I will give you rest

The quote that keeps going through my head this weekend is this: "Come unto me, you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Mt. 11:28

This is my weekend for resting. DH took the two older girls a few hours' drive north to visit BIL, SIL and their kids. There was a goodbye party for a friend who is leaving for Africa this weekend that I didn't want to miss, so Baby E and I stayed here. They left Friday night, and we have the house to ourselves until they get home sometime today.

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Friday night I had great plans to go to bed early with Baby E and sleep in as much as possible. But I ate something that made us gassy, on top of the fact that we're both coming down with colds, and she would have none of it. Sleep? You've gotta be kidding, mom. No way! Not with an achy tummy and a sore throat! As usual, about 5 broken hours had to do.

Even though we were tired, we had a nice day. We lazed around in the morning, got a few household tasks done, but mostly rested. I had a lot of quiet time to think and just kind of talk to God. In the afternoon we went to the goodbye party, stopped to buy thread for mending DH's pants and $1/yd fabric to make easily-packable raingear for the family and a nursing dress for me, and went to Morning's house for a short visit.

In the evening I worked a bit on sewing some training pants for Nephew, we talked to DH and the girls on the phone (although AJ was too interested in the goings-on there to talk), and I did something I rarely do: I watched a movie by myself while eating dinner and nursing E.

The movie, Finding Neverland, was enjoyable. I found the main character hard to respect because of his interactions (or lack thereof) with his wife and the ease with which he abandoned her to turn his energies elsewhere. That element of the movie bothered me a lot. But the scenes about playing with the children and the magic they found in their play were wonderful. The film reminded me how essential it is that I make time to engage in imaginary play with my children. I want to do that more.

Baby E and I have been really enjoying the extra time to interact and play one-on-one.

Baby E is not a big snuggler unless she's falling asleep, but she really craves eye contact. She will watch me, craning her head every which way, trying desperately to catch my eye. When her eyes finally connect with mine, the connection is like electricity. Her whole body animates, and she is radiant. If she's sitting in my lap facing out, she'll be arching her back to look up and laugh into my face. At the moment she's in my lap, coughing occasionally. She's managed to wiggle herself into a reclining position, where she's kicking her feet and laughing whenever she can induce me to glance down. If she's across the room, she'll be creeping forward and trying to get around furniture to watch me move about the house.

Baby E loves to play peek-a-boo. She will watch intently, her eyes lighting up and her whole body shaking with laughter each time a face emerges from its hiding place. If anyone interacts with her for more than a moment, she'll initiate the game--hiding her face in my shoulder or pulling a blanket or her dress up over her face, and then peeking out over and over.

She loves lap games. Yesterday I introduced her to one the other girls loved at this age. It's simple, really. I hold her hands while she pulls herself to a standing position on my lap, and say "Up!" Then she sits down and I say, "down". It didn't take her long to figure out the cause and effect, and she had a lot of fun with it. She also enjoys lap games like "This is the Way the Ladies Ride", "Pat-a Cake", "This Little Piggy", and "How Big is Baby?" She is ticklish in her ribs, and has a deep, gravelly belly laugh much heartier than you would expect from a baby.

Last night we finally slept! I gave her some infant Tylenol after trying unsuccessfully for several hours to get her to sleep. She is quite uncomfortable with the developing cold, and seems to have a bit of a runny nose, sore throat and cough--as I do. We only woke once between midnight and 7 a.m., and then went back to sleep until after 11.

It felt so wonderful to sleep until we woke up, with no noise and (although I love them dearly) no older children bouncing into the room wanting breakfast and waking the baby with the emergence of the sun. I feel so much more clear-minded and cheerful after even one good night of sleep. Right now I have all kinds of plans and ideas going through my head; everything from ways to organize the household and inspiration for the kids' schooling to ideas for things I'd like to write.

Today I plan to try to get a few household tasks done, sleep whenever Baby E does (hopefully she'll make up for yesterday's near lack of naps), and spend some time reading my Bible, talking to God, and journaling about it (probably not on the blog :) ). I think my lack of time recharging spiritually has been affecting me lately almost as much as lack of sleep.