sleeping redheads.

From the very beginning of their life, there is just something unique about a sleeping redhead.

Quickly I came to realize that when a redheaded baby is sleeping it is the only solitude I will have the entire day.

Their mouths will pout up and become full and luscious. Their hair will become nappy and lovely.

They make no sounds except those from sweet, peaceful dreams. Which is rewarding in itself considering that while they are awake all they want to do is be heard...

Sometimes they will fight until the very last second to stay awake, because redheads don't want to miss a thing. Not a thing.

Redheaded babies are born with a fiery passion. They come out crying, moving, controlling and exuding a peculiar kind of energy.

So while they are sleeping, I capture moments of their incomparable beauty. I watch them intently. I purpose to not forget the quiet stillness of their bodies.

There is something remarkably unique about a sleeping redhead. It is a moment like no other.

A moment that I cherish. Deeply.
Because not only am I finally resting, but I know they are too. Finally.

And yet on mornings like today when I wake up early on my own accord and not because a redhead is standing at my bedside spitting demands into my sleeping ear...

...On mornings like today when the house remains quiet enough for me to think, pray and bathe while the redheads stay in dreamland...

...On mornings like today when I see them sleeping in their own rooms; their bodies much larger than they once were but to me, still such babies...

...I long for them to wake. I long for the stillness to be broken and the rumble of our day to begin. And it doesn't take long. In fact, it's a presence about these redheads that wakes when they do. A roaring beast of energy within them that soothes me to my core.

There is something beautiful and wonderful about sleeping redheads. But there is something beautiful and much more wonderful about the voices, noises and chaos that is a redhead when they wake. The glory in my day....

To greet the redheads when they wake, love them in the midst of the chaos while they are, and appreciate them while they sleep. You cannot do one without the other when it comes to redheads. In my life, it is a moment to moment joy; one that is an art in itself.

You know, raising redheads.