Better Be Bloggin'

Last night...

"He did it," one of us whispered.
"I know!" the other replied.
"You better be bloggin' tomorrow," Steve encouraged me.
"Better be," I quickly responded, my mind already a jumble with words, phrases, ideas.
"Can I quote you?" I asked.
"As long as you do it tomorrow," Steve reasoned.
"Ok, goodnight."
"Zzzzz."

And so the story goes...

Weary at the end of a busy weekend, Steve and I wanted to just crawl into bed last night and forgo the bedtime routine altogether. You know the one: wash - floss - brush. Good sense got the better of us and we reluctantly cleaned up before lying down. Our energy quickly picked up when we both gravitated toward the baby video monitor. Some people brush their teeth in front of the t.v. Not us. There we stood, brushing away, watching our little guy, so still, so silent, so peaceful in the video monitor.

He's getting so big. It wasn't all that long ago that he looked like a little doll sleeping, swaddled up tightly, in his blanket. Sprawled out last night, he seemed to fill the crib. He prefers to sleep on his side or tummy and his final resting spot changes each night depending on where his night time "roll & play before crash and burn" lands him. Last night he crashed more quickly than most, but not before one last go at sitting upright, crawling the length of the crib and then practicing a few chin-ups on the crib rail. Which must have been when he fell asleep because one leg was still dangling outside the crib, between the rail bars, toe and knee downward, limp. The rest of his body was sweetly arranged on his tummy with his remaining leg and one arm pulled in toward each other and his final arm reaching away, as if reaching for just one last time for the side of the crib.

We both just breathed a sigh of relief (this BUSY baby was finally asleep) and our hearts swelled with pride. Sure that there was some reason why we should still be worried, we conjured up a few. The only one with validity was the dangling foot. So, Steve tip-toed into Peyton's room. I followed close behind but hidden around the corner of the hallway, video monitor in hand, so as not to miss this exciting extraction of said foot stuck in said crib rail. It was an easy fix. Peyton did not even flinch. I couldn't help myself. I went into his room. We both were just standing side by side, peering over the crib at our little fella sound asleep. For some strange reason (maybe it's the video monitor) we don't often get to see Peyton sound asleep in person anymore. A sleeping baby is a beautiful thing. Two parents watching their beautiful sleeping baby is, well, who knows, creepy, maybe?! But, it melted our hearts and was a perfect ending to another wonderful weekend. Moments like these: "Priceless."

Peyton did eventually stir, or maybe it was us. Either way, the moment had passed. Like the new parents we are, we were not interested in disturbing the sleep of our only kiddo down for the night. Since we only had ourselves left to take care of (which we gave up on doing about 9 months ago) it was bed time for us, too. Still giddy, I grabbed our video camera on the way back down the hallway and together, Steve and I replayed one last magical moment from the weekend. Our shoulders pressed together both vying for a view of the teeny tiny screen on our video camera. We sat on the edge of the bed and relived that magical moment yesterday, when Peyton Andrew crawled across the living room floor!

Peyton Andrew crawling across the living room floor yesterday - pretty tough to catch a still shot!

Let the records show that while he hinted at it all week, it didn't actually happen until Saturday when we were in Seattle, out on The Alston's deck having a birthday BBQ (Happy Birthday, Kirsten)! He crawled (just barely) a couple of times. During the interrogation later, by Steve and I, all in attendance agreed that he did indeed "crawl." Our interrogation tactics and the actual performance may still be in question. On Sunday, however, there is no doubt about it. He crawled and we got it on camera. He continued crawling throughout the day and even entertained Nana's friends at her BBQ/Pool Party (Happy Birthday, Nana) by crawling towards their bright and newly painted toenails hoping for a nibble (yuck)!