Love, just pure love

Today I just have to jot down a note. Ajay worked overnight last night, meaning 7PM to 7AM. As he left for work, I was stressed about having both grumpy tired girls all to myself for the next 13 hours. And beyond that, I knew he'd come home exhausted from hustling all night and need as much sleep as possible, and the sooner the better.

Ajay arrived home somewhere after 8AM, and played with Alia until her late morning nap...when she went down, so did he.  I was tired, having manned both girls all night...Amelie was up at 12:30 and again for good at 5AM, and Alia had a surprise wake-up at 3:45....so if you look at it, I actually didn't make a single 4 hour stretch of sleep, meaning I didn't make it to REM sleep, the most important kind.  And the day sadly began at 5AM with Amelie.

And when Alia napped? Amelie was awake....and vice versa (so not a single break for Mom) until Ajay awoke at 2:30 PM. I was busy with one girl or the other all morning/early afternoon. But you know what? I handled it. I enjoyed it. I not only endured it, but I was actually good at it.

And Alia? She actually understood....and when I told her "Daddy's sleeping....remember? He had to go to work last night?", she replied, "Yeeeeeah!" in her sweetest most enthusiastic voice. And when Amelie woke up and needed me to tend to her, she didn't care too much for that fact, but she dealt with it.

Amelie? Today, she was pure joy...pure sweetness....pure Mommy's girl. When I was around, she smiled her biggest smile. When I tickled her, she giggled her best Amelie giggle. When I bathed her, she splashed and coed and kicked like the happiest baby on the block. And that's when I realized what I was feeling....just plain, pure love.

All day today, I was beat. I was pooped. But I didn't think about it once. I just filled the gap that my poor sleeping husband had left and for the first time, enjoyed it. I felt confident that I can do this. I felt 100% bonded with Amelie. I felt like Alia liked me almost as much as Daddy, which is saying a lot. I felt pure love.