This is inspired by the song Slow Down by Nichole Nordeman. I would suggest playing it as you read this one shot to be able to get the few references.

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It was one of those days where you could just lie in bed the whole day. Nothing was in their schedules and the kids had no school. It was the perfect setting for Kylie just to bask in the joys that her life brought her. Peaceful and tranquil, she was crunched up on the swing found on the foyer of their newly bought beach house in Hawaii with her widely awake 5-month-old on her lap. His almond eyes staring up at her like she was the human embodiment of comfort and shelter. She looked at him like he was the human embodiment of starlight and lunar eclipses. Her attention was fully his at the moment which was rare since he was born third in the order of three. The baby smiled as his mother massaged his bare chest with her warm hands and a little piece of her heart.

Kylie smiled back, "Good morning, sunshine."

Here's to you
You were pink or blue
And everything I wanted

Kylie looked intently at her son and couldn't help but look back at the day he was born. Silas Emilio was 8 pounds and 5 ounces heavy and a deep shade of red. He looked like a blob of scarlet fat and joy and sunshine mixed into one small baby.

You see, before her kids came, Kylie felt like she had way too much love to give. All that love was too much to comprehend even when Ruru was already there to love so she tried to pour it all onto pets and family. Still, there was so much left.
Then, Amir happened and suddenly the love she could not comprehend was too little. She grew another heart— one out of her body, one with her eyes and his daddy's smile.

Silas gurgled. His toes curled and relaxed as the sound bounced off the corners of his mouth.

Here's to you
Never sleeping through
From midnight till the morning

She remembered how none of her three offsprings ever really were good sleepers. Maybe Silas was for the first few weeks but it ceased and they never got a night's rest since but it was worth it when they wake in the morning to see the heavy-eyed smiles and to receive the morning cuddles.

Had to crawl before you walked
Before you ran
Before I knew it
You were trying to free your fingers from my hand
'Cause you could it on your own now
SomehowSlow down
Won't you stay here a minute more
I know you want to walk through the door
But it's all too fast
Let's make it last a little while

She felt her insides churn and flutter as the memories of her two older children's firsts came to mind. Amir's first steps in the living room of the old townhouse they used to rent. Noelle's first word in the small white cot that was later on passed on to her by her older brother and now passed on to Silas. The day they walked from Point A to Point B without assistance of any kind and without stumbling or falling. Those were the first times she felt like she was doing something right as a mother.

I pointed to the sky and now you wanna fly
I am your biggest fan
I hope you know I am
But do you think you can somehow
Slow down

Kylie stood him up on her lap, chest to chest and pointed to the little silhouette of a seagull flying across the caged horizon their beach backyard had to offer. The bird looked tiny against the softly lit blue canvass of a sky with few blotches of white cottony clouds.

Silas bounced, locking and unlocking his knees, and let out an excited squeal as he pointed at the sky. His bouncing became more vigorous to the point where Kylie held him up in the air and his feet still wriggled. It seemed as though he wanted to defy gravity and reach for the feathers of the bird. It was as if he was ready to take on such a task.

"Mummy," called a small voice thick with sleep as its owner walked out of the main door in her mustard yellow sleeping gown. Noelle's balled fist was against her left eye, trying to rub off the morning haze whilst her other hand was clutching her stuffed doll.

"Over here, princess."

Noelle climbed onto the wooden swing as her mother momentarily steadied it. She cuddles up against Kylie's right arm and pillows her head in the nook behind the elbow. The Madrid kids were extra cuddly in the morning especially with the cool morning breeze sweeping over the ocean and into the their nostrils and against their skin.

"Good morning, love bug," she whispers, placing a gentle kiss upon her head. "Silas says good morning too, Ate."

"Morning, mummy and Silas," she groggily replies and kisses her baby brother on the cheek.

The little girl started to hum a tune the wind seemingly whispered to her while she stroked her doll's yarn hair. A few notes later, Kylie noticed she was humming an old song her Daddy would sing them all to sleep with. Tonight You Belong to Me by the Lennon Sisters. She smiled.

"Mum, are you out here?" her seven-year-old sleepily asks, standing at the threshold in his thin, white, sleeveless shirt and maroon boxer shorts.

"Right here, buddy."

Like his sister, Amir climbed onto the swing and snuggled against his mother. He was on her left side and his head rested against her shoulder, his hand placed gently against his brother's.

Here's to you
Every missing tooth

"Good morning, mum," he grins through a gap where his front tooth used to be and a grown up tooth sticking out beside it.

Kylie chuckles, taking herself back to the day he lost his first tooth. He was terrified but laughed the whole time because his sister and brother were watching and Super Kuya was brave, he said. Super Kuya isn't scared of anything, not even the unspeakable pain of shots.

Every bedtime story

Super Kuya isn't one to succumb to the fears of life neither did he fall so willingly into his parents' arms at 8:30 pm when their soothing voices read him and his siblings another chapter of The Return of the Young Prince. He was strong and definitely didn't get drowsy when their father sang sweet lullabies. NOPE, DEFINITELY NOT.

Here's to Barbie cars, light saber wars

Oh, and Super Kuya NEVER played dolls with his sister, Princess Angel nor did he ever played her knight with a pool noodle as a sword against their daddy, Evil Dr. Alien Monkey.

Sleeping in on Sunday
Had to crawl
Before you walked
Before you ran
Before I knew it
You were teaching me
The only thing love can
Hold hands through it
When it's scary, you've got me

Super Kuya, Princess Angel, Evil Dr. Alien Monkey, Mummy the Great and little baby Silas were a team you see. They were especially good at sleeping together and not waking up on time, specially on Sundays. They were the strongest team lead by Mummy the Great but what the rest of the team didn't know was that Mummy got her strength from them. Mummy would feel tired and would want to give up when stronger enemies come to try to wreck her but she'd take one good look at her team, hold them close to her and kick that bad guy's butt.

Please don't roll your eyes at me
I know I'm embarrassing
But someday you'll understand
You'll hold a little hand
Ask them if they can...

"Good morning, my love," Kylie smiled as she detached herself from her memories and lived in the moment before it, too, becomes a mere memory. She kissed her eldest on his cheek a second longer than she usually does.

"Ew, mum. Stop! I'm lucky none of my friends are here," he groans but doesn't wipe off the kiss. He scoots even closer to his mother if that was even possible and whispers, "I still love you though, mummy. I love you loads."

"I love you too, Kuya," she whispers back. Kylie sat her youngest down on her lap as he stuffs as many fingers he can in his mouth and her head rested against Amir's, her right hand curling around Noelle's small frame.

"Well, thanks for excluding me, beautiful family," the man of the house said already sitting down beside his daughter and attempted to take his youngest son into his arms. He received a shake of the head from his wife and a peaceful smile.

The ocean wind swept through the waters and hummed sweet melodies against their skin. The sun was only so gentle when he just woke up as if still trying to regain his strength. Waves wouldn't stop kissing the shores and leaving right after but returning in a split second to give the shore another kiss.

Mummy the Great, Evil Dr. Alien Monkey, Super Kuya, Princess Angel and little baby Silas drowned in the song of the the waters splashing, the wooden swing creaking and the baby's soft mumbles. It was a rare calm in the never ending cycle of hurricanes and storms that tore the watches from their grasp and laughed in their faces when they realize time did not stand still. Time will never stand still.

"Slow down," Kylie whispers to herself or to her kids or to the inanimate bad guy, time. She didn't know. Maybe it was for all of them, "Please, slow down."

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I was feeling a bit inspired today. We have Nichole Nordeman and The Bucketlist Family to thank for that.

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