February 1

I blinked and suddenly, it's February. This first day of the new month started off well enough, with the kiddos heading off to school and me running some errands. After preschool, I gave Brady lunch and he played a tablet game for a little while... and then it became apparent that my little muffin wasn't feeling well.

He first complained that he was thirsty, and then said that his "mouth" hurt, though I'm still not sure if he meant his mouth or his throat or something else entirely. (Oh, the challenges of isolating discomfort in little people!) I carried him from the car to the school to pick up Isaac and watched as he stared listlessly into space while we drove to retrieve Abby. He wound up falling asleep at the foot of the staircase at 5:30, and Adam carried him off to bed for the night.

I'm sad that he's not feeling well, but I loved being able to fully mother him through his discomfort. I loved carrying him and taking his temperature and feeling his head against my shoulder, because I don't get to do those things very often anymore. And I loved how he answered my questions by closing his eyes and offering up a silent nod of the head, because it's just how his biggest brother reacted to such queries way back when.

Hopefully he'll be better in the morning, but today, I'm thankful that I had the gift of being there for him when he needed his mommy.