Snuggle Time

December 13, 2011

Snuggle Time…

Did you know that there is a show on TV called “Noodle and Doodle”? I did not until this morning.  “Noodle and Doodle” comes on PBS KIDS Sprout. I also did not know there was a channel called PBS KIDS Sprout. Until this morning.

My own Noodle, Aubrey Blayce Crittenden, has a cold.  Her mom has dropped her off at my house and into my care for the last couple of mornings. She arrives around 6 a.m. (which I personally think is an ungodly hour for adults to be up and out of the house, but a baby? I am not sure it should be legal!!!) Yesterday, she came gladly into my arms and immediately began to point at all of the Christmas lights and talk to me (I leave them on 24-7, something my son-in-law would hate) Still, in spite of our animated conversation regarding all of the Christmas decorations, I was certain that I could get her to snuggle down in bed with me and Pops and go back to sleep for a little while… I totally underestimated her ability to fight off sleep.  The fight included trying to walk on our bed; drinking half of her bottle and as she began to lose the fight to keep her eyes open, flinging it off the bed (she may have a future in baseball); playing with my hair and then yanking out handfuls of it as she began to drift off causing me to scream out in pain and wake her up; chasing the dogs and trying to pull their hair as well as yell at the back of Pops’ head who remained so still I was not sure he was breathing…I finally gave up the ghost, got up and brought her into the living room.  We snuggled on the couch and had some great bonding time before she finally fell asleep sitting up in my arms.

This morning, I was armed!  I had turned off all of the Christmas lights, made the bottle, and had a little “nest” made on the couch. She cried for her mommy this morning, but immediately snuggled down with me.  We lay down on the couch.  Poor baby girl- she could not breathe and suck on her passy at the same time; she has fluids running out of her mouth, her nose and her eyes. I “hiked” her up with pillows and sang her songs (she still likes my singing voice, and No Melissa, I did not sing “Super Freak”) As she drifted off to sleep, I was allowed to spend the first precious moments of our day admiring how perfect she is; how incredibly amazing her eyelashes are; how perfect her nose is and her sweet mouth.  I took in her smell which included sweat and snot and wondered why that smell cannot be bottled up and sold to mommies and grandmother’s- it is the smell of happy thoughts. She was running a fever, and as I did with her daddy so many years ago, and later with her Aunt Loopy (Lynnsay) and Uncle Dave, I prayed for her fever to break. I rubbed her head, scratched her arms and rubbed her legs.  I prayed for her daddy, and her mommy.  I prayed for her unborn cousin, Pistol.  I prayed for Aunt Loopy, Uncle B and Uncle Dave. I prayed for Pops and for Preslee, who just had her tonsils out… I prayed for all of our brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and as her fever broke and she calmed to a deep sleep, I began to drift off myself and I thanked God for this moment- it was at that exact time that I remembered thanking God for the same “snuggle opts” with my own children. I hated when they were sick; but I loved to opportunity to lie with them close to me.

After her morning “nap”, Aubrey woke up ready to run around and control the house for a bit.  As I was making breakfast, I thought that maybe I could find Sesame Street on TV. Instead, I found PBS KIDS Sprouts- and the show that was on? “Noodle and Doodle”!!! On this particular episode they were making an anniversary cake for grandparents…cute show. Bad cake.  I told Aubrey that maybe we could watch the show for the songs (she seemed interested in them) but we were going to stick to the Cooking Channel for any baking ideas!

Thank you Lord for “Noodle and Marz” days.  We did not make a cake- but we did snuggle, clean the bathroom, do laundry, snuggle, unpack boxes, make lunch, read books, snuggle, and play on the floor… and our favorite, re-organize the Tupperware!