At the end of all the days, but especially special after the long days, the days with battles and fights and compromises, tears and the odd bruise or semi-savage bite, we unabashedly crash into the softness of the impending velverty night where all the sharp edges melt away.

We crash into cozy beds with good books, star projectors, audio meditations, cuddles, clean teeth, air purifiers, lavender, sweet-smelling heads and the odd shriek or lost lizard squishy or dropped lovey.

These pics are our bedtime, a rare bedtime, as Noah is out watching basketball, and wow, I’ve got to hand it to Noah here, as he is chief and captain of wrangling our boy dragons to bed. It’s no small feat.

I fall asleep only moments after our biggest dragon baby breathes his last fiery breath…but still, with all this effort, with all this messiness and loudness and bandaids, I never, ever want to forget what they were like at 4, 7 & 10. When we are still Mama and Daddy and they still hold our hands…

It’s fleeting and it’s fast.

Every single night, Matty heaves over his top bunk and kisses the top of my head and says a million I-love-yous (literally close to a million). No matter how hard the day was, or how tough bedtime is, he is present and intentional with this goodnight love. It was only yesterday I rocked him to sleep…

Benny wants a cuddle in his bed and after he’s tucked in, he loves to run down the hall to my room to get extra cuddles. His last words are often, “I love you more than the world,” but “world” is pronounced, “woad” and it makes my heart explode.

Our baby dragon is sleeping in our room these days on a little cozy cot. It’s all my fault, I love having her here. Because when she’s gone, it’s the first separation and then there will be another and another and another. Not ready. But don’t be fooled, she’s a fierce and fiesty baby dragon who gets her own food and takes zero crap, she’s as independent as they come.

Sleep well, my baby dragons. I’m watching over you.