Anecdotes From A Mom's Ear

7/11/2024 - Inmate ID: Aylaina Sky

I hand my five-year-old daughter a couple of adult women's gummies and I tell her: "Hand these to your Auntie for me." I say, directing over the barricade we have set up to prevent officially-2-year-old inmate Alexander from having free range of the house.

"Okay, mommy!" She said happily and turned, going to her Auntie. Jesse was sitting in the family room with Xander. I turn to put the vitamins away and I hear her say sweetly: "Open your mouth!" Auntie Jesse humors her by saying loudly: "Ahhhhhh!" A second of silence. My oldest daughter says proudly to her Aunt: "There. I'm your mommy now!"

And then laughter fills the house.

Thank you, to whoever hears my heart in these moments. For these moments, for they are everything I need to be happy in this life.

7/13/2024 Inmate ID: Dean

The oldest and I had been playing a game 'together.' Slime Rancher is a game he and I bond over. He plays on the Xbox, and I play on my Switch. I enjoy finding things that he and I do together (most often we bond over anime and video games - which is pretty freaking epic) because I have only 6 or 7 weeks with my little dude a year. He lives with his Mom in El Paso, and Chris had moved here to Tennessee to be with me. Chris will spend his school holiday weeks in Texas with him, since the wee ones here need to be taken back and forth to school.

We had been playing for a while and so he saved his game, turned it off, and came and sat next to me on the bed. He watches my screen for a moment before suddenly saying: "Can I have a hug?" I am a little surprised by this, as it's not often that this particular inmate seeks me out for affection. I put the game down and wrap my arms around him. He leans into me and quietly says:

"I'm going to miss you when I go home."

My heart breaks and I give him a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the head.

"I'm going to miss you too, buddy." We stay like this a moment later, and when I feel him start to pull away, I give him a few gentle pokes in his ticklish ribs and he squeals and flops like a fish on the bed - where he is wide open for tickle attacks.

Thank you, to all the heavens for the love of my life, and his beautiful, sweet son - who turns out to be one of the best big brothers any kid would be jealous to have. They were exactly what my family needed, I think.

7/15/2024 Inmate ID: Marlee

Giving two-year-old Xander medicine can be a pain. Poor thing is two and he’s still cutting the last of his teeth. To help him sleep, we took pre-emotive measures. Today, he took his medicine without much complaint. 4-year-old Marlee pipes up from her dinner plate: “Him didn’t even cry about taking his medicine. I’m so proud of him!”

My heart swells with intense love for the sweet little girl who watches over her brother with a motherly and protective eye. Thank you to all of the powerful for giving me children who love each other- let their friendship last their whole lifetimes.

7/17/2024 Inmate ID: Xander

It's around 9:30 A.M. I'm rousing from my sleep, and I hear my life-mate softly talking to our two-year-old son. He's telling him good morning and changing his diaper, asking him how he slept. The baby knows some words, and he babbles at you using a mixture of baby talk and words to converse and it's the cutest thing to hear and try to decipher. I'm under the sheets, somehow my face got covered before I woke up. My arms are above my head and I'm relaxing, but then I hear:

"There's your pretty mommy. You want to go eat, or do you want to get mommy?" My traitorous mate must have sensed that I had awoken. I hear a soft giggle and the word: "Mommy!" I feel pressure at the end of the bed, and Chris encourages him.

"Yeah, get her... she's right there." I can feel him crawling slowly like a cat stalking his prey along the bed, heading up towards my upper body. I had to stop myself from laughing - if I had been asleep I probably wouldn't have felt my sneaky little rogue baby.

"I GETTING YOU!" He shrieks in his precious baby voice as he squeals with laughter as he pounces gently on my chest. I let my arms wrap around him like a spring trap and I begin to tickle him after wrestling the sheet away from him.

"Are you GETTING me?" I asked him as he tried to roll away and I tickled him a few seconds more before loosening my grip. He squirms his way back to the safety of Dad's arms, still giggling madly.

Thank you, for perfect mornings with the ones I love the most, full of laughter and life. My life was once silent, empty, and alone. Now it's full of warmth, love, and joy.

Don't ever forget to soak up these little moments.

They are precious and fleeting. Life has a way of making us forget what we're fighting so hard for - but just one little moment can remind you what life is really about.

Time is precious, thank you so much for taking some to read my article. I hope you enjoyed it and it proved useful in some way!

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