>Powerless
>I woke very early this morning to find our house plunged into darkness and a bitter, bone-chilling cold.
The power had gone out. It was 9 degrees outside. Not good.
I went to check on the little ones and inadvertently woke Bruiser. He called for his traditional morning warm milk, which, after a few sips, often sends him right back into dreamland. But with no power, he instead got cold milk. Obviously, that wouldn’t do at all. Bruiser squawked loudly until I picked him up and shuffled off to the icy cold den, which was lit only by the earliest watery rays of sunlight.
I established the two of us in one corner of a deep sofa, where we huddled together for warmth. Bruiser snuggled in my lap and made happy baby noises. I rubbed his hands and kept him cuddled into a round little ball. And then I noticed the tips of his ears were cold and I breathed on them. He smiled and tried to breathe on me in return. We rubbed noses and I patted his fat little cheeks. We looked at a few toy cars from Bruiser’s collection and then talked about farm animals. But mostly, we snuggled. For the better part of an hour, we hugged and patted and whispered to each other and dozed a little and grinned big, silly grins and kept each other warm in the now-frigid house.
And then the power came back on.
Bruiser chortled and climbed down from my lap. I turned on “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and went to make coffee and breakfast. Life returned to normal.
And now, as Bruiser plays in the den and I begin a long day of meeting deadlines and giving baths and cooking food and buying a few more last-minute gifts and changing diapers and wrapping presents and reading picture books….
I’m sort of wishing the power would go back off again.
>I love my teenagers, but oh, how I miss those surprise cuddle sessions with them when they were wee little people. Enjoy every minute of it.
>Our power in Green Hills was still on this morning, but we usually keep it at 65 during the night anyway. But yeah, walking out to a brisk single-digit temp this morning was NOT how I wanted to wake up. Sweet story, though. Almost makes me want a kid of my own. Almost. 🙂
>So sweet! Just this morning, I was having a conversation with my almost 5 year old about how much he used to love to snuggle with Momma and how he would cry if I let him go. Now he cries when I hold him too tightly. It got me approximately 47 seconds of more snuggle time than I would have had otherwise. I’ll take what I can get.
>I used to secretly enjoy it when my now 11yo was feeling under the weather, because it was the only time she would just lie with me and cuddle. Now, that doesn’t even work! Lucky for me, 9yo and 6yo are total cuddlers still.
>I love those snuggle times with my baby boy (who is almost 3, but yes, he’s still a baby). Sometimes I just love when my world is forced to stop and focus on my children. Too often I just sit down and ENJOY them. Feeding and caring for them is not the same thing.
>A few houses went out last night in our neighborhood. But we were bright and warm fortunately.
>I mean too often I don’t sit down and enjoy them.
>We’ve without power for 10 days. Having the 3 of us in a bed was cute for 2 of those 9 nights. But I was thankful for a 2 hour school delay today which allowed me to spend some more time with my daughter instead of freezing my bippy off while shlepping her to someone who had heat.
>That’s too sweet. Thanks for the reminder to unplug every once in awhile.
>Sometimes it’s the littlest things that are the best.
>I lost power for 5 days last week. It was only fun for the first few hours!
>Merry Christmas to you and yours, Lindsay. Enjoy each and every gift like that one.
>I enjoyed your story, thanks for sharing. Tomorrow when my kids won’t stop touching me…I’m going to try and focus on it.
>I love cuddle time:-) I am lucky that my teenager still likes to cuddle…when she is home from college:-)
>I have been lurking on your blog and I love it! Thought I would say hello.I’m also in a (very) blended family.
>We went 4 days without power this summer. It was the best bonding our family has ever had! I’m so glad you enjoyed it…at the same time, glad you got your power back! Nine degrees and no heat, sounds a bit dangerous!
>So sweet!
>That was such a sweet story. It almost makes me want a kid…but not quite. (I’m with Cube Farmer.)
>I live for those moments. Thankfully all but the boy will still cuddle. Even at 16, 11, and 3the girls will still snuggle during a movie or while reading. The boy however has to be sick or really cold. WAY to macho for that girly stuff. But if I don’t feel good he’ll get huggy with me.I miss when they were little and would fall asleep in my arms or just lay there quietly and watch the world go by. They are too big for that now as most of them are my height or taller. *sigh* almost makes you want another…..Nah!
>Brrrr! So glad the power didn’t go out by me. I can’t take the cold.
>That made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you.(I do realize this is a bit late…but I’ve been out of town with no computer access. Tragic I know.)D
>A truly wonderful stolen moment.