back up stairs to feed Courtney.
This has to be one of the best times not only of my day, but of my life. I really look forward to it every morning. Things are a little crazy with work, the current bad economy, yesterday I got a traffic ticket, blah, blah, blah. None of that matters for this 15-20 minutes. Courtney is so peaceful, happy, smiley, and (the best part) clingy, that I can’t help but ignore the daily stress of life and just enjoy her company for a few minutes.
While she’s drinking her bottle, I can give her a fresh new diaper, which just takes about 45 seconds. When she’s done with her 6-7 ounces, she politely hands me her bottle (ok not really, she just pushes it away and I’m ready for it) and then rolls over to snuggle up. I love this part, and she does it every day. When she’s drinking her bottle, she’s laying on her back across my lap, with her head in the crease of my left elbow. When she’s done with her body, she rolls towards me, and lifts her head up. Now she lies down with her head on my left shoulder, and our bodies are parallel. She get’s a little burp out, and I can tell she is perfectly content.
Cameron is 3 1/2 and it seems like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant with him. Time goes by fast, and I’m sure that someday soon my morning ritual with Courtney will change, but for now, it’s the greatest way I can imagine to get my day started.
