Those precious moments

When you're sick and tired and wondering why you ever decided to have children, it's a good idea to revisit those precious moments that melt your heart.

It has unfortunately been a rough couple of weeks for us in many ways so I figure now is a good time to list some of those 'precious moments' that have happened with my children as a reminder of the amazing blessings I have been given:

1. The middle-of-the-night smile: when I was feeding Beni in the early hours and fell asleep, I eventually woke up and found Beni giving me a beautiful gummy smile. He then proceeded to tell me a big story in baby-language. Such a dear little guy.

2. The gentle touch: I had a particularly 'trying' day with Luca and when it came time to say goodnight he reached up and gently patted my face, put his hand under my chin and gave me a tender kiss. Needless to say my anger and frustrations disappeared in an instant!

3. Contented sighs: At the moment I seem to have to rock Beni to sleep in my arms a lot to settle him and he always gives lovely big contented sighs just as he's dropping off to sleep. It's quite an amazingly satisfying thing being a parent and being the one that your child needs the most when comfort is needed.

4. Those sleepy cuddles: I love it when Luca has just woken up from his afternoon nap and he's still all sleepy so just wants to have cuddles on my lap while he continues to wake up. He rests his head on my chest as I gently rock him. I love it. There's a lot to say about the loving physical touch between parent and child - something which costs nothing and yet is priceless.

5. The spontaneous "Thank you Mamma!" This is quite random but so lovely when it comes out without being prompted!

6. A brotherly display of affection: Luca is so so gentle and tender and kind towards Beni - he really loves him and is proud of him and wants to involve him in what's he's doing by giving him toy cars, trucks and motorbikes to play with (even though he's not even 3 months old!). I often find Luca with his face right beside Beni's talking gently to him while his hand is gently stroking the top of Beni's head. Just delightful.

7. Hearing a little voice singing: Luca has started spontaneously singing nursery rhymes and oh my goodness he has a dear little voice! It's all incredibly out of tune but I love it that he just suddenly breaks out into song - I could listen to it all day.

I am reminded to make the most of these precious moments as they arise - it's quite amazing how you can draw a lot of strength from them during the moment and to keep them as a precious memory.