Where do you put them all?

Those little memories. The fleeting moments you experience with your child that you never want to forget. The ones that literally make your heart ache cause it is so big, so full of love. Surely you don't file them away amongst the birthdays, boyfriends, proms, graduations and weddings. I had one of those moments with Tatum tonight and I never want to forget it. I went in to check on her before I was going to go to bed, as I have done every night since she was born. Just as I walked in she woke up. I usually fall to the ground and end up doing something similar to an army crawl out of the room but I figured I would rock her back to sleep. I picked her up and she was soaking wet. I realized that the bottle I left on the side of her bed had fallen in and spilled. She was sleeping in her milk (the milk she didn't drink before bed cause she insists on nursing for bedtime even though we try a bottle each night). I needed to change her as well as her sheets. She was none too happy about being awake and having her clothes changed. Once I got her sheets changed and her jammies changed we sat down in the rocker. She snuggled in to go to sleep. Then she popped her head up, smiled at me and grabbed both my arms with her arms stretched as far as she could and hugged me so tight. Then laid her head back down on my chest to settle into sleep. I sat there with my face against her hair for a long time. Longer than I needed to and thought, this is one of those moments. The ones that make your heart ache because you are so in love with your baby. I am storing this one away. Putting it in my special file of little fleeting moments that might, from time to time, be overshadowed by a big event but will never, ever leave me.