A fleeting moment...

I have moments with Tate sometimes where I think, "I can't imagine having any more children because there is NO WAY I could love another child as much as I love Tate". Those moments are fleeting because we DEFINITELY want more children and siblings for Tate, but last night I had one of those moments...

Tate had been in bed for over an hour when I heard him yelp out so I went to check on him and found that he very possibly hadn't even gone to sleep yet. He had all his stuffed animals and his stuffed Manny lined up perfectly, covered with a blanket and 'tucked in' nicely and was sitting up in the middle of his bed tending to them not appearing that he had been sleeping any time recently. This was our conversation:

Me: "Tate, you need to lay down and go to sleep...it's late!"

Tate: "Okay Mommy, you lay with me."

Me: "Okay, I will for a few minutes."

I lay down and he gets all snuggled in and it facing me with his face about 2 inches from mine...

Tate: sigh "this is better Mommy, thank you."

Me: "oh, I love you so much sweetie!"

Tate: "I love you too, Mommy."

silence...I start to act like I'm sleeping and Tate is just laying there with his eyes open, staring at me. He yawns and starts to rub my arm...

Tate: "I love your arm, Mommy"

I still act like I'm sleeping and another minute or two passes as Tate yawns several times...he now thinks I am asleep.
Tate rubs across my hair and down my cheek and says in a whisper...

Tate: "I love you, Mommy so much"

Then he grabs each side of my face and comes in and kisses me on the middle of my forehead, turns over and goes sound asleep.

Oh.My.Heart.

How did I ever deserve such a sweet, amazing little boy!
I had my moment right then and there. I thought, "there is no way I could love any child more than this one." Seriously, I was bursting with love so much that it almost hurt.

I know that's not true, I know I will love ALL of my 5 (ahem...okay Sean, MAYBE I'll settle for 3) children as deeply as I love Tate! It's just hard to imagine right now.