Tonight I rocked my baby to sleep

Tonight I rocked my baby to sleep.  I haven't been able to do this since he was a baby.  Dexter is really hard to put to sleep some nights, and here lately that means most nights.  Dustin usually lays down with him, because I am to uncomfortable here lately to be tossing and turning with him.   This used to work okay and Dexter didn't give us much trouble falling asleep.  However, here lately, he has been fighting sleep well past 11 o'clock every night.  It has been getting really old considering Dustin has to work in the mornings and he's the one laying down with him.  Tonight I heard Dustin getting Dexter in trouble for not laying down, etc. so I decided that I would give Dustin a break.  I sent him to bed and told Dexter he was to not get out of his bed.  About 5 minutes later he starts hollering I need go pee pee.  We get up and go potty then back to bed with the same instructions.  While I am in the kitchen cleaning up supper I hear his door open.  So, I start to go towards his room and by that time he has already climbed back into his bed and started crying.  When I get in there he says he needs to wipe his nose and he wants daddy.  I wipe his nose and tell him that daddy is in bed and he needs to go to sleep too.  I then return back to the kitchen and I hear Dexter still crying.  After about 5 minutes I decide that I will go in and calm him down and explain that he needs to go to bed and that it was bed time.  Well, I get in there and get him on my lap where he automatically places his head on my shoulder and is crying.  So, instead of this talk I was going to have with him I just decided to hold him.  I then turn him around and hold him like a baby with his head on my arm, and I rock him.  It was such a sweet moment because he had his arm draped across me like he didn't want me to let him go (pull at my heart strings).  As I was rocking him so many emotions just flooded me.  I guess it was because I could feel the baby moving inside of me and then I had this (giant) toddler in my arms that I love with everything in me.  It was so special because I knew that very soon things will never be the same.  In a very good way they will never be the same.  Soon after I feel Dexter start to relax and he drifts off to sleep in my arms.  It was such a special moment for me.  I can't remember the last time I was able to rock him to sleep.  My baby is not a baby anymore.  He is a toddler and I know that time will not stop for me or anyone else so I need to cherish each and every moment that I can get with this boy!  Same goes for everything in my life.  It's so strange how I have only been a mother for 2 1/2 years, but I feel like I have been his mother forever and more.  I love him more than words or actions could every describe.  I love my little family and they bring joy and peace to my heart in good times and bad.  I am so blessed and very very very thankful for it.

Enjoy!